STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2505 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 20, 2023 ___________ Introduced by Sens. KAVANAGH, HINCHEY, MAY, RIVERA, SKOUFIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development AN ACT to amend the executive law, the state finance law, the multiple residence law and the multiple dwelling law, in relation to a state- wide residential rental registry The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 381-a 2 to read as follows: 3 § 381-a. Statewide rental registry. 1. Notwithstanding any other 4 provision of law to the contrary, and in furtherance of chapter fifty- 5 three of the laws of two thousand twenty-one enacting the aid to locali- 6 ties budget and appropriating funds for costs associated with services 7 and expenses of a local code enforcement program, the secretary of state 8 is authorized and directed to use such funds to reimburse localities for 9 reasonable costs incurred to comply with the provisions of this section. 10 The secretary is further authorized and directed to use moneys held in 11 the fund designated for state assistance to local governments for 12 support of activities related to fire prevention and building codes 13 under section fifty-four-g of the state finance law for the purpose of 14 implementing and complying with the provisions of this section and to 15 reimburse localities for reasonable costs incurred to comply with the 16 provisions of this section. Any fees or penalties collected pursuant to 17 this section shall also be deposited into such fund and made available 18 to the department of state and to any city, village or town, as neces- 19 sary, to cover such reasonable costs. 20 2. The secretary shall administer a statewide residential rental 21 registry pursuant to the requirements of this section and shall develop 22 a public online rental registry database designed to receive information EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD00969-02-3
S. 2505 2 1 from landlords and local governments and code enforcement agencies and 2 to disseminate such information to the public. 3 3. The following words or terms when used in this section are defined 4 as follows: 5 (a) "Code enforcement" means the administration and enforcement of the 6 uniform fire prevention code and building code promulgated in accordance 7 with sections three hundred seventy-seven and three hundred seventy- 8 eight of this article, the state energy conservation construction code 9 adopted in accordance with article eleven of the energy law, and any 10 local building and fire regulations and any local residential housing 11 codes enacted or adopted by any local government that are in effect 12 pursuant to section three hundred seventy-nine of this article. 13 (b) "Covered dwelling" means a dwelling which is either rented, 14 leased, let or hired out, to be occupied, or is occupied as the resi- 15 dence or home of two or more families living independently of each 16 other. 17 (c) "Department" means the department of state. 18 (d) "Dwelling" means any building or structure or portion thereof 19 which is occupied in whole or in part as the home, residence, or sleep- 20 ing place of one or more human beings. 21 (e) "Family" means either a person occupying a dwelling and maintain- 22 ing a household, with not more than four boarders, roomers or lodgers, 23 or two or more persons occupying a dwelling, living together and main- 24 taining a common household, with not more than four boarders, roomers or 25 lodgers. A "boarder", "roomer" or "lodger" residing with a family shall 26 mean a person living within the household who pays a consideration for 27 such residence and does not occupy such space within the household as an 28 incident of employment therein. 29 (f) "Managing agent" means a natural person who is over the age of 30 twenty-one years and a resident of the county in which the property is 31 located, resides within thirty miles of the property, or customarily and 32 regularly attends a business office maintained in the county or within 33 thirty miles of the property, and is designated by the owner to receive 34 service of notices and summons issued by the local code enforcement 35 agency. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as abrogating or 36 impairing the power of any local government to promulgate more restric- 37 tive definitions or rules related to managing agents. 38 (g) "Owner" means the owner or owners of the freehold of the premises 39 or lessor estate therein, a mortgagee or vendee in possession, assignee 40 of rents, receiver, executor, trustee, agent, or any other person, firm 41 or corporation, directly or indirectly in control of a dwelling. 42 (h) "Private dwelling" means any building or structure designed and 43 occupied exclusively for residential purposes by not more than one fami- 44 ly. 45 (i) "Secretary" means the secretary of state. 46 4. The owner of a covered dwelling shall register such dwelling with 47 the department annually in accordance with the rules and regulations 48 prescribed by the secretary, except that registration with the depart- 49 ment shall not be required where the owner is required to register with 50 a local government under which the property is situated in a manner that 51 complies with the rules and regulations prescribed by the secretary 52 pursuant to this section, provided that a public online searchable data- 53 base of residential rental units registered with such local government 54 shall be available and shall comply with the requirements applicable to 55 the online database provided for in subdivision eight of this section.
