What's happening
This bill requires landlords who miss filing annual rent registrations to have those years considered when determining legal regulated rent and mandates providing documentation of rent increases to new tenants.
Why it matters
Closes a loophole that allowed landlords to ignore years when they failed to file required rent registrations, making it harder to inflate legal regulated rents retroactively. This means landlords who miss filings can no longer have those years disregarded when determining what rent is actually legal.
Increases transparency for tenants by requiring landlords to provide documentation for any rent increases from the previous four years when offering leases. Prospective tenants will have more information to verify that rent increases are legitimate and within legal limits.
Gives courts and housing authorities more tools to hold landlords accountable for failing to follow rent registration rules. This could deter landlords from skipping filings, as missed years will now count against them in overcharge and rent calculation cases.
Applies immediately to ongoing and future court cases and administrative proceedings, potentially impacting current disputes over rent overcharges. This retroactive application could affect cases where tenants are currently challenging their rents.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Extend Time for Rent Claims
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Advanced to third reading cal.485
- Reported
- Reported referred to codes
- Referred to housing
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1141
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. FARRELL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Housing
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, and the civil practice law and rules, in relation to rent overcharges
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The opening paragraph of subdivision a of section 26-516 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new clause (iii) to read as follows:
(iii) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (i) of this paragraph, for any year in which an owner or a landlord who is required to file an annual rent registration statement, has failed to timely file such annual rent registration statement, the division or a court of competent jurisdiction shall consider such year or years when determining the current legal regulated rent.
§ 2. Section 26-512 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new subdivision (g) to read as follows:
(g) Upon the offering of a lease to a prospective tenant, an owner or a landlord shall be required to provide such tenant with the documentation used by such owner or landlord to support any allowable increases in the legal regulated rent during the previous four years.
§ 3. Paragraph 1 of subdivision a of section 12 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974 constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four is amended by adding a new clause (iii) to read as follows:
(iii) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (i) of this paragraph, for any year in which an owner or a landlord who is required to file an annual rent registration statement, has failed to timely file such annual rent registration statement, the division or a court of competent
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06546-01-7
A. 1141 2
jurisdiction shall consider such year or years when determining the current legal regulated rent.
§ 4. Section 6 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974 constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four is amended by adding a new subdivision h to read as follows:
h. Upon the offering of a lease to a prospective tenant, an owner or a landlord shall be required to provide such tenant with the documentation used by such owner or landlord to support any allowable increases in the legal regulated rent during the previous four years.
§ 5. Section 213-a of the civil practice law and rules, as amended by chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
§ 213-a. Actions to be commenced within four years; residential rent overcharge. An action on a residential rent overcharge shall be commenced within four years of the first overcharge alleged and no determination of an overcharge and no award or calculation of an award of the amount of any overcharge may be based upon an overcharge having occurred more than four years before the action is commenced. This section shall preclude examination of the rental history of the housing accommodation prior to the four-year period immediately preceding the commencement of the action; provided however, for any year in which an owner or a landlord who is required to file an annual rent registration statement, has failed to timely file such annual rent registration statement, a court of competent jurisdiction shall consider such year or years when determining the current legal regulated rent.
§ 6. This act shall take effect immediately, and shall apply to any action or proceeding pending in any court or any application, complaint or proceeding before an administrative agency on the effective date of this act, as well as any action or proceeding commenced thereafter; provided, however, that:
(a) the amendments to subdivision a of section 26-516 of the administrative code of the city of New York made by section one of this act shall expire on the same date as such law expires and shall not affect the expiration of such section as provided under section 26-520 of such code; and
(b) the amendments to the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four made by sections three and four of this act shall expire on the same date as such act expires and shall not affect the expiration of such act as provided in section 17 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974.
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