Editor's note: this section has been amended by 2024 N.Y. Laws Ch. 56, 4/20/2024, eff. 10/17/2024.
a. The real estate industry stabilization association registered with the department of housing preservation and development is hereby divested of all its powers and authority under this law.
b. The stabilization code heretofore promulgated by such association, as approved by the department of housing preservation and development, is hereby continued to the extent that it is not inconsistent with law. Such code may be amended from time to time, provided, however, that no such amendments shall be promulgated except by action of the commissioner of the division of housing and community renewal and provided further, that prior to the adoption of any such amendments, the commissioner shall (i) submit the proposed amendments to the commissioner of the department of housing preservation and development and allow such commissioner thirty days to make comments or recommendations on the proposed amendments, (ii) review the comments or recommendations, if any, made pursuant to clause (i) of this subdivision and make any revisions to the proposed amendments which the commissioner of the division of housing and community renewal deems appropriate provided that any such review and revision shall be completed within thirty days of receipt of such comments or recommendations and (iii) thereafter hold a public hearing on the proposed amendments. No provision of such code shall impair or diminish any right or remedy granted to any party by this law or any other provision of law.
c. A code shall not be adopted hereunder unless it appears to the division of housing and community renewal that such code:
(1) provides safeguards against unreasonably high rent increases and, in general, protects tenants and the public interest, and does not impose any industry wide schedule of rents or minimum rentals;
(2) requires owners not to exceed the level of lawful rents as provided by this law;
(3) provides for a cash refund or a credit, to be applied against future rent, in the amount of any rent overcharge collected by an owner and any penalties, costs, attorneys' fees and interest from the date of the overcharge at the rate of interest payable on a judgment pursuant to section five thousand four of the civil practice law and rules for which the owner is assessed;
(4) includes provisions requiring owners to grant a one or two year vacancy or renewal lease at the option of the tenant except where a mortgage or mortgage commitment existing as of April first, nineteen hundred sixty-nine, provides that the mortgagor shall not grant a one year lease;
(5) includes guidelines with respect to such additional rent and related matters as, for example, security deposits, advance rental payments, the use of escalator clauses in leases and provision for increase in rentals for garages and other ancillary facilities, so as to insure that the level of fair rent increase established under this law will not be subverted and made ineffective, provided further that notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, rule, regulation, contract, agreement, lease or other obligation, no owner, in addition to the authorized collection of rent, shall demand, receive or retain a security deposit or advance payment which exceeds the rent of one month for or in connection with the use or occupancy of a housing accommodation by (a) any tenant who is sixty-five years of age or older or (b) any tenant who is receiving disability retirement benefit or supplemental security income pursuant to the federal social security act for any lease or lease renewal entered into after July 1, 2002;
(5-a) [repealed;]
(6) provides criteria whereby the commissioner may act upon applications by owners for increases in excess of the level of fair rent increase established under this law provided, however, that such criteria shall provide (a) as to hardship applications, for a finding that the level of fair rent increase is not sufficient to enable the owner to maintain approximately the same average annual net income (which shall be computed without regard to debt service, financing costs or management fees) for the three year period ending on or within six months of the date of an application pursuant to such criteria as compared with annual net income, which prevailed on the average over the period nineteen hundred sixty-eight through nineteen hundred seventy, or for the first three years of operation if the building was completed since nineteen hundred sixty-eight or for the first three fiscal years after a transfer of title to a new owner provided the new owner can establish to the satisfaction of the commissioner that he or she acquired title to the building as a result of a bona fide sale of the entire building and that the new owner is unable to obtain requisite records for the fiscal years nineteen hundred sixty-eight through nineteen hundred seventy despite diligent efforts to obtain same from predecessors in title and further provided that the new owner can provide financial data covering a minimum of six years under his or her continuous and uninterrupted operation of the building to meet the three year to three year comparative test periods herein provided; and (b) as to completed building-wide major capital improvements, for a finding that such improvements are deemed depreciable under the Internal Revenue Code and that the cost is to be amortized over a twelve-year period for a building with thirty-five or fewer housing accommodations, or a twelve and one-half-year period for a building with more than thirty-five housing accommodations, for any determination issued by the division of housing and community renewal after the effective date of the the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this paragraph and shall be removed from the legal regulated rent thirty years from the date the increase became effective inclusive of any increases granted by the applicable rent guidelines board. Temporary major capital improvement increases shall be collectible prospectively on the first day of the first month beginning sixty days from the date of mailing notice of approval to the tenant. Such notice shall disclose the total monthly increase in rent and the first month in which the tenant would be required to pay the temporary increase. An approval for a temporary major capital improvement increase shall not include retroactive payments. The collection of any increase shall not exceed two percent in any year from the effective date of the order granting the increase over the rent set forth in the schedule of gross rents, with collectability of any dollar excess above said sum to be spread forward in similar increments and added to the rent as established or set in future years. Upon vacancy, the landlord may add any remaining balance of the temporary major capital improvement increase to the legal regulated rent. Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, for any renewal lease commencing on or after June 14, 2019, the collection of any rent increases due to any major capital improvements approved on or after June 16, 2012 and before June 16, 2019 shall not exceed two percent in any year for any tenant in occupancy on the date the major capital improvement was approved or based upon cash purchase price exclusive of interest or service charges. Where an application for a temporary major capital improvement increase has been filed, a tenant shall have sixty days from the date of mailing of a notice of a proceeding in which to answer or reply. The state division of housing and community renewal shall provide any responding tenant with the reasons for the division's approval or denial of such application. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, no hardship increase granted pursuant to this paragraph shall, when added to the annual gross rents, as determined by the commissioner, exceed the sum of, (i) the annual operating expenses, (ii) an allowance for management services as determined by the commissioner, (iii) actual annual mortgage debt service (interest and amortization) on its indebtedness to a lending institution, an insurance company, a retirement fund or welfare fund which is operated under the supervision of the banking or insurance laws of the state of New York or the United States, and (iv) eight and one-half percent of that portion of the fair market value of the property which exceeds the unpaid principal amount of the mortgage indebtedness referred to in subparagraph (iii) of this paragraph. Fair market value for the purposes of this paragraph shall be six times the annual gross rent. The collection of any increase in the stabilized rent for any apartment pursuant to this paragraph shall not exceed six percent in any year from the effective date of the order granting the increase over the rent set forth in the schedule of gross rents, with collectability of any dollar excess above said sum to be spread forward in similar increments and added to the stabilized rent as established or set in future years;
(6-a) provides criteria whereby as an alternative to the hardship application provided under paragraph six of this subdivision owners of buildings acquired by the same owner or a related entity owned by the same principals three years prior to the date of application may apply to the division for increases in excess of the level of applicable guideline increases established under this law based on a finding by the commissioner that such guideline increases are not sufficient to enable the owner to maintain an annual gross rent income for such building which exceeds the annual operating expenses of such building by a sum equal to at least five percent of such gross rent. For the purposes of this paragraph, operating expenses shall consist of the actual, reasonable, costs of fuel, labor, utilities, taxes, other than income or corporate franchise taxes, fees, permits, necessary contracted services and noncapital repairs, insurance, parts and supplies, management fees and other administrative costs and mortgage interest. For the purposes of this paragraph, mortgage interest shall be deemed to mean interest on a bona fide mortgage including an allocable portion of charges related thereto. Criteria to be considered in determining a bona fide mortgage other than an institutional mortgage shall include; condition of the property, location of the property, the existing mortgage market at the time the mortgage is placed, the term of the mortgage, the amortization rate, the principal amount of the mortgage, security and other terms and conditions of the mortgage. The commissioner shall set a rental value for any unit occupied by the owner or a person related to the owner or unoccupied at the owner's choice for more than one month at the last regulated rent plus the minimum number of guidelines increases or, if no such regulated rent existed or is known, the commissioner shall impute a rent consistent with other rents in the building. The amount of hardship increase shall be such as may be required to maintain the annual gross rent income as provided by this paragraph. The division shall not grant a hardship application under this paragraph or paragraph six of this subdivision for a period of three years subsequent to granting a hardship application under the provisions of this paragraph. The collection of any increase in the rent for any housing accommodation pursuant to this paragraph shall not exceed six percent in any year from the effective date of the order granting the increase over the rent set forth in the schedule of gross rents, with collectability of any dollar excess above said sum to be spread forward in similar increments and added to the rent as established or set in future years. No application shall be approved unless the owner's equity in such building exceeds five percent of: (i) the arms length purchase price of the property; (ii) the cost of any capital improvements for which the owner has not collected a surcharge; (iii) any repayment of principal of any mortgage or loan used to finance the purchase of the property or any capital improvements for which the owner has not collected a surcharge and (iv) any increase in the equalized assessed value of the property which occurred subsequent to the first valuation of the property after purchase by the owner. For the purposes of this paragraph, owner's equity shall mean the sum of (i) the purchase price of the property less the principal of any mortgage or loan used to finance the purchase of the property, (ii) the cost of any capital improvement for which the owner has not collected a surcharge less the principal of any mortgage or loan used to finance said improvement, (iii) any repayment of the principal of any mortgage or loan used to finance the purchase of the property or any capital improvement for which the owner has not collected a surcharge, and (iv) any increase in the equalized assessed value of the property which occurred subsequent to the first valuation of the property after purchase by the owner;