S. 2505 3 1 5. An owner who is required to register under this section and who 2 fails to register: (a) shall be subject to a civil penalty of twenty- 3 five dollars per residential unit contained in the covered dwelling for 4 each year in which such covered dwelling is not registered as required 5 under this section, and in no event shall a covered dwelling be consid- 6 ered properly registered under this section until any penalty that is 7 due has been paid; and (b) shall be denied the right to recover 8 possession of the premises for nonpayment of rent during the period of 9 noncompliance, and shall, at the discretion of the court, suffer a stay 10 of proceeding to recover rents, during such period. In any action to 11 recover possession under section seven hundred eleven of the real prop- 12 erty actions and proceedings law, the owner shall allege that they are 13 properly registered under this section. 14 6. The secretary shall develop and maintain an online portal or other 15 electronic means for local governments to submit or make available to 16 the department registration and code enforcement violations as required 17 under this section. Where a local government lacks the technical capac- 18 ity to comply with any aspect of this section, the department shall 19 provide financial and technical assistance to facilitate and improve 20 such capacity, including but not limited to the capacity to collect code 21 violation data in a machine-readable format for submission to the 22 department. 23 7. The secretary shall promulgate rules and regulations prescribing 24 standards for administration and enforcement of the statewide rental 25 registry. Such rules and regulations shall address (a) information to be 26 collected including, but not limited to: 27 (i) a valid identifying address of the property and the appropriate 28 designations of all rental units on the property; 29 (ii) the total number of rooms, the number of bathrooms, and the 30 number of bedrooms in each rental unit; 31 (iii) the accessibility features, if any, of the building and each 32 rental unit; 33 (iv) whether a unit is subject to any rent regulation or regulatory 34 agreement; 35 (v) the legal name of the owner or owners, including, but not limited 36 to, the partners, general partners, LLC members, and shareholders; 37 (vi) a physical address, mailing address, and telephone number for 38 each owner. The physical address and telephone number contained in the 39 registration shall not constitute a public record and shall be accessi- 40 ble only to duly authorized employees of local government agencies or 41 the department and used exclusively by such personnel in connection with 42 an emergency arising on the premises for which the owner is responsible 43 or for such purposes as the secretary shall authorize; 44 (vii) the name, physical address, mailing address, and telephone 45 number for the managing agent of the rental unit, if any; 46 (viii) where the local government requires regular inspection of 47 rental units, the date of the last inspection in each unit; and 48 (ix) to the extent practicable, any violations issued for a covered 49 dwelling, type of such violations, and whether the property owner or the 50 local government's records indicate that the violations have been 51 corrected. 52 (b) a schedule of reasonable registration fees based on the type of 53 dwelling and number of units registered; and 54 (c) the process and timeframe for updating the registration upon a 55 change in title, address, or managing agent.
