Provides that the determination of legal regulated base date rent at the four-year lookback shall be determined by either the survey sampling method or the default method if there is fraud.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2129
SPONSOR: Rosenthal L TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend chapter 576 of the laws of 1974, constituting the emer-
gency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, in relation to
providing for the determination of legal regulated base date rent for
certain purposes
PURPOSE:
To provide greater guidance concerning the interpretation and calcu-
lation of base date rent in cases of rent overcharges.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Provides greater guidance concerning the interpretation and calculation
of base date rent in cases of rent overcharges by including the follow-
ing language: If there is an overcharge, the legal regulated base date
rent at the four-year lookback shall be determined by either the survey
sampling method or the default method if there is fraud.
JUSTIFICATION:
This is in response to the Court of Appeals decision in Regina Metropol-
itan Co. v. New York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal which
severely limited the ability of victimized. New Yorkers to become
compensated for the ill-gotten takings in the form of rent overcharges
that had been collected for years and in some cases decades. It is hoped
that this change will level the playing field and help aggrieved and
financially exploited renters recoup money that they should have never
been forced to remit in the first instance.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: A.10514 - Referred to Housing; S.90075 - Referred to Housing,
Construction and Community Development
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediate.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2129
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Housing
AN ACT to amend chapter 576 of the laws of 1974, constituting the emer-
gency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, in relation to
providing for the determination of legal regulated base date rent for
certain purposes
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 section 1 of part F chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, is amended to
5 read as follows:
6 Subject to the conditions and limitations of this paragraph, any owner
7 of housing accommodations in a city having a population of less than one
8 million or a town or village as to which an emergency has been declared
9 pursuant to section three, who, upon complaint of a tenant or of the
10 state division of housing and community renewal, is found by the state
11 division of housing and community renewal, after a reasonable opportu-
12 nity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent author-
13 ized for a housing accommodation subject to this act shall be liable to
14 the tenant for a penalty equal to three times the amount of such over-
15 charge. If the owner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence
16 that the overcharge was neither willful nor attributable to his negli-
17 gence, the state division of housing and community renewal shall estab-
18 lish the penalty as the amount of the overcharge plus interest at the
19 rate of interest payable on a judgment pursuant to section five thousand
20 four of the civil practice law and rules. After a complaint of rent
21 overcharge has been filed and served on an owner, the voluntary adjust-
22 ment of the rent and/or the voluntary tender of a refund of rent over-
23 charges shall not be considered by the division of housing and community
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD05848-01-3
A. 2129 2
1 renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction as evidence that the over-
2 charge was not willful. (i) Except as to complaints filed pursuant to
3 clause (ii) of this paragraph, the legal regulated rent for purposes of
4 determining an overcharge, shall be deemed to be the rent indicated in
5 the most recent reliable annual registration statement for a rent stabi-
6 lized tenant filed and served upon the tenant six or more years prior to
7 the most recent registration statement, (or, if more recently filed, the
8 initial registration statement) plus in each case any subsequent lawful
9 increases and adjustments. The division of housing and community
10 renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction, in investigating
11 complaints of overcharge and in determining legal regulated rent, shall
12 consider all available rent history which is reasonably necessary to
13 make such determinations. If there is an overcharge, the legal regulated
14 base date rent at the four-year lookback shall be determined by either
15 the survey sampling method or the default method if there is fraud. (ii)
16 As to complaints filed within ninety days of the initial registration of
17 a housing accommodation, the legal regulated rent for purposes of deter-
18 mining an overcharge shall be deemed to be the rent charged on the date
19 six years prior to the date of the initial registration of the housing
20 accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation was subject to this act
21 for less than six years, the initial legal regulated rent) plus in each
22 case, any lawful increases and adjustments. Where the rent charged on
23 the date six years prior to the date of the initial registration of the
24 accommodation cannot be established, such rent shall be established by
25 the division.
26 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
