Bill Text: NY A00523 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to penalties for owners of property who fail to file a proper or timely rent registration statement.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-18 - reported referred to rules [A00523 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-A00523-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 523--B 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 9, 2017 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the Committee on Housing -- recommitted to the Committee on Housing in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit- tee -- reported and referred to the Committee on Codes -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee 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 chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows: 5 Subject to the conditions and limitations of this paragraph, any owner 6 of housing accommodations in a city having a population of less than one 7 million or a town or village as to which an emergency has been declared 8 pursuant to section three, who, upon complaint of a tenant or of the 9 state division of housing and community renewal, is found by the state 10 division of housing and community renewal, after a reasonable opportu- 11 nity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent author- 12 ized for a housing accommodation subject to this act shall be liable to 13 the tenant for a penalty equal to [three] at least three times the 14 amount, not to exceed five times the amount of such overcharge. In no 15 event shall such [treble damage] a penalty be assessed against an owner 16 based solely on said owner's failure to file a proper or timely initial 17 or annual rent registration statement. If the owner establishes by a 18 preponderance of the evidence that the overcharge was neither willful EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01785-04-8A. 523--B 2 1 nor attributable to his negligence, the state division of housing and 2 community renewal shall establish the penalty as the amount of the over- 3 charge plus interest at the rate of interest payable on a judgment 4 pursuant to section five thousand four of the civil practice law and 5 rules. (i) Except as to complaints filed pursuant to clause (ii) of this 6 paragraph, the legal regulated rent for purposes of determining an over- 7 charge, shall be deemed to be the rent indicated in the annual registra- 8 tion statement filed four years prior to the most recent registration 9 statement, (or, if more recently filed, the initial registration state- 10 ment) plus in each case any subsequent lawful increases and adjustments. 11 Where the amount of rent set forth in the annual rent registration 12 statement filed four years prior to the most recent registration state- 13 ment is not challenged within four years of its filing, neither such 14 rent nor service of any registration shall be subject to challenge at 15 any time thereafter. (ii) As to complaints filed within ninety days of 16 the initial registration of a housing accommodation, the legal regulated 17 rent for purposes of determining an overcharge shall be deemed to be the 18 rent charged on the date four years prior to the date of the initial 19 registration of the housing accommodation (or, if the housing accommo- 20 dation was subject to this act for less than four years, the initial 21 legal regulated rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and 22 adjustments. Where the rent charged on the date four years prior to the 23 date of the initial registration of the accommodation cannot be estab- 24 lished, such rent shall be established by the division. Where the amount 25 of rent set forth in the annual rent registration statement filed four 26 years prior to the most recent registration statement is not challenged 27 within four years of its filing, neither such rent nor service of any 28 registration shall be subject to challenge at any time thereafter. 29 § 2. The opening paragraph of subdivision a of section 26-516 of the 30 administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by chapter 116 31 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows: 32 Subject to the conditions and limitations of this subdivision, any 33 owner of housing accommodations who, upon complaint of a tenant, or of 34 the state division of housing and community renewal, is found by the 35 state division of housing and community renewal, after a reasonable 36 opportunity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent 37 authorized for a housing accommodation subject to this chapter shall be 38 liable to the tenant for a penalty equal to [three] at least three times 39 the amount, not to exceed five times the amount of such overcharge. In 40 no event shall such [treble damage] a penalty be assessed against an 41 owner based solely on said owner's failure to file a timely or proper 42 initial or annual rent registration statement. If the owner establishes 43 by a preponderance of the evidence that the overcharge was not willful, 44 the state division of housing and community renewal shall establish the 45 penalty as the amount of the overcharge plus interest. (i) Except as to 46 complaints filed pursuant to clause (ii) of this paragraph, the legal 47 regulated rent for purposes of determining an overcharge, shall be the 48 rent indicated in the annual registration statement filed four years 49 prior to the most recent registration statement, (or, if more recently 50 filed, the initial registration statement) plus in each case any subse- 51 quent lawful increases and adjustments. Where the amount of rent set 52 forth in the annual rent registration statement filed four years prior 53 to the most recent registration statement is not challenged within four 54 years of its filing, neither such rent nor service of any registration 55 shall be subject to challenge at any time thereafter. (ii) As to 56 complaints filed within ninety days of the initial registration of aA. 523--B 3 1 housing accommodation, the legal regulated rent shall be deemed to be 2 the rent charged on the date four years prior to the date of the initial 3 registration of the housing accommodation (or, if the housing accommo- 4 dation was subject to this chapter for less than four years, the initial 5 legal regulated rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and 6 adjustments. Where the rent charged on the date four years prior to the 7 date of the initial registration of the accommodation cannot be estab- 8 lished, such rent shall be established by the division. 9 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that 10 a. the amendments to the opening paragraph of paragraph 1 of subdivi- 11 sion a of section 12 of the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen 12 seventy-four made by section one of this act shall expire on the same 13 date as such act expires and shall not affect the expiration of such act 14 as provided in section 17 of chapter 567 of the laws of 1974; and 15 b. the amendments to section 26-516 of chapter 4 of title 26 of the 16 administrative code of the city of New York made by section two of this 17 act shall expire on the same date as such law expires and shall not 18 affect the expiration of such law as provided under section 26-520 of 19 such law.
