NY State Senate Bill 2021-S4637A

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jun 03, 2022	committed to rules
May 05, 2022	advanced to third reading
May 04, 2022	2nd report cal. amended (t) 4637a
May 03, 2022	1st report cal.1030
Jan 05, 2022	referred to housing, construction and community development
Feb 08, 2021	referred to housing, construction and community development

Votes

- May 3, 2022 - Housing, Construction And Community Development Committee Vote
  S4637A
  
  8
  
  Aye
  
  2
  
  Nay
  
  1
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Housing, Construction And Community Development Committee Vote: May 3, 2022
      
      aye (8)
      
      Brisport
      
      Jackson
      
      Kavanagh
      
      Mannion
      
      Myrie
      
      Rivera
      
      Ryan
      
      Salazar
      
      nay (2)
      
      Boyle
      
      Martucci
      
      aye wr (1)
      
      Helming

Bill Amendments

Original

A (Active)

co-Sponsors

2021-S4637 - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974
Laws Affected:: Amd §12, Emerg Ten Prot Act of 1974; amd §26-516, NYC Ad Cd
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S6454
2017-2018: S122
2019-2020: S238
2023-2024: S2482

2021-S4637 - Summary

Relates to addressing rent overcharge by increasing its penalty.

2021-S4637 - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S4637

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN
 
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.0238 of 2019-2020 (Hoylman): Died in Housing, Construction and Commu-
nity Development

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.

2021-S4637 - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4637
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 8, 2021
                                ___________
 
 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 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:
 
   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  section 1 of part F of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, 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 opportu-
 nity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent author-
 ized for a housing accommodation subject to this act shall be liable  to
 the  tenant  for  a  penalty  equal  to [three] AT LEAST THREE TIMES THE
 AMOUNT, NOT TO EXCEED FIVE times the amount of such overcharge.  If  the
 owner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the overcharge
 was neither willful nor attributable to his OR HER negligence, the state
 division of housing and community renewal shall establish the penalty as
 the amount of the overcharge plus interest at the rate of interest paya-
 ble  on  a  judgment pursuant to section five thousand four of the civil
 practice law and rules. After a complaint of rent  overcharge  has  been
 filed  and  served  on  an  owner,  the voluntary adjustment of the rent
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD00716-01-1

 S. 4637                             2
 
 and/or the voluntary tender of a refund of rent overcharges shall not be
 considered by the division of housing and community renewal or  a  court
 of  competent jurisdiction as evidence that the overcharge was not will-
 ful.  (i)  Except as to complaints filed pursuant to clause (ii) of this
 paragraph, the legal regulated rent for purposes of determining an over-
 charge, shall be deemed to be the rent  indicated  in  the  most  recent
 reliable  annual  registration  statement  for  a rent stabilized tenant
 filed and served upon the tenant six or more 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. The division of housing and community renewal
 or  a  court  of  competent jurisdiction, in investigating complaints of
 overcharge and in determining legal regulated rent, shall  consider  all
 available rent history which is reasonably necessary to make such deter-
 minations. (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 six years prior to the date of the initial registra-
 tion  of the housing accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation was
 subject to this act for less than six years, the initial legal regulated
 rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and adjustments. Where the
 rent charged on the date six years prior to  the  date  of  the  initial
 registration of the accommodation cannot be established, such rent shall
 be established by the division.
   §  2. The opening paragraph of subdivision  a of section 26-516 of the
 administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by section 4  of
 part F of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, 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] AT LEAST THREE TIMES
 THE  AMOUNT,  NOT TO EXCEED FIVE times the amount of such overcharge. If
 the owner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the  over-
 charge  was  not  willful,  the  state division of housing and community
 renewal shall establish the penalty as the amount of the overcharge plus
 interest. After a complaint of rent overcharge has been filed and served
 on an owner, the voluntary adjustment of the rent and/or  the  voluntary
 tender  of  a  refund of rent overcharges shall not be considered by the
 division of housing and community renewal or a court of competent juris-
 diction as evidence that the overcharge was not willful. (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 most recent reliable annual registration statement
 filed and served upon the tenant six or more 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. The division of housing and community renewal
 or  a  court  of  competent jurisdiction, in investigating complaints of
 overcharge and in determining legal regulated rent, shall  consider  all
 available rent history which is reasonably necessary to make such deter-
 minations. (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 charged on the date six years prior to the date

 S. 4637                             3
 
 of the initial registration of the housing  accommodation  (or,  if  the
 housing  accommodation  was  subject  to  this chapter for less than six
 years, the initial legal regulated rent) plus in each case,  any  lawful
 increases  and adjustments. Where the rent charged on the date six 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, however, that
 the amendments to section 26-516 of chapter 4 of title 26 of the  admin-
 istrative  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.

co-Sponsors

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974
Laws Affected:: Amd §12, Emerg Ten Prot Act of 1974; amd §26-516, NYC Ad Cd
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S6454
2017-2018: S122
2019-2020: S238
2023-2024: S2482

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Summary

Relates to addressing rent overcharge by increasing its penalty.

