Bill Text: NY A03241 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides that no landlord shall deny access to a licensed professional engineer or licensed registered architect hired by any tenant or tenant association representing tenants of a multiple dwelling of six units or more for the purpose of conducting an inspection of a major capital improvement for which an application for a maximum rent adjustment has been filed by the landlord; provides that such inspection shall be conducted after notice to the landlord and during normal business hours; provides for the filing of such inspection report by such tenants with the New York city rent agency for consideration in such application's determination.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to housing [A03241 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A03241-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3241 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 29, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. CYMBROWITZ -- read once and referred to the Committee on Housing AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York and the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, in relation to inspection of major capital improvements for which rent increases are requested and in relation to extending the provisions of the rent stabilization law The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subparagraph (g) of paragraph 1 of subdivision g of section 2 26-405 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by 3 section 31 of part A of chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to 4 read as follows: 5 (g) There has been since July first, nineteen hundred seventy, a major 6 capital improvement required for the operation, preservation or mainte- 7 nance of the structure. An adjustment under this subparagraph [(g)] for 8 any order of the commissioner issued after the effective date of the 9 rent act of 2015 shall be in an amount sufficient to amortize the cost 10 of the improvements pursuant to this subparagraph [(g)] over an eight- 11 year period for buildings with thirty-five or fewer units or a nine year 12 period for buildings with more than [thiry-five] thirty-five units[,13or]. No landlord shall deny access to a professional engineer licensed 14 to practice in the state of New York or a registered architect licensed 15 to practice in the state of New York hired by any tenant, tenants or 16 tenant association representing tenants of a multiple dwelling of six 17 units or more for the purpose of conducting an inspection of a major 18 capital improvement for which an application for adjustment of maximum 19 rent has been filed. Such inspection shall be conducted after notice to 20 the landlord and during normal business hours. Such tenant may file the 21 report of the inspection with the city rent agency for consideration in 22 the determination of such application; or EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07406-01-9A. 3241 2 1 § 2. Paragraph 6 of subdivision c of section 26-511 of the administra- 2 tive code of the city of New York, as amended by section 29 of part A of 3 chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows: 4 (6) provides criteria whereby the commissioner may act upon applica- 5 tions by owners for increases in excess of the level of fair rent 6 increase established under this law provided, however, that such crite- 7 ria shall provide (a) as to hardship applications, for a finding that 8 the level of fair rent increase is not sufficient to enable the owner to 9 maintain approximately the same average annual net income (which shall 10 be computed without regard to debt service, financing costs or manage- 11 ment fees) for the three year period ending on or within six months of 12 the date of an application pursuant to such criteria as compared with 13 annual net income, which prevailed on the average over the period nine- 14 teen hundred sixty-eight through nineteen hundred seventy, or for the 15 first three years of operation if the building was completed since nine- 16 teen hundred sixty-eight or for the first three fiscal years after a 17 transfer of title to a new owner provided the new owner can establish to 18 the satisfaction of the commissioner that he or she acquired title to 19 the building as a result of a bona fide sale of the entire building and 20 that the new owner is unable to obtain requisite records for the fiscal 21 years nineteen hundred sixty-eight through nineteen hundred seventy 22 despite diligent efforts to obtain same from predecessors in title and 23 further provided that the new owner can provide financial data covering 24 a minimum of six years under his or her continuous and uninterrupted 25 operation of the building to meet the three year to three year compar- 26 ative test periods herein provided; and (b) as to completed building- 27 wide major capital improvements, for a finding that such improvements 28 are deemed depreciable under the Internal Revenue Code and that the cost 29 is to be amortized over an eight-year period for a building with thir- 30 ty-five or fewer housing accommodations, or a nine-year period for a 31 building with more than thirty-five housing accommodations, for any 32 determination issued by the division of housing and community renewal 33 after the effective date of the rent act of 2015, based upon cash 34 purchase price exclusive of interest or service charges. No landlord 35 shall deny access to a professional engineer licensed to practice in the 36 state of New York or a registered architect licensed to practice in the 37 state of New York hired by any tenant, tenants or tenant association 38 representing tenants of a multiple dwelling of six units or more for the 39 purpose of conducting an inspection of a major capital improvement for 40 which an application for adjustment of maximum rent has been filed. Such 41 inspection shall be conducted after notice to the landlord and during 42 normal business hours. Such tenant may file the report of the inspection 43 with the city rent agency for consideration in the determination of such 44 application. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, 45 no hardship increase granted pursuant to this paragraph shall, when 46 added to the annual gross rents, as determined by the commissioner, 47 exceed the sum of, (i) the annual operating expenses, (ii) an allowance 48 for management services as determined by the commissioner, (iii) actual 49 annual mortgage debt service (interest and amortization) on its indebt- 50 edness to a lending institution, an insurance company, a retirement fund 51 or welfare fund which is operated under the supervision of the banking 52 or insurance laws of the state of New York or the United States, and 53 (iv) eight and one-half percent of that portion of the fair market value 54 of the property which exceeds the unpaid principal amount of the mort- 55 gage indebtedness referred to in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph. 56 Fair market value for the purposes of this paragraph shall be six timesA. 3241 3 1 the annual gross rent. The collection of any increase in the stabilized 2 rent for any apartment pursuant to this paragraph shall not exceed six 3 percent in any year from the effective date of the order granting the 4 increase over the rent set forth in the schedule of gross rents, with 5 collectability of any dollar excess above said sum to be spread forward 6 in similar increments and added to the stabilized rent as established or 7 set in future years; 8 § 3. Paragraph 3 of subdivision d of section 6 of section 4 of chapter 9 576 of the laws of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection 10 act of nineteen seventy-four, as amended by section 30 of part A of 11 chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows: 12 (3) there has been since January first, nineteen hundred seventy-four 13 a major capital improvement required for the operation, preservation or 14 maintenance of the structure. An adjustment under this paragraph shall 15 be in an amount sufficient to amortize the cost of the improvements 16 pursuant to this paragraph over an eight-year period for a building with 17 thirty-five or fewer housing accommodations, or a nine-year period for a 18 building with more than thirty-five housing accommodations, for any 19 determination issued by the division of housing and community renewal 20 after the effective date of the rent act of 2015[, or]. No landlord 21 shall deny access to a professional engineer licensed to practice in the 22 state of New York or a registered architect licensed to practice in the 23 state of New York hired by any tenant, tenants or tenant association 24 representing tenants of a multiple dwelling of six units or more for the 25 purpose of conducting an inspection of a major capital improvement for 26 which an application for adjustment of maximum rent has been filed. Such 27 inspection shall be conducted after notice to the landlord and during 28 normal business hours. Such tenant may file the report of the inspection 29 with the city rent agency for consideration in the determination of such 30 application, or 31 § 4. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 32 it shall have become a law, except that any rules and regulations neces- 33 sary for the timely implementation of this act on its effective date 34 shall be promulgated on or before such date; provided that the amendment 35 to section 26-405 of the city rent and rehabilitation law made by 36 section one of this act shall remain in full force and effect only so 37 long as the public emergency requiring the regulation and control of 38 residential rents and evictions continues, as provided in subdivision 3 39 of section 1 of the local emergency housing rent control act and 40 provided further that the amendment to section 26-511 of the rent 41 stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine made by section two of 42 this act shall expire on the same date as such law expires and shall not 43 affect the expiration of such law as provided under section 26-520 of 44 such law and provided further that the amendment to section 6 of the 45 emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four made by section 46 three of this act shall expire on the same date as such act expires and 47 shall not affect the expiration of such act as provided in section 17 of 48 chapter 576 of the laws of 1974, as amended.