S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
5643
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
March 20, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. MITAYNES -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Housing
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, the
emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four and the emer-
gency housing rent control law, in relation to the amount of time to
submit supporting documentation for major capital improvements
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph 1 of subdivision g of section 26-405 of the
administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new
subparagraph (g-1) to read as follows:
(G-1) NO INCREASE FOR MAJOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SHALL BE GRANTED TO
ANY LANDLORD OR PROPERTY OWNER, UNLESS AN APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL
NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION ARE SUBMITTED WITHIN ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DAYS
AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW INSTALLATION OR IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS; OR
§ 2. Paragraph 6 of subdivision c of section 26-511 of the administra-
tive code of the city of New York, as separately amended by section 12
of part K of chapter 36 and section 28 of part Q of chapter 39 of the
laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
(6) provides criteria whereby the commissioner may act upon applica-
tions by owners for increases in excess of the level of fair rent
increase established under this law provided, however, that such crite-
ria shall provide (a) as to hardship applications, for a finding that
the level of fair rent increase is not sufficient to enable the owner to
maintain approximately the same average annual net income (which shall
be computed without regard to debt service, financing costs or manage-
ment fees) for the three year period ending on or within six months of
the date of an application pursuant to such criteria as compared with
annual net income, which prevailed on the average over the period nine-
teen hundred sixty-eight through nineteen hundred seventy, or for the
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02896-01-3
A. 5643 2
first three years of operation if the building was completed since nine-
teen hundred sixty-eight or for the first three fiscal years after a
transfer of title to a new owner provided the new owner can establish to
the satisfaction of the commissioner that he or she acquired title to
the building as a result of a bona fide sale of the entire building and
that the new owner is unable to obtain requisite records for the fiscal
years nineteen hundred sixty-eight through nineteen hundred seventy
despite diligent efforts to obtain same from predecessors in title and
further provided that the new owner can provide financial data covering
a minimum of six years under his or her continuous and uninterrupted
operation of the building to meet the three year to three year compar-
ative test periods herein provided; and (b) as to completed building-
wide major capital improvements, for a finding that such improvements
are deemed depreciable under the Internal Revenue Code and that the cost
is to be amortized over a twelve-year period for a building with thir-
ty-five or fewer housing accommodations, or a twelve and one-half-year
period for a building with more than thirty-five housing accommodations,
for any determination issued by the division of housing and community
renewal after the effective date of the [the] chapter of the laws of two
thousand nineteen that amended this paragraph and shall be removed from
the legal regulated rent thirty years from the date the increase became
effective inclusive of any increases granted by the applicable rent
guidelines board. Temporary major capital improvement increases shall be
collectible prospectively on the first day of the first month beginning
sixty days from the date of mailing notice of approval to the tenant.
Such notice shall disclose the total monthly increase in rent and the
first month in which the tenant would be required to pay the temporary
increase. An approval for a temporary major capital improvement increase
shall not include retroactive payments. The collection of any increase
shall not exceed two percent in any year from the effective date of the
order granting the increase over the rent set forth in the schedule of
gross rents, with collectability of any dollar excess above said sum to
be spread forward in similar increments and added to the rent as estab-
lished or set in future years. Upon vacancy, the landlord may add any
remaining balance of the temporary major capital improvement increase to
the legal regulated rent. Notwithstanding any other provision of the
law, for any renewal lease commencing on or after June 14, 2019, the
collection of any rent increases due to any major capital improvements
approved on or after June 16, 2012 and before June 16, 2019 shall not
exceed two percent in any year for any tenant in occupancy on the date
the major capital improvement was approved or based upon cash purchase
price exclusive of interest or service charges. Where an application for
a temporary major capital improvement increase has been filed, a tenant
shall have sixty days from the date of mailing of a notice of a proceed-
ing in which to answer or reply. The state division of housing and
community renewal shall provide any responding tenant with the reasons
for the division's approval or denial of such application. Notwithstand-
ing anything to the contrary contained herein, no hardship increase
granted pursuant to this paragraph shall, when added to the annual gross
rents, as determined by the commissioner, exceed the sum of, (i) the
annual operating expenses, (ii) an allowance for management services as
