NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A398
SPONSOR: Rosenthal (MS)
 
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the administrative code of the city of
New York and the emergency housing rent control law, in relation to the
establishment of rent adjustments; and repealing certain provisions of
the administrative code of the city of New York relating thereto
 
PURPOSE: This bill would create parity between the maximum rent
increases eligible for rent controlled and rent stabilized apartments.
It would require the Department of Housing and Community Renewal to Cap
the percentage rent increase available to owners of rent controlled
apartments at a rate on par with recent Rent Guidelines Board adjust-
ments for 1-year renewal leases.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision a of paragraph 5 of section 26-405 of the
administrative code of the city of New York.
Section 2 repeals subparagraphs (1) and (n) of paragraph 1 of subdivi-
sion g of section 26-405 of the administrative cede of the city of New
York.
Section 3 amends section 4 of chapter 274 of the laws of.1946 by adding
a new subdivision 9.
Section 4 sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION: Many rent controlled tenants are currently subject to
steep rent increases calculated using an abstruse formula. Rent
increases in rent stabilized apartments are set by the Rent Guidelines
Boards (one in New York City and one each in Nassau, Westchester, and
Rockland counties) using a formula that taken into account a wide range
of economic factors. Certain owners of rent-controlled apartments are
entitled to automatically raise rents up to 7.5 percent each year, rates
higher than average increases for rent stabilized apartments. This bill
would create parity between the two systems by capping rent controlled
rent increases at a level equal to the average of the previous 5 ROB
rent increases for 1-year rent stabilized renewal leases. This will
prevent rent controlled apartment rents from inflating farther beyond
their rent stabilized counterparts, while maintaining the system of rent
control increases currently in place and the protections it affords.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: A.7881A of 2013-2014
 
EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the one hundred and
eightieth day after it shall have become a law; provided that the amend-
ments to section 26-405 of the city rent and rehabilitation law made by
sections. one and two of this act shall remain in full force and effect
only as long as the.public emergency requiring the regulation and
control of residential rents and evictions continues, as provided in
subdivision 3 of section 1 of the local emergency housing rent control
act; and provided that the amendments to section 4 of the emergency
housing rent control law made by section four of this act shall expire
on the same date as such law expires and shall not affect the expiration
of such law as provided in subdivision 2 of section 1 of chapter 274 of
the laws of 1946.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
398
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 7, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, ORTIZ, MOSLEY, GOTTFRIED -- Multi-
Sponsored by -- M. of A. DAVILA -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Housing
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York and the
emergency housing rent control law, in relation to the establishment
of rent adjustments; and repealing certain provisions of the adminis-
trative code of the city of New York relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraph 5 of subdivision a of section 26-405 of the
2 administrative code of the city of New York is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 (5) Where a maximum rent established pursuant to this chapter on or
5 after January first, nineteen hundred seventy-two, is higher than the
6 previously existing maximum rent, the landlord may not collect an
7 increase from a tenant in occupancy in any one year period of more than
8 the lesser of either seven and one-half percentum [increase from a
9 tenant in occupancy on such date in any one year period, provided howev-
10 er, that where] or an average of the previous five years of one-year
11 rent increases on rent stabilized apartments as established by the rent
12 guidelines board, pursuant to subdivision b of section 26-510 of this
13 title. If the period for which the rent is established exceeds one year,
14 regardless of how the collection thereof is averaged over such period,
15 the rent the landlord shall be entitled to receive during the first
16 twelve months shall not be increased by more than the lesser of either
17 seven and one-half percentum or an average of the previous five years of
18 one-year rent increases on rent stabilized apartments as established by
19 the rent guidelines board, pursuant to subdivision b of section 26-510
20 of this title, over the previous rent [and]. Any additional annual rents
21 shall not exceed the lesser of either seven and one-half percentum or an
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04218-01-5
A. 398 2
1 average of the previous five years of one-year rent increases on rent
2 stabilized apartments as established by the rent guidelines board,
3 pursuant to subdivision b of section 26-510 of this title, of the rent
4 paid during the previous year. Notwithstanding any of the foregoing
5 limitations in this paragraph five, maximum rent shall be increased if
6 ordered by the agency pursuant to subparagraphs (d), (e), (f), (g), (h),
7 (i), (k), [(l),] or (m) [or (n)] of paragraph one of subdivision g of
8 this section. [Commencing January first, nineteen hundred eighty, rent
9 adjustments pursuant to subparagraph (n) of paragraph one of subdivision
10 g of this section shall be excluded from the maximum rent when computing
11 the seven and one-half percentum increase authorized by this paragraph
12 five.] Where a housing accommodation is vacant on January first, nine-
13 teen hundred seventy-two, or becomes vacant thereafter by voluntary
14 surrender of possession by the tenants, the maximum rent established for
15 such accommodations may be collected.
16 § 2. Subparagraphs (l) and (n) of paragraph 1 of subdivision g of
17 section 26-405 of the administrative code of the city of New York are
18 REPEALED.
19 § 3. Section 4 of chapter 274 of the laws of 1946, constituting the
20 emergency housing rent control law, is amended by adding a new subdivi-
21 sion 9 to read as follows:
22 9. No annual rent increase authorized pursuant to this act shall
23 exceed the average of the previous five annual rental increases author-
24 ized by a rent guidelines board for a rent stabilized unit pursuant to
25 section 4 of the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-
26 four.
27 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
28 it shall have become a law; provided that the amendments to section
29 26-405 of the city rent and rehabilitation law made by section one of
30 this act shall remain in full force and effect only as long as the
31 public emergency requiring the regulation and control of residential
32 rents and evictions continues, as provided in subdivision 3 of section 1
33 of the local emergency housing rent control act; and provided that the
34 amendments to section 4 of the emergency housing rent control law made
35 by section three of this act shall expire on the same date as such law
36 expires and shall not affect the expiration of such law as provided in
37 subdivision 2 of section 1 of chapter 274 of the laws of 1946.