Int. No. 10
By The Speaker (Council Member Vallone) and Council Members Michels, Clarke, Cruz, Duane, Eisland, Fields, Fisher, McCaffrey, Povman, Sabini, Henry, Eristoff and Perkins; also Council Members DiBrienza, Eldridge, Leffler, Provenzano, Robinson, Robles, Warden and Weiner - read and referred to the Committee on Housing and Buildings
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring owners of housing accommodations that are deregulated upon vacancy to provide the first new tenant of such housing accommodation with the last known regulated rent.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Section 26-504.2 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as last amended by chapter 116 of the laws of 1997, is amended to read as follows:
§26-504.2 Exclusion of high rent accommodations. a. "Housing accommodations" shall not include any housing accommodation which becomes vacant on or after April first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven and where at the time the tenant vacated such housing accommodation the legal regulated rent was two thousand dollars or more per month, or any housing accommodation which is or becomes vacant on or after the effective date of the rent regulation reform act of 1997 with a legal regulated rent of two thousand dollars or more per month. Provided however, that the exclusion shall not apply to housing accommodations which became or become subject to this law (a) by virtue of receiving tax benefits pursuant to section four hundred twenty-one-a or four hundred eighty-nine of the real property tax law, except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (i) of paragraph (f) of subdivision two of section four hundred twenty-one-a of the real property tax law, or (b) by virtue of article seven-c of the multiple dwelling law. This section shall not apply, however, to or become effective with respect to housing accommodations which the commissioner determines or finds that the landlord or any person acting on his or her behalf, with intent to cause the tenant to vacate, engaged in any course of conduct (including, but not limited to, interruption or discontinuance of required services) which interfered with or disturbed or was intended to interfere with or disturb the comfort, repose, peace or quiet of the tenant in his or her use or occupancy of the housing accommodations and in connection with such course of conduct, any other general enforcement provision of this law shall also apply.
b. The owner of any housing accommodation that is not subject to this law pursuant to the provisions of subdivision a of this section or subparagraph k of paragraph 2 of subdivision e of section 26-403 of this code shall give certified written notice to the first tenant of that housing accommodation after such housing accommodation became exempt from the provisions of this law or the city rent and rehabilitation law, which contains a statement that the last legal regulated rent or maximum rent may be verified by the tenant by contacting the state division of housing and community renewal, or any successor thereto, and the address and telephone number of such agency, or any successor thereto, attached to which shall be a certified copy of the past registration statement for such housing accommodations or the document most recently filed with the state division of housing and community renewal which sets forth the maximum rent for such housing accommodation, as well as a certified copy of any subsequent order authorizing major capital improvement increases issued by the state department of housing and community renewal. Such notice shall be sent by certified mail within thirty days after such tenancy commences.
§2. This local law shall take effect immediately.