Bill Text: NY A09615 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to the creation of a statewide residential rental registry providing information relating to rental units including the number and types of code violations issued by the appropriate enforcement agency, and the number of findings of harassment currently on record with the code enforcement agencies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-12 - print number 9615a [A09615 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A09615-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9615--A IN ASSEMBLY January 27, 2020 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ZEBROWSKI -- read once and referred to the Committee on Housing -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the executive law, the multiple residence law and the multiple dwelling law, in relation to a statewide residential rental registry The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 381-a 2 to read as follows: 3 § 381-a. Statewide rental registry. 1. The secretary shall administer 4 a statewide residential rental registry pursuant to the requirements of 5 this section and shall develop a public online rental registry database 6 designed to receive information from landlords and local governments and 7 code enforcement agencies and to disseminate such information to the 8 public. 9 2. The following words or terms when used in this section are defined 10 as follows: 11 (a) "Code enforcement" means the administration and enforcement of the 12 uniform fire prevention code and building code promulgated in accordance 13 with sections three hundred seventy-seven and three hundred seventy- 14 eight of this article, the state energy conservation construction code 15 adopted in accordance with article eleven of the energy law, and any 16 local building and fire regulations and any local residential housing 17 codes enacted or adopted by any local government that are in effect 18 pursuant to section three hundred seventy-nine of this article. 19 (b) "Covered dwelling" means a dwelling which is either rented, 20 leased, let or hired out, to be occupied, or is occupied as the resi- 21 dence or home of two or more families living independently of each 22 other. 23 (c) "Dwelling" means any building or structure or portion thereof 24 which is occupied in whole or in part as the home, residence, or sleep- 25 ing place of one or more human beings. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD14008-07-0A. 9615--A 2 1 (d) "Family" means either a person occupying a dwelling and maintain- 2 ing a household, with not more than four boarders, roomers or lodgers, 3 or two or more persons occupying a dwelling, living together and main- 4 taining a common household, with not more than four boarders, roomers or 5 lodgers. A "boarder", "roomer" or "lodger" residing with a family shall 6 mean a person living within the household who pays a consideration for 7 such residence and does not occupy such space within the household as an 8 incident of employment therein. 9 (e) "Managing agent" means a natural person who is over the age of 10 twenty-one years and a resident of the county in which the property is 11 located, resides within thirty miles of the property, or customarily and 12 regularly attends a business office maintained in the county or within 13 thirty miles of the property, and is designated by the owner to receive 14 service of notices and summons issued by the local code enforcement 15 agency. Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed as abrogating or 16 impairing the power of any local government to promulgate more restric- 17 tive definitions or rules related to managing agents. 18 (f) "Owner" means the owner or owners of the freehold of the premises 19 or lessor estate therein, a mortgagee or vendee in possession, assignee 20 of rents, receiver, executor, trustee, agent, or any other person, firm 21 or corporation, directly or indirectly in control of a dwelling. 22 (g) "Private dwelling" means any building or structure designed and 23 occupied exclusively for residential purposes by not more than one fami- 24 ly. 25 (h) "Secretary" means the secretary of state. 26 3. The owner of a covered dwelling shall register such dwelling with 27 the department of state annually in accordance with the rules and regu- 28 lations prescribed by the secretary, except that registration with the 29 department of state shall not be required where the owner is required to 30 register with a local government under which the property is situated in 31 a manner that complies with the rules and regulations prescribed by the 32 secretary pursuant to this section. 33 4. An owner who is required to register under this section and who 34 fails to register: (a) shall be subject to a civil penalty of the great- 35 er of two hundred fifty dollars or twenty-five dollars per residential 36 unit contained in the covered dwelling, and in no event shall a covered 37 dwelling be considered properly registered under this section until any 38 penalty that is due has been paid; and (b) shall be denied the right to 39 recover possession of the premises for nonpayment of rent during the 40 period of noncompliance, and shall, at the discretion of the court, 41 suffer a stay of proceeding to recover rents, during such period. In any 42 action to recover possession under section seven hundred eleven of the 43 real property actions and proceedings law, the owner shall allege that 44 they are properly registered under this section. 45 5. Any local government with a rental registration or rental registry 46 certificate program, ordinance, regulation or other law may continue to 47 maintain such registry or program but shall submit to the department of 48 state all information required under this section in a method prescribed 49 by the secretary. If such program, ordinance, or law does not comply 50 with the rules and regulations prescribed by the secretary pursuant to 51 this section, the owner shall register all covered dwellings with the 52 department of state. 53 6. The secretary shall develop and maintain an online portal for local 54 governments to submit registration and code enforcement violations to 55 the department of state as required under this section.A. 9615--A 3 1 7. The secretary shall promulgate rules and regulations prescribing 2 standards for administration and enforcement of the statewide rental 3 registry. Such rules and regulations shall address (a) information to be 4 collected during registration including, but not limited to: 5 (i) a valid identifying address of the property and the appropriate 6 designations of all rental units on the property; 7 (ii) the total number of rooms, the number of bathrooms, and the 8 number of bedrooms in each rental unit; 9 (iii) the accessibility features, if any, of the building and each 10 rental unit; 11 (iv) whether a unit is subject to any rent regulation or regulatory 12 agreement; 13 (v) the legal name of the owner or owners, including, but not limited 14 to, the partners, general partners, LLC members, and shareholders; 15 (vi) a physical address, mailing address, and telephone number for 16 each owner. The physical address and telephone number contained in the 17 registration shall not constitute a public record and shall be accessi- 18 ble only to duly authorized employees of local government agencies or 19 the department of state and used exclusively by such personnel in 20 connection with an emergency arising on the premises for which the owner 21 is responsible or for such purposes as the secretary shall authorize; 22 (vii) the name, physical address, mailing address, and telephone 23 number for the managing agent of the rental unit, if any; and 24 (viii) where the local government requires regular inspection of 25 rental units, the date of the last inspection in each unit, the number 26 and type of violations issued during the inspection, and whether each 27 violation has been corrected. 28 (b) a schedule of reasonable registration fees based on the type of 29 dwelling and number of units registered; 30 (c) the process and timeframe for updating the registration upon a 31 change in title, address, or managing agent; and 32 (d) to the extent practicable, the submission of reports by local 33 governments to the department of state containing all violations 34 reported in covered dwellings since the prior submission that shall 35 occur at minimum on a monthly basis. Where a local government lacks the 36 technical capacity to submit such reports, the department shall provide 37 assistance to facilitate and improve capacity to collect code violation 38 data in a machine-readable format for submission to the department. 39 8. The secretary shall create and maintain through the department of 40 state's website a public online searchable database of residential 41 rental units registered under this section. The public shall be able to 42 search by, at a minimum, the address of the dwelling, the name of the 43 owner, and tax map designation. The database shall generate a report of 44 the last valid information registered with the department and informa- 45 tion submitted by local governments as required by this section. Such 46 report shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following infor- 47 mation: 48 (a) the names of each registered property owner and the managing 49 agent, if any; 50 (b) the address of each registered property owned by such registered 51 owner; 52 (c) the address of the managing agent, if any; 53 (d) the number of registered rental units on the property; 54 (e) the current number of outstanding violations issued by any code 55 enforcement agencies, disaggregated by violations that are immediatelyA. 9615--A 4 1 hazardous, hazardous, and non-hazardous where such designation is avail- 2 able; 3 (f) the number of findings of harassment currently on record with any 4 code enforcement agencies; 5 (g) the number and types of active violations and orders issued by any 6 code enforcement agencies, including a description of each violation, 7 the status of each violation or order, and the date each violation or 8 order was issued including any violations that were active within the 9 year prior to the date the report is generated; and 10 (h) the date the information was last updated and the date the portfo- 11 lio is generated. 12 9. In any action to recover possession of a rental unit or to enforce 13 housing maintenance standards in county court, the court of a police 14 justice of the village, a justice court, a court of civil jurisdiction 15 in a city or a district court, (a) the visually displayed or (b) the 16 printed computerized portfolio registration and violation files main- 17 tained by the department of state pursuant to this section and all other 18 computerized data as shall be relevant to the enforcement of state and 19 local laws for the establishment and maintenance of housing standards, 20 shall be prima facie evidence of any matter stated therein and the 21 courts shall take judicial notice thereof as if the same were certified 22 as true under the seal and signature of the secretary. 23 10. Registration of covered dwellings under this section shall 24 commence one year from the effective date of this section. The public 25 online searchable database shall be active no later than two years from 26 the effective date of this section. All information related to code 27 violations and harassment provided through the database shall be 28 prospective from the date it becomes active unless such information is 29 otherwise available in electronic form at the time the database becomes 30 active. 31 § 2. Section 307 of the multiple residence law is amended to read as 32 follows: 33 § 307. Records and searches. (a) All records of the department shall 34 be public. Upon request the department shall be required to make a 35 search and issue a certificate of any of its records, including 36 violations, and shall have the power to charge and collect reasonable 37 fees for searches or certificates. 38 (b) In any action to recover possession of a rental unit or to enforce 39 housing maintenance standards in county court, the court of a police 40 justice of the village, a justice court, a court of civil jurisdiction 41 in a city or a district court either (i) the visually displayed or (ii) 42 the printed computerized portfolio registration and violation files 43 maintained by the department of state pursuant to section three hundred 44 eighty-one-a of the executive law and all other computerized data as 45 shall be relevant to the enforcement of state and local laws for the 46 establishment and maintenance of housing standards, shall be prima facie 47 evidence of any matter stated therein and the courts shall take judicial 48 notice thereof as if the same were certified as true under the seal and 49 signature of the secretary of state. 50 § 3. Subdivision 3 of section 328 of the multiple dwelling law, as 51 amended by chapter 403 of the laws of 1983, is amended to read as 52 follows: 53 3. In any action or proceeding before the housing part of the New York 54 city civil court either (a) the visually displayed or (b) the printed 55 computerized violation files of the department responsible for maintain- 56 ing such files, portfolio registration and violation files maintained byA. 9615--A 5 1 the department of state pursuant to section three hundred eighty-one-a 2 of the executive law, and all other computerized data as shall be rele- 3 vant to the enforcement of state and local laws for the establishment 4 and maintenance of housing standards, including but not limited to the 5 name, address and telephone number of the present owner of the building 6 and whether or not he is a member in good standing of the rent stabili- 7 zation association or registered pursuant to the emergency tenant 8 protection act of nineteen seventy-four or the rent stabilization law of 9 nineteen hundred sixty-nine where one or more dwelling units therein are 10 subject to the rent stabilization law, shall be prima facie evidence of 11 any matter stated therein and the courts shall take judicial notice 12 thereof as if same were certified as true under the seal and signature 13 of the commissioner of that department. 14 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
