Bill Text: NY S01037 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

New York Senate Bill 1037 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Removes provisions that prohibit cities of one million or more from strengthening rent regulation laws to provide more comprehensive coverage than state laws.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT [S01037 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S01037-Introduced.html


                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1037

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 6, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sens.  KRUEGER,  ADDABBO, BAILEY, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, LIU,
          PARKER, SERRANO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to
          be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction  and  Community
          Development

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  local  emergency  housing  rent control act, in
          relation to rent regulation laws

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  5  of section 1 of chapter 21 of the laws of
     2  1962, constituting the local emergency  housing  rent  control  act,  as
     3  amended  by  chapter 82 of the laws of 2003 and the closing paragraph as
     4  amended by chapter 422 of the laws  of  2010,  is  amended  to  read  as
     5  follows:
     6    5.  Authority  for  local rent control legislation. Each city having a
     7  population of one million or more, acting through its local  legislative
     8  body,  may  adopt  and  amend local laws or ordinances in respect of the
     9  establishment or designation of a city  housing  rent  agency.  When  it
    10  deems such action to be desirable or necessitated by local conditions in
    11  order  to  carry  out the purposes of this section, such city, except as
    12  hereinafter provided, acting through its local legislative body and  not
    13  otherwise,  may  adopt  and amend local laws or ordinances in respect of
    14  the regulation and control  of  residential  rents,  including  but  not
    15  limited  to  provision  for  the establishment and adjustment of maximum
    16  rents, the classification of housing accommodations, the  regulation  of
    17  evictions,  and  the  enforcement  of such local laws or ordinances. The
    18  validity of any such local laws or ordinances, and the  rules  or  regu-
    19  lations  promulgated  in  accordance therewith, shall not be affected by
    20  and need not be consistent with the state emergency housing rent control
    21  law or with rules and regulations of the state division of  housing  and
    22  community renewal.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01472-01-1

        S. 1037                             2

     1    Notwithstanding  any  local  law  or ordinance, housing accommodations
     2  which became vacant on or after July first, nineteen hundred seventy-one
     3  or which hereafter become vacant shall be subject to the  provisions  of
     4  the  emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, provided,
     5  however,  that  this  provision shall not apply or become effective with
     6  respect to housing accommodations which, by local law or ordinance,  are
     7  made  directly  subject to regulation and control by a city housing rent
     8  agency and such agency determines or finds  that  the  housing  accommo-
     9  dations  became  vacant because the landlord or any person acting on his
    10  behalf, with intent to cause the tenant to vacate, engaged in any course
    11  of conduct (including but not limited to, interruption or discontinuance
    12  of essential  services)  which  interfered  with  or  disturbed  or  was
    13  intended  to  interfere  with  or  disturb the comfort, repose, peace or
    14  quiet of the tenant in his use or  occupancy  of  the  housing  accommo-
    15  dations.  The  removal  of any housing accommodation from regulation and
    16  control of rents pursuant to the vacancy exemption provided for in  this
    17  paragraph shall not constitute or operate as a ground for the subjection
    18  to more stringent regulation and control of any housing accommodation in
    19  such  property  or  in  any  other  property owned by the same landlord,
    20  notwithstanding any prior agreement to the contrary by the landlord. The
    21  vacancy exemption provided for in this paragraph shall  not  arise  with
    22  respect  to  any  rented plot or parcel of land otherwise subject to the
    23  provisions of this act, by reason of a transfer of title and  possession
    24  occurring  on  or  after  July  first, nineteen hundred seventy-one of a
    25  dwelling located on such plot or parcel and owned by  the  tenant  where
    26  such  transfer  of  title  and  possession  is  made  to a member of the
    27  tenant's immediate family provided that the member of the tenant's imme-
    28  diate family occupies the dwelling with the tenant prior to the transfer
    29  of title and possession for a continuous period of two years.
    30    The term "immediate family" shall include a husband, wife, son, daugh-
    31  ter, stepson, stepdaughter, father, mother, father-in-law or  mother-in-
    32  law.
    33    [Notwithstanding  the foregoing, no local law or ordinance shall here-
    34  after provide for the regulation and control of  residential  rents  and
    35  eviction in respect of any housing accommodations which are (1) present-
    36  ly exempt from such regulation and control or (2) hereafter decontrolled
    37  either by operation of law or by a city housing rent agency, by order or
    38  otherwise. No housing accommodations presently subject to regulation and
    39  control  pursuant  to  local laws or ordinances adopted or amended under
    40  authority of this subdivision shall hereafter be by local law  or  ordi-
    41  nance  or  by rule or regulation which has not been theretofore approved
    42  by the state commissioner of housing and community renewal subjected  to
    43  more  stringent or restrictive provisions of regulation and control than
    44  those presently in effect.
    45    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, on and after the effective
    46  date of this paragraph, a city having a population  of  one  million  or
    47  more  shall not, either through its local legislative body or otherwise,
    48  adopt or amend local laws or ordinances with respect to  the  regulation
    49  and control of residential rents and eviction, including but not limited
    50  to  provision for the establishment and adjustment of rents, the classi-
    51  fication of housing accommodations, the regulation of evictions, and the
    52  enforcement of such local laws or ordinances, or otherwise adopt laws or
    53  ordinances pursuant to the provisions of this act, the emergency  tenant
    54  protection  act  of  nineteen  seventy-four,  the New York city rent and
    55  rehabilitation law or the New York city rent stabilization  law,  except
    56  to  the extent that such city for the purpose of reviewing the continued

        S. 1037                             3

     1  need for the existing regulation and control of residential rents or  to
     2  remove  a  classification  of housing accommodation from such regulation
     3  and control adopts or amends local laws or ordinances pursuant to subdi-
     4  vision  three of section one of this act, section three of the emergency
     5  tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, section  26-415  of  the
     6  New  York  city  rent  and  rehabilitation  law, and sections 26-502 and
     7  26-520 of the New York city rent stabilization law of  nineteen  hundred
     8  sixty-nine.]
     9    Notwithstanding the foregoing, no local law or ordinance shall subject
    10  to  such  regulation  and control any housing accommodation which is not
    11  occupied by the tenant in possession as his or  her  primary  residence;
    12  provided,  however,  that such housing accommodation not occupied by the
    13  tenant in possession as his or her primary residence shall  continue  to
    14  be  subject  to regulation and control as provided for herein unless the
    15  city housing rent agency issues an  order  decontrolling  such  accommo-
    16  dation, which the agency shall do upon application by the landlord when-
    17  ever  it  is  established  by  any facts and circumstances which, in the
    18  judgment of the agency, may have a bearing upon the  question  of  resi-
    19  dence,  that  the  tenant maintains his or her primary residence at some
    20  place other than at such housing  accommodation.  For  the  purposes  of
    21  determining  primary  residency,  a  tenant  who is a victim of domestic
    22  violence, as defined in section four hundred fifty-nine-a of the  social
    23  services  law,  who  has left the unit because of such violence, and who
    24  asserts an intent to return to the housing accommodation shall be deemed
    25  to be occupying the unit as his or her primary residence.
    26    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately; provided,  however,  that
    27  the  amendments  to subdivision 5 of section 1 of chapter 21 of the laws
    28  of 1962 made by section one of this act shall remain in full  force  and
    29  effect only so long as the public emergency requiring the regulation and
    30  control  of  residential  rents  and evictions continues, as provided in
    31  subdivision 3 of section 1 of the local emergency housing  rent  control
    32  act.