S. 2505 4 1 8. The secretary shall create and maintain through the department's 2 website a public online searchable database of residential rental units 3 registered under this section. The public shall be able to search by, at 4 a minimum, the address of the dwelling, the name of the owner, and tax 5 map designation. The database shall generate a report of the last valid 6 information registered with the department and information submitted by 7 local governments as required by this section. Such report shall 8 include, but shall not be limited to, the following information: 9 (a) the names of each registered property owner and the managing 10 agent, if any; 11 (b) the address of each registered property owned by such registered 12 owner; 13 (c) the address of the managing agent, if any; 14 (d) the number of registered rental units on the property; 15 (e) the current number of outstanding violations issued by any code 16 enforcement agencies, disaggregated by violations that are immediately 17 hazardous, hazardous, and non-hazardous where such designation is avail- 18 able; 19 (f) the number of findings of harassment currently on record with any 20 code enforcement agencies; 21 (g) the number and types of active violations and orders issued by any 22 code enforcement agencies, including a description of each violation, 23 the status of each violation or order, and the date each violation or 24 order was issued including any violations that were active within the 25 year prior to the date the report is generated; and 26 (h) the date the information was last updated and the date the portfo- 27 lio is generated. 28 9. In any action to recover possession of a rental unit or to enforce 29 housing maintenance standards in county court, the court of a police 30 justice of the village, a justice court, a court of civil jurisdiction 31 in a city or a district court, (a) the visually displayed or (b) the 32 printed computerized portfolio registration and violation files main- 33 tained by the department pursuant to this section and all other comput- 34 erized data as shall be relevant to the enforcement of state and local 35 laws for the establishment and maintenance of housing standards, shall 36 be prima facie evidence of any matter stated therein and the courts 37 shall take judicial notice thereof as if the same were certified as true 38 under the seal and signature of the secretary. 39 10. Registration of covered dwellings under this section shall 40 commence on July first of the year next succeeding the year in which 41 this section shall become effective and shall be due by July first of 42 each subsequent year. The public online searchable database shall be 43 active as soon as practicable and no later than two years from the 44 effective date of this section. All information related to code 45 violations and harassment provided through the database shall be 46 prospective from the date it becomes active unless the secretary deter- 47 mines that it is feasible to include retrospective information where 48 such information is otherwise available in electronic form. 49 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 54-g of the state finance law is amended 50 by adding a new paragraph c to read as follows: 51 c. Beginning on the effective date of this paragraph, the state shall 52 provide moneys to the department of state and to any city, village or 53 town for reasonable costs of activities necessary to implement and 54 comply with the provisions of such section, with such amounts and in 55 such manner determined by the secretary of state. Any fees or penalties 56 collected pursuant to such section shall also be made available to the
S. 2505 5 1 department of state and to any city, village or town, as necessary, to 2 cover such reasonable costs. 3 § 3. Section 307 of the multiple residence law is amended to read as 4 follows: 5 § 307. Records and searches. (a) All records of the department shall 6 be public. Upon request the department shall be required to make a 7 search and issue a certificate of any of its records, including 8 violations, and shall have the power to charge and collect reasonable 9 fees for searches or certificates. 10 (b) In any action to recover possession of a rental unit or to enforce 11 housing maintenance standards in county court, the court of a police 12 justice of the village, a justice court, a court of civil jurisdiction 13 in a city or a district court either (i) the visually displayed or (ii) 14 the printed computerized portfolio registration and violation files 15 maintained by the department of state pursuant to section three hundred 16 eighty-one-a of the executive law and all other computerized data as 17 shall be relevant to the enforcement of state and local laws for the 18 establishment and maintenance of housing standards, shall be prima facie 19 evidence of any matter stated therein and the courts shall take judicial 20 notice thereof as if the same were certified as true under the seal and 21 signature of the secretary of state. 22 § 4. Subdivision 3 of section 328 of the multiple dwelling law, as 23 amended by chapter 403 of the laws of 1983, is amended to read as 24 follows: 25 3. In any action or proceeding before the housing part of the New York 26 city civil court either (a) the visually displayed or (b) the printed 27 computerized violation files of the department responsible for maintain- 28 ing such files, portfolio registration and violation files maintained by 29 the department of state pursuant to section three hundred eighty-one-a 30 of the executive law, and all other computerized data as shall be rele- 31 vant to the enforcement of state and local laws for the establishment 32 and maintenance of housing standards, including but not limited to the 33 name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the building 34 and whether or not he is a member in good standing of the rent stabili- 35 zation association or registered pursuant to the emergency tenant 36 protection act of nineteen seventy-four or the rent stabilization law of 37 nineteen hundred sixty-nine where one or more dwelling units therein are 38 subject to the rent stabilization law, shall be prima facie evidence of 39 any matter stated therein and the courts shall take judicial notice 40 thereof as if same were certified as true under the seal and signature 41 of the commissioner of that department. 42 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.