determined by the commissioner, (iii) actual annual mortgage debt
service (interest and amortization) on its indebtedness to a lending
institution, an insurance company, a retirement fund or welfare fund
which is operated under the supervision of the banking or insurance laws
of the state of New York or the United States, and (iv) eight and one-
A. 5643 3
half percent of that portion of the fair market value of the property
which exceeds the unpaid principal amount of the mortgage indebtedness
referred to in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph. Fair market value
for the purposes of this paragraph shall be six times the annual gross
rent. The collection of any increase in the stabilized rent for any
apartment pursuant to this paragraph shall not exceed six percent in any
year from the effective date of the order granting the increase over the
rent set forth in the schedule of gross rents, with collectability of
any dollar excess above said sum to be spread forward in similar incre-
ments and added to the stabilized rent as established or set in future
years. NO INCREASE FOR MAJOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SHALL BE GRANTED TO
ANY LANDLORD OR PROPERTY OWNER, UNLESS AN APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL
NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION IS SUBMITTED WITHIN ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DAYS
AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW INSTALLATION OR IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
MENTS;
§ 3. Subdivision b of section 4 of section 4 of chapter 576 of the
laws of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nine-
teen seventy-four, is amended by adding a new paragraph 4 to read as
follows:
(4) NO INCREASE FOR MAJOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SHALL BE GRANTED TO ANY
LANDLORD OR PROPERTY OWNER, UNLESS AN APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL NECES-
SARY DOCUMENTATION IS SUBMITTED WITHIN ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DAYS AFTER THE
COMPLETION OF THE NEW INSTALLATION OR IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS;
§ 4. Subparagraph 7 of the second undesignated paragraph of paragraph
(a) of subdivision 4 of section 4 of chapter 274 of the laws of 1946,
constituting the emergency housing rent control law, as separately
amended by section 25 of part Q of chapter 39 and section 14 of part K
of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
(7) there has been since March first, nineteen hundred fifty, a major
capital improvement essential for the preservation, energy efficiency,
functionality, or infrastructure of the entire building, improvement of
the structure including heating, windows, plumbing and roofing, but
shall not be for operational costs or unnecessary cosmetic improvements;
which for any order of the commissioner issued after the effective date
of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this
paragraph the cost of such improvement shall be amortized over a twelve-
year period for buildings with thirty-five or fewer units or a twelve
and one-half year period for buildings with more than thirty-five units,
and shall be removed from the legal regulated rent thirty years from the
date the increase became effective inclusive of any increases granted by
the applicable rent guidelines board. Temporary major capital improve-
ment increases shall be collectible prospectively on the first day of
the first month beginning sixty days from the date of mailing notice of
approval to the tenant. Such notice shall disclose the total monthly
increase in rent and the first month in which the tenant would be
required to pay the temporary increase. An approval for a temporary
major capital improvement increase shall not include retroactive
payments. The collection of any increase shall not exceed two percent in
any year from the effective date of the order granting the increase over
the rent set forth in the schedule of gross rents, with collectability
of any dollar excess above said sum to be spread forward in similar
increments and added to the rent as established or set in future years.
Upon vacancy, the landlord may add any remaining balance of the tempo-
rary major capital improvement increase to the legal regulated rent.
Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, for any renewal lease
commencing on or after June 14, 2019, the collection of any rent
A. 5643 4
increases due to any major capital improvements approved on or after
June 16, 2012 and before June 16, 2019 shall not exceed two percent in
any year for any tenant in occupancy on the date the major capital
improvement was approved; provided, however, where an application for a
temporary major capital improvement increase has been filed, a tenant
shall have sixty days from the date of mailing of a notice of a proceed-
ing in which to answer or reply. The state division of housing and
community renewal shall provide any responding tenant with the reasons
for the division's approval or denial of such application. NO INCREASE
FOR MAJOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SHALL BE GRANTED TO ANY LANDLORD OR PROP-
ERTY OWNER, UNLESS AN APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION
IS SUBMITTED WITHIN ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DAYS AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE
NEW INSTALLATION OR IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS; or
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that:
a. the amendments to section 26-405 of the city rent and rehabili-
tation law made by section one 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
b. the amendments to section 26-511 of the administrative code of the
city of New York made by section two of this act shall not affect the
expiration of such section and shall be deemed to expire therewith.