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S4637A

SPONSOR: HOYLMAN
 
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 addressing rent overcharge by increasing its penalty

 
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.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.

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  4637--A
     Cal. No. 1030
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 8, 2021
                                ___________
 
 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 -- recommitted to the Committee
   on  Housing, Construction and Community Development in accordance with
   Senate Rule 6, sec. 8  --  reported  favorably  from  said  committee,
   ordered  to first report, amended on first report, ordered to a second
   report and ordered reprinted, retaining its  place  in  the  order  of
   second report
 
 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 addressing rent overcharge by increasing its penalty
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, 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  section 1 of part F of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, 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 opportu-
 nity to be heard, to have collected an overcharge above the rent author-
 ized for a housing accommodation subject to this act shall be liable  to
 the  tenant  for  a  penalty  equal  to [three] AT LEAST THREE TIMES THE
 AMOUNT, NOT TO EXCEED FIVE times the amount of such overcharge.  If  the
 owner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the overcharge
 was neither willful nor attributable to his OR HER negligence, the state
 division of housing and community renewal shall establish the penalty as
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD00716-02-2
 S. 4637--A                          2
 
 the amount of the overcharge plus interest at the rate of interest paya-
 ble  on  a  judgment pursuant to section five thousand four of the civil
 practice law and rules. After a complaint of rent  overcharge  has  been
 filed  and  served  on  an  owner,  the voluntary adjustment of the rent
 and/or the voluntary tender of a refund of rent overcharges shall not be
 considered by the division of housing and community renewal or  a  court
 of  competent jurisdiction as evidence that the overcharge was not will-
 ful. (i) Except as to complaints filed pursuant to clause (ii)  of  this
 paragraph, the legal regulated rent for purposes of determining an over-
 charge,  shall  be  deemed  to  be the rent indicated in the most recent
 reliable annual registration statement  for  a  rent  stabilized  tenant
 filed  and  served  upon  the tenant six or more 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. The division of housing and community renewal
 or a court of competent jurisdiction,  in  investigating  complaints  of
 overcharge  and  in determining legal regulated rent, shall consider all
 available rent history which is reasonably necessary to make such deter-
 minations. (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 six years prior to the date of the initial registra-
 tion of the housing accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation  was
 subject to this act for less than six years, the initial legal regulated
 rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and adjustments. Where the
 rent  charged  on  the  date  six years prior to the date of the initial
 registration of the accommodation cannot be established, such rent shall
 be established by the division.
   § 2. The opening paragraph of subdivision  a of section 26-516 of  the
 administrative  code of the city of New York, as amended by section 4 of
 part F of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, 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] AT LEAST THREE TIMES
 THE AMOUNT, NOT TO EXCEED FIVE times the amount of such  overcharge.  If
 the  owner establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that the over-
 charge was not willful, the state  division  of  housing  and  community
 renewal shall establish the penalty as the amount of the overcharge plus
 interest. After a complaint of rent overcharge has been filed and served
 on  an  owner, the voluntary adjustment of the rent and/or the voluntary
 tender of a refund of rent overcharges shall not be  considered  by  the
 division of housing and community renewal or a court of competent juris-
 diction  as  evidence that the overcharge was not willful. (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 most recent reliable annual registration statement
 filed  and  served  upon  the tenant six or more 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. The division of housing and community renewal
 or a court of competent jurisdiction,  in  investigating  complaints  of
 overcharge  and  in determining legal regulated rent, shall consider all
 S. 4637--A                          3
 
 available rent history which is reasonably necessary to make such deter-
 minations. (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 charged on the date six 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  six
 years,  the  initial legal regulated rent) plus in each case, any lawful
 increases and adjustments. Where the rent charged on the date six  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,  however,  that
 the  amendments to section 26-516 of chapter 4 of title 26 of the admin-
 istrative 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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Senate Bill S4637A

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

May 3, 2022 - Housing, Construction And Community Development Committee Vote

Housing, Construction And Community Development Committee Vote: May 3, 2022

Bill Amendments

co-Sponsors

2021-S4637 - Details

2021-S4637 - Summary

2021-S4637 - Sponsor Memo

2021-S4637 - Bill Text download pdf

co-Sponsors

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

Senate Bill S4637A

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Brad Hoylman-Sigal

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Bill Amendments

co-Sponsors

Liz Krueger

2021-S4637 - Details

2021-S4637 - Summary

2021-S4637 - Sponsor Memo

2021-S4637 - Bill Text download pdf

co-Sponsors

Liz Krueger

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Details

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Summary

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

2021-S4637A (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments