Int. No. 1070-A

By Council Members Moya, R. Diaz, Holden, Rose and Kallos

A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to leasing, rental and conditional purchase of for-hire vehicles

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Chapter 5 of title 19 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 19-553 to read as follows:

§ 19-553 Leasing, rental and conditional purchase of for-hire vehicles. a. The commission shall promulgate consumer protection and disclosure rules regarding leasing, rental, lease-to-own, and conditional purchase arrangements to obtain a for-hire vehicle for use with a license issued by the commission. Such rules may differ for different types of financial arrangements and different lengths of time of such arrangements. In promulgating such rules, the commission shall at a minimum consider the following:

1. A requirement that financial arrangements be in writing and signed by the lessor and lessee, with a copy provided to the lessee upon execution and upon lessee request;

2. Requiring that all terms must be written in clear and unambiguous language;

3. A requirement that the terms of the arrangement include:

(a) The beginning and end date of the arrangement;

(b) All costs and fees that may be charged under the arrangement, with costs for additional services such as insurance and licensing clearly indicated; and

(c) An explanation of the conditions that will result in the imposition of any cost or fee;

4. A requirement that if the arrangement includes charges for licensing the vehicle with the commission, the arrangement must provide an itemized explanation of the costs associated with such licensing, to include the amount of any fee imposed by the commission; and

5. Requiring that arrangements provide notice of appropriate mechanisms for reporting complaints regarding overcharges.

b. The commission may deny an application for a license for a vehicle subject to a leasing, rental, lease-to-own or conditional purchase arrangement if such leasing, rental, lease-to-own or conditional purchase arrangement does not comply with the rules of the commission.

c. Requirements imposed by the rules promulgated pursuant to this section shall apply only to leasing, rental, lease-to-own and conditional purchase arrangements executed after the effective date of the local law that added this section.

§ 2. This local law takes effect 180 days after it becomes law, except that the commission shall take such measures as are necessary for the implementation of this local law, including the promulgation of rules, before such date.

NB/JJD/EL

LS 6714, 6735

1/16/2019 7:05 p.m.