STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5616 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 17, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Housing AN ACT to amend the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seven- ty-four and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to penalties for owners of property who fail to file a proper or timely rent registration statement The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The opening paragraph of paragraph 1 of subdivision a of 2 section 12 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974 constituting 3 the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, as amended 4 by section 1 of part F of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, is amended to 5 read as follows: 6 Subject to the conditions and limitations of this paragraph, any owner 7 of housing accommodations in a city having a population of less than one 8 million or a town or village as to which an emergency has been declared 9 pursuant to section three, who, upon complaint of a tenant or of the 10 state division of housing and community renewal, is found by the state 11 division of housing and community renewal, after a reasonable opportu- 12 nity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent author- 13 ized for a housing accommodation subject to this act shall be liable to 14 the tenant for a penalty equal to three times the amount of such over- 15 charge. If the owner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence 16 that the overcharge was neither willful nor attributable to his negli- 17 gence, the state division of housing and community renewal shall estab- 18 lish the penalty as the amount of the overcharge plus interest at the 19 rate of interest payable on a judgment pursuant to section five thousand 20 four of the civil practice law and rules. After a complaint of rent 21 overcharge has been filed and served on an owner, the voluntary adjust- 22 ment of the rent and/or the voluntary tender of a refund of rent over- 23 charges shall not be considered by the division of housing and community EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09839-01-3
A. 5616 2 1 renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction as evidence that the over- 2 charge was not willful. (i) Except as to complaints filed pursuant to 3 clause (ii) of this paragraph, the legal regulated rent for purposes of 4 determining an overcharge, shall be deemed to be the rent indicated in 5 the most recent reliable annual registration statement for a rent stabi- 6 lized tenant filed and served upon the tenant six or more years prior to 7 the most recent registration statement, (or, if more recently filed, the 8 initial registration statement) plus in each case any subsequent lawful 9 increases and adjustments. The division of housing and community renewal 10 or a court of competent jurisdiction, in investigating complaints of 11 overcharge and in determining legal regulated rent, shall consider all 12 available rent history which is reasonably necessary to make such deter- 13 minations. (ii) As to complaints filed within ninety days of the initial 14 registration of a housing accommodation, the legal regulated rent for 15 purposes of determining an overcharge shall be deemed to be the rent 16 charged on the date six years prior to the date of the initial registra- 17 tion of the housing accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation was 18 subject to this act for less than six years, the initial legal regulated 19 rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and adjustments. Where the 20 rent charged on the date six years prior to the date of the initial 21 registration of the accommodation cannot be established, such rent shall 22 be established by the division. (iii) Failure to file an annual rent 23 registration statement shall result in a fine of two thousand dollars 24 per unregistered housing accommodation, made payable to the state divi- 25 sion of housing and community renewal. 26 § 2. The opening paragraph of subdivision a of section 26-516 of the 27 administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by section 4 of 28 part F of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows: 29 Subject to the conditions and limitations of this subdivision, any 30 owner of housing accommodations who, upon complaint of a tenant, or of 31 the state division of housing and community renewal, is found by the 32 state division of housing and community renewal, after a reasonable 33 opportunity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent 34 authorized for a housing accommodation subject to this chapter shall be 35 liable to the tenant for a penalty equal to three times the amount of 36 such overcharge. If the owner establishes by a preponderance of the 37 evidence that the overcharge was not willful, the state division of 38 housing and community renewal shall establish the penalty as the amount 39 of the overcharge plus interest. After a complaint of rent overcharge 40 has been filed and served on an owner, the voluntary adjustment of the 41 rent and/or the voluntary tender of a refund of rent overcharges shall 42 not be considered by the division of housing and community renewal or a 43 court of competent jurisdiction as evidence that the overcharge was not 44 willful. (i) Except as to complaints filed pursuant to clause (ii) of 45 this paragraph, the legal regulated rent for purposes of determining an 46 overcharge, shall be the rent indicated in the most recent reliable 47 annual registration statement filed and served upon the tenant six or 48 more years prior to the most recent registration statement, (or, if more 49 recently filed, the initial registration statement) plus in each case 50 any subsequent lawful increases and adjustments. The division of housing 51 and community renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction, in investi- 52 gating complaints of overcharge and in determining legal regulated rent, 53 shall consider all available rent history which is reasonably necessary 54 to make such determinations. (ii) As to complaints filed within ninety 55 days of the initial registration of a housing accommodation, the legal 56 regulated rent shall be deemed to be the rent charged on the date six
A. 5616 3 1 years prior to the date of the initial registration of the housing 2 accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation was subject to this 3 chapter for less than six years, the initial legal regulated rent) plus 4 in each case, any lawful increases and adjustments. Where the rent 5 charged on the date six years prior to the date of the initial registra- 6 tion of the accommodation cannot be established, such rent shall be 7 established by the division. (iii) Failure to file an annual rent 8 registration statement shall result in a fine of two thousand dollars 9 per unregistered housing accommodation, made payable to the state divi- 10 sion of housing and community renewal. 11 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that 12 the amendments to the opening paragraph of subdivision a of section 13 26-516 of chapter 4 of title 26 of the administrative code of the city 14 of New York made by section two of this act shall expire on the same 15 date as such law expires and shall not affect the expiration of such law 16 as provided under section 26-520 of such law.