Relates to regulations pertaining to housing accommodations in buildings with six or more dwelling units where seventy-five percent of the total residents are fifty-five or older.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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1852
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 14, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. HINCHEY -- 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 seven-
ty-four, in relation to housing accommodations in certain buildings
where seventy-five percent of the total residents are fifty-five or
older
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 5 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of 1974,
2 constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-
3 four, is amended by adding a new subdivision c to read as follows:
4 c. The exception in paragraph five of subdivision a of this section
5 shall not apply to housing accommodations in buildings containing six or
6 more dwelling units in which the number of residents aged fifty-five or
7 older exceeds seventy-five percent of the total building residents.
8 § 2. Subdivision a of section 10 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the
9 laws of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nine-
10 teen seventy-four, as amended by section 15 of part Q of chapter 39 of
11 the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
12 a. For cities having a population of less than one million and towns
13 and villages, the state division of housing and community renewal shall
14 be empowered to implement this act by appropriate regulations. Such
15 regulations may encompass such speculative or manipulative practices or
16 renting or leasing practices as the state division of housing and commu-
17 nity renewal determines constitute or are likely to cause circumvention
18 of this act. Such regulations shall prohibit practices which are likely
19 to prevent any person from asserting any right or remedy granted by this
20 act, including but not limited to retaliatory termination of periodic
21 tenancies and shall require owners to grant a new one or two year vacan-
22 cy or renewal lease at the option of the tenant, except where a mortgage
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05374-01-5
S. 1852 2
1 or mortgage commitment existing as of the local effective date of this
2 act provides that the owner shall not grant a one-year lease; and shall
3 prescribe standards with respect to the terms and conditions of new and
4 renewal leases, additional rent and such related matters as security
5 deposits, advance rental payments, the use of escalator clauses in leas-
6 es and provision for increase in rentals for garages and other ancillary
7 facilities, so as to ensure that the level of rent adjustments author-
8 ized under this law will not be subverted and made ineffective. Such
9 regulations shall require owners of buildings containing six or more
10 dwelling units in which the number of residents aged fifty-five or older
11 exceeds seventy-five percent of the total building residents to offer a
12 vacancy or renewal lease of no fewer than two years. Any provision of
13 the regulations permitting an owner to refuse to renew a lease on
14 grounds that the owner seeks to recover possession of a housing accommo-
15 dation for [his or her] their own use and occupancy or for the use and
16 occupancy of [his or her] their immediate family shall permit recovery
17 of only one housing accommodation, shall require that an owner demon-
18 strate immediate and compelling need and that the housing accommodation
19 will be the proposed occupants' primary residence and shall not apply
20 where a member of the housing accommodation is sixty-two years of age or
21 older, has been a tenant in a housing accommodation in that building for
22 fifteen years or more, or has an impairment which results from anatom-
23 ical, physiological or psychological conditions, other than addiction to
24 alcohol, gambling, or any controlled substance, which are demonstrable
25 by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques,
26 and which are expected to be permanent and which prevent the tenant from
27 engaging in any substantial gainful employment; provided, however, that
28 a tenant required to surrender a housing accommodation under this subdi-
29 vision shall have a cause of action in any court of competent jurisdic-
30 tion for damages, declaratory, and injunctive relief against a landlord
31 or purchaser of the premises who makes a fraudulent statement regarding
32 a proposed use of the housing accommodation. In any action or proceeding
33 brought pursuant to this subdivision a prevailing tenant shall be enti-
34 tled to recovery of actual damages, and reasonable attorneys' fees.
35 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
