§ 7. Maintenance of services. a. In order to collect a rent adjustment
authorized pursuant to the provisions of subdivision b of section four,
the owner of housing accommodations subject to this act located in a
city having a population of less than one million or a town or village
must file with the state division of housing and community renewal on a
form which it shall prescribe, a written certification that he is
maintaining and will continue to maintain all services furnished on the
date upon which this act becomes a law or required to be furnished by
any law, ordinance or regulation applicable to the premises. In addition
to any other remedy afforded by law, any tenant may apply to the state
division of housing and community renewal for a reduction in the rent to
the level in effect prior to its most recent adjustment, and the state
division of housing and community renewal may so reduce the rent if it
finds that the owner has failed to maintain such services. The owner
shall be supplied with a copy of the application and shall be permitted
to file an answer thereto. A hearing may be held upon the request of
either party, or the state division of housing and community renewal may
hold a hearing upon its own motion. The state division of housing and
community renewal may consolidate the proceedings for two or more
petitions applicable to the same building. If the state division of
housing and community renewal finds that the owner has knowingly filed a
false certification, it shall, in addition to abating the rent, assess
the owner with the reasonable costs of the proceeding, including
reasonable attorneys' fees, and impose a penalty not in excess of two
hundred fifty dollars for each false certification. The amount of the
reduction in rent ordered by the state division of housing and community
renewal under this subdivision shall be reduced by any credit, abatement
or offset in rent which the tenant has received pursuant to section two
hundred thirty-five-b of the real property law, that relates to one or
more conditions covered by such order.

b. In order to collect a rent adjustment authorized pursuant to the
provisions of subdivision c of section four, the owner of housing
accommodations located in a city having a population of more than one
million shall comply with the requirements with respect to the
maintenance of services of the New York city rent stabilization law of
nineteen hundred sixty-nine.