What's happening
This bill increases penalties for landlords who overcharge tenants, raising fines to five times the overcharge for first offenses and ten times for subsequent offenses.
Why it matters
Significantly higher penalties for landlords who overcharge. By raising the multiplier for fines from three times the overcharge to five times for first offenses and ten times for repeat offenses, the bill dramatically increases the financial risk for landlords considering overcharging tenants, potentially deterring such behavior more effectively.
Clear distinction between first and repeat offenses. The bill introduces a much steeper penalty for subsequent violations, signaling a strong stance against habitual overcharging and aiming to protect tenants from serial offenders.
Limits penalties for paperwork violations. The bill maintains that these enhanced penalties cannot be imposed solely for failing to file proper or timely rent registrations, focusing enforcement on actual overcharging rather than technical administrative errors.
Potential impact on tenant-landlord disputes. The higher penalties could empower tenants to file complaints with greater confidence, knowing the law is more strongly on their side, and may shift the balance of power in favor of tenants in rent-regulated housing situations.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Increase Landlord Penalties
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to housing, construction and community development
- Referred to housing, construction and community development
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
238
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sens. HOYLMAN, KRUEGER -- 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 emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-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 Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The opening paragraph of 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, as amended by chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
Subject to the conditions and limitations of this paragraph, any owner of housing accommodations in a city having a population of less than one million or a town or village as to which an emergency has been declared pursuant to section three, who, upon complaint of a tenant or of the state division of housing and community renewal, is found by the state division of housing and community renewal, after a reasonable opportunity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent authorized for a housing accommodation subject to this act shall be liable to the tenant for a penalty equal to [three] five times the amount of such overcharge for a first offense and ten times the amount of such overcharge for any subsequent overcharges. In no event shall such treble damage penalty be assessed against an owner based solely on said owner's failure to file a proper or timely initial or annual rent registration statement. If the owner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the overcharge was neither willful nor attributable to his negligence, the state division of housing and community renewal shall establish the penalty as the amount of the overcharge plus interest at the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00529-02-9
S. 238 2
rate of interest payable on a judgment pursuant to section five thousand four of the civil practice law and rules. (i) Except as to complaints filed pursuant to clause (ii) of this paragraph, the legal regulated rent for purposes of determining an overcharge, shall be deemed to be the rent indicated in the annual registration statement filed four years prior to the most recent registration statement, (or, if more recently filed, the initial registration statement) plus in each case any subsequent lawful increases and adjustments. Where the amount of rent set forth in the annual rent registration statement filed four years prior to the most recent registration statement is not challenged within four years of its filing, neither such rent nor service of any registration shall be subject to challenge at any time thereafter. (ii) As to complaints filed within ninety days of the initial registration of a housing accommodation, the legal regulated rent for purposes of determining an overcharge shall be deemed to be the rent charged on the date four years prior to the date of the initial registration of the housing accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation was subject to this act for less than four years, the initial legal regulated rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and adjustments. Where the rent charged on the date four years prior to the date of the initial registration of the accommodation cannot be established, such rent shall be established by the division. Where the amount of rent set forth in the annual rent registration statement filed four years prior to the most recent registration statement is not challenged within four years of its filing, neither such rent nor service of any registration shall be subject to challenge at any time thereafter.
§ 2. The opening paragraph of subdivision a of section 26-516 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
Subject to the conditions and limitations of this subdivision, any owner of housing accommodations who, upon complaint of a tenant, or of the state division of housing and community renewal, is found by the state division of housing and community renewal, after a reasonable opportunity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent authorized for a housing accommodation subject to this chapter shall be liable to the tenant for a penalty equal to [three] five times the amount of such overcharge for a first offense and ten times the amount of such overcharge for any subsequent overcharges. In no event shall such treble damage penalty be assessed against an owner based solely on said owner's failure to file a timely or proper initial or annual rent registration statement. If the owner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the overcharge was not willful, the state division of housing and community renewal shall establish the penalty as the amount of the overcharge plus interest. (i) Except as to complaints filed pursuant to clause (ii) of this paragraph, the legal regulated rent for purposes of determining an overcharge, shall be the rent indicated in the annual registration statement filed four years prior to the most recent registration statement, (or, if more recently filed, the initial registration statement) plus in each case any subsequent lawful increases and adjustments. Where the amount of rent set forth in the annual rent registration statement filed four years prior to the most recent registration statement is not challenged within four years of its filing, neither such rent nor service of any registration shall be subject to challenge at any time thereafter. (ii) As to complaints filed within ninety days of the initial registration of a housing accommodation, the legal regulated rent shall be deemed to be the rent
S. 238 3
charged on the date four years prior to the date of the initial registration of the housing accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation was subject to this chapter for less than four years, the initial legal regulated rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and adjustments. Where the rent charged on the date four years prior to the date of the initial registration of the accommodation cannot be established, such rent shall be established by the division.
§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that
a. the amendments to the opening paragraph of paragraph 1 of subdivision a of section 12 of the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four made by section one 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 567 of the laws of 1974; and
b. the amendments to section 26-516 of chapter 4 of title 26 of the administrative code of the city of New York made by section two of this act shall expire on the same date as such law expires and shall not affect the expiration of such law as provided under section 26-520 of such law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
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
Purpose
This bill imposes penalties on property owners who fail to file a proper or timely rent registration statement.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1 amends the opening paragraph of paragraph 1 of subdivision a of section 12 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974, consti- tuting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, as amended by chapter 116 of the law of 1997, to increase the penalty for a rent overcharge of a rent-stabilized apartment from three times the amount of the overcharge to up to five times the amount.
Section 2 amends the opening paragraph of subdivision a of section 26-516 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, to increase the penalty for a rent overcharge of a rent-stabilized apartment from three times the amount of the overcharge to up to five times the amount.
Section 3 sets forth the effective date.
Justification
According to a recent investigation by ProPublica, close to 200,000 units of rent-stabilized apartments are not properly registered with the state's Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), putting hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of being overcharged on their rent or illegally evicted.
The investigation noted that "data provided to ProPublica by (DHCR3 which oversees rent-stabilized apartments shows that, as of 2014, New York City had 839,797 rent-stabililzed apartments registered with the state." Over the same time period, the New York City Department of Hous- ing Preservation and Development (HPD) published a survey estimating that there should be 1,029,918 rent-stabilized units in the city - a gap that dwarfs the survey's 34,000 unit margin of error.
According to ProPublica, HPD's survey methodology attributes the gap between their estimate and the number of registered rent-stabilized units in part on the reduced penalties against landlords who treat apartments that should be rent-stabilized as market rate.
This bill would increase the penalty for overcharging a rent-stabilized tenant to up to five times the amount of the overcharge. As under current law, a landlord could mitigate the civil penalty by demonstrat- ing by a preponderance of the evidence that the overcharge was neither willful nor attributable to his or her negligence.
Legislative history
S.0122 of 2017-2018 (Hoylman): Died in Housing A.0523-A of 2017-2018 (Rosenthal): Died in Housing S.6454 of 2016 (Hoylman): Died in Housing, Construction & Community Development A.9192 of 2016 (Rosenthal): Died in Housing
Fiscal implications
Undetermined.
Effective date
This bill shall take effect immediately; provided that a. the amendments to the opening paragraph of paragraph 1 of subdivision a of section 12 of the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four 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 567 of the laws of 1974; and b. the amendments to section 26-516 of chapter 4 of title 26 of the administrative code of the city of New York made by section two of this act shall expire on the same date as such law expires and shall not affect the expiration of such law as provided under section 26-520 of such law.
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