STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3332 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 2, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. EPSTEIN -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Housing AN ACT to amend chapter 576 of the laws of 1974, constituting the emer- gency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, the public hous- ing law and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to establishing a database of the complete rental histories of rent stabilized buildings in cities with a population of one million or more The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision g of section 12-a of section 4 of chapter 576 2 of the laws of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection act of 3 nineteen seventy-four, as added by chapter 403 of the laws of 1983, is 4 amended to read as follows: 5 g. (1) Within a city having a population of one million or more, each 6 housing accommodation subject to this act shall be registered with the 7 state division of housing and community renewal as shall be provided in 8 the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine. 9 (2) The state division of housing and community renewal shall, on or 10 before December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-four, establish and 11 thereafter maintain on its website a publicly accessible database 12 containing the complete rental history of each housing accommodation 13 registered with the state division of housing and community renewal 14 pursuant to paragraph one of this subdivision, as provided in subdivi- 15 sion three of section twenty of the public housing law and subdivision h 16 of section 26-517 of the administrative code of the city of New York, 17 provided, however, that such database shall not contain information 18 relative to a tenant, owner, lessor or subtenant nor shall any such 19 information be made available or accessible to the public through such 20 database. The commissioner of the state division of housing and communi- 21 ty renewal shall promulgate such rules and regulations as such commis- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD04788-01-3
A. 3332 2 1 sioner deems necessary to implement the provisions of this paragraph, 2 provided, however, that no such rules or regulations shall be adopted 3 unless one or more public hearings shall have been held prior to the 4 adoption thereof. 5 § 2. Section 20 of the public housing law is amended by adding a new 6 subdivision 3 to read as follows: 7 3. The division shall, on or before December thirty-first, two thou- 8 sand twenty-four, establish and thereafter maintain on the division's 9 website a publicly accessible database containing the complete rental 10 history of each housing accommodation registered with the division with- 11 in a city having a population of one million or more as provided in 12 paragraph two of subdivision g of section twelve-a of section four of 13 chapter five hundred seventy-six of the laws of nineteen seventy-four 14 and subdivision h of section 26-517 of the administrative code of the 15 city of New York, provided, however, that such database shall not 16 contain information relative to a tenant, owner, lessor or subtenant nor 17 shall any such information be made available or accessible to the public 18 through such database. The commissioner shall promulgate such rules and 19 regulations as such commissioner deems necessary to implement the 20 provisions of this subdivision, provided, however, that no such rules or 21 regulations shall be adopted unless one or more public hearings shall 22 have been held prior to the adoption thereof. 23 § 3. Section 26-517 of the administrative code of the city of New York 24 is amended by adding a new subdivision h to read as follows: 25 h. The state division of housing and community renewal shall, on or 26 before December thirty-first, two thousand twenty-four, establish and 27 thereafter maintain on its website a publicly accessible database 28 containing the complete rental history of each housing accommodation 29 registered with the state division of housing and community renewal 30 pursuant to paragraph one of this subdivision, as provided in subdivi- 31 sion three of section twenty of the public housing law and paragraph two 32 of subdivision g of section twelve-a of section four of chapter five 33 hundred seventy-six of the laws of nineteen seventy-four, provided, 34 however, that such database shall not contain information relative to a 35 tenant, owner, lessor or subtenant nor shall any such information be 36 made available or accessible to the public through such database. The 37 commissioner of the state division of housing and community renewal 38 shall promulgate such rules and regulations as such commissioner deems 39 necessary to implement the provisions of this paragraph, provided, 40 however, that no such rules or regulations shall be adopted unless one 41 or more public hearings shall have been held prior to the adoption ther- 42 eof. 43 § 4. Subdivision g of section 26-516 of the administrative code of the 44 city of New York, as amended by section 5 of part F of chapter 36 of the 45 laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows: 46 g. Except where a specific provision of this law requires the mainte- 47 nance of rent records for a longer period, including records of the 48 useful life of improvements made to any housing accommodation or any 49 building, any owner who has duly registered a housing accommodation 50 pursuant to section 26-517 of this chapter shall not be required to 51 maintain or produce any records relating to rentals of such accommo- 52 dation for more than six years prior to the most recent registration or 53 annual statement for such accommodation. However, an owner's election 54 not to maintain records shall not limit the authority of the division of 55 housing and community renewal and the courts to examine the rental 56 history and determine legal regulated rents pursuant to this section.
A. 3332 3 1 Nothing in this subdivision shall limit the authority of the division of 2 housing and community renewal to maintain the database of complete 3 rental histories established pursuant to subdivision h of section 26-517 4 of this chapter. 5 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend- 6 ments to chapter 4 of title 26 of the administrative code of the city of 7 New York made by sections three and four of this act shall expire on the 8 same date as such law expires and shall not affect the expiration of 9 such law as provided under section 26-520 of such law.