§ 12-a. Rent registration. a. Each housing accommodation 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 of this
act which is subject to this act shall be registered by the owner
thereof with the state division of housing and community renewal prior
to July first, nineteen hundred eighty-four upon forms prescribed by the
commissioner of such division. The data to be provided on such forms
shall include the following: (1) the name and address of the building or
group of buildings or development in which such housing accommodation is
located and the owner and the tenant thereof; (2) the number of housing
accommodations in the building or group of buildings or development in
which such housing accommodation is located; (3) the number of housing
accommodations in such building or group of buildings or development
subject to this act and the number of such housing accommodations
subject to the emergency housing rent control law; (4) the rent charged
on the registration date; (5) the number of rooms in such housing
accommodation; and (6) all services provided in the last lease or rental
agreement commencing at least six months prior to the local effective
date of this act.

b. Registration pursuant to this section shall not be subject to the
freedom of information law, provided that registration information
relative to a tenant, owner, lessor or subtenant shall be made available
to such party or his authorized representative.

c. Housing accommodations which become subject to this act after the
initial registration period must be registered within ninety days
thereafter. Registration of housing accommodations subject to the
emergency housing rent control law immediately prior to the date of
filing the initial registration statement as provided in this section
shall include, in addition to the items listed above, where existing,
the maximum rent immediately prior to the date that such housing
accommodations became subject to this act.

d. Copies of the registration shall be filed with the state division
of housing and community renewal in such place or places as it may
require. In addition, one copy of that portion of the registration
statement which pertains to the tenant's unit must be mailed by the
owner to the tenant in possession at the time of initial registration or
to the first tenant in occupancy if the apartment is vacant at the time
of initial registration.

e. The failure to file a proper and timely initial or annual rent
registration statement shall, until such time as such registration is
filed, bar an owner from applying for or collecting any rent in excess
of the legal regulated rent in effect on the date of the last preceding
registration statement or if no such statements have been filed, the
legal regulated rent in effect on the date that the housing
accommodation became subject to the registration requirements of this
section. The filing of a late registration shall result in the
prospective elimination of such sanctions and provided that increases in
the legal regulated rent were lawful except for the failure to file a
timely registration, the owner, upon the service and filing of a late
registration, shall not be found to have collected an overcharge at any
time prior to the filing of the late registration. In addition to all
other requirements set forth in this subdivision, in the event a timely
rent registration is not filed and after notice of such delinquency is
provided by the division of housing and community renewal to the owner
in the form of electronic mail and mail to the address listed in the
owner's most recent registration statement, the owner shall be subject
to a fine of five hundred dollars per unregistered unit for each month
the registration is delinquent. Such a fine shall be imposed by order,
and such order imposing a fine shall be deemed a final determination for
the purposes of judicial review. Such fine may, upon the expiration of
the period for seeking review pursuant to article seventy-eight of the
civil practice law and rules, be docketed and enforced in the manner of
a judgment of the supreme court by the division of housing and community
renewal.

f. An annual statement shall be filed containing the current rent for
each unit and such other information contained in subdivision a of this
section as shall be required by the division. The owner shall provide
each tenant then in occupancy with a copy of that portion of such annual
statement as pertains to the tenant's unit.

g. Within a city having a population of one million or more, each
housing accommodation subject to this act shall be registered with the
state division of housing and community renewal as shall be provided in
the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine.

h. Each housing accommodation for which a timely registration
statement was filed between April first, nineteen hundred eighty-four
and June thirtieth, nineteen hundred eighty-four, pursuant to
subdivision a of this section shall designate the rent charged on April
first, nineteen hundred eighty-four, as the rent charged on the
registration date.