(7) establishes a fair and consistent formula for allocation of rental adjustment to be made upon granting of an increase by the commissioner;
(8) requires owners to maintain all services furnished by them on May thirty-first, nineteen hundred sixty-eight, or as otherwise provided by law, in connection with the leasing of the dwelling units covered by this law;
(9) provides that an owner shall not refuse to renew a lease except:
(a) where he or she intends in good faith to demolish the building and has obtained a permit therefor from the department of buildings; or
(b) where he or she seeks to recover possession of one dwelling unit because of immediate and compelling necessity for his or her own personal use and occupancy as his or her primary residence or for the use and occupancy of a member of his or her immediate family as his or her primary residence, provided however, that this subparagraph shall permit recovery of only one dwelling unit and shall not apply where a tenant or the spouse of a tenant lawfully occupying the dwelling unit is sixty-two years of age or older, has been a tenant in a dwelling unit in that building for fifteen years or more, or has an impairment which results from anatomical, physiological or psychological conditions, other than addiction to alcohol, gambling, or any controlled substance, which are demonstrable by medically acceptable clinical and laboratory diagnostic techniques, and which are expected to be permanent and which prevent the tenant from engaging in any substantial gainful employment, unless such owner offers to provide and if requested, provides an equivalent or superior housing accommodation at the same or lower stabilized rent in a closely proximate area. The provisions of this subparagraph shall only permit one of the individual owners of any building to recover possession of one dwelling unit for his or her own personal use and/or for that of his or her immediate family. A dwelling unit recovered by an owner pursuant to this subparagraph shall not for a period of three years be rented, leased, subleased or assigned to any person other than a person for whose benefit recovery of the dwelling unit is permitted pursuant to this subparagraph or to the tenant in occupancy at the time of recovery under the same terms as the original lease; provided, however, that a tenant required to surrender a dwelling unit under this subparagraph shall have a cause of action in any court of competent jurisdiction for damages, declaratory, and injunctive relief against a landlord or purchaser of the premises who makes a fraudulent statement regarding a proposed use of the housing accommodation. In any action or proceeding brought pursuant to this subparagraph a prevailing tenant shall be entitled to recovery of actual damages, and reasonable attorneys' fees. This subparagraph shall not be deemed to establish or eliminate any claim that the former tenant of the dwelling unit may otherwise have against the owner. Any such rental, lease, sublease or assignment during such period to any other person may be subject to a penalty of a forfeiture of the right to any increases in residential rents in such building for a period of three years; or
(c) where the housing accommodation is owned by a hospital, convent, monastery, asylum, public institution, college, school dormitory or any institution operated exclusively for charitable or educational purposes on a non-profit basis and either:
(i) the tenant's initial tenancy commenced after the owner acquired the property and the owner requires the unit in connection with its charitable or educational purposes including, but not limited to, housing for affiliated persons; provided that with respect to any tenant whose right to occupancy commenced prior to July first, nineteen hundred seventy-eight pursuant to a written lease or written rental agreement and who did not receive notice at the time of the execution of the lease that his or her tenancy was subject to non-renewal, the institution shall not have the right to refuse to renew pursuant to this subparagraph; provided further that a tenant who was affiliated with the institution at the commencement of his or her tenancy and whose affiliation terminates during such tenancy shall not have the right to a renewal lease; or
(ii) the owner requires the unit for a non-residential use in connection with its charitable or educational purposes; or
(d) on specified grounds set forth in the code consistent with the purposes of this law; or
(e) where a tenant violates the provisions of paragraph twelve of this sub- division.
(9-a) provides that where an owner has submitted to and the attorney general has accepted for filing an offering plan to convert the building to cooperative or condominium ownership and the owner has presented the offering plan to the tenants in occupancy, any renewal or vacancy lease may contain a provision that if a building is converted to cooperative or condominium ownership pursuant to an eviction plan, as provided in section three hundred fifty-two-eeee of the general business law, the lease may only be cancelled upon the expiration of three years after the plan has been declared effective, and upon ninety days notice to the tenant that such period has expired or will be expiring.
(10) specifically provides that if an owner fails to comply with any order of the commissioner or is found by the commissioner to have harassed a tenant to obtain vacancy of his or her housing accommodation, he or she shall, in addition to being subject to any other penalties or remedies permitted by law, be barred thereafter from applying for or collecting any further rent increase. The compliance by the owner with the order of the commissioner or the restoration of the tenant subject to harassment to the housing accommodation or compliance with such other remedy as shall be determined by the commissioner to be appropriate shall result in the prospective elimination of such sanctions;
(11) includes provisions which may be peculiarly applicable to hotels including specifically that no owner shall refuse to extend or renew a tenancy for the purpose of preventing a hotel tenant from becoming a permanent tenant; and
(12) permits subletting of units subject to this law pursuant to section two hundred twenty-six-b of the real property law provided that (a) the rental charged to the subtenant does not exceed the stabilized rent plus a ten percent surcharge payable to the tenant if the unit sublet was furnished with the tenant's furniture; (b) the tenant can establish that at all times he or she has maintained the unit as his or her primary residence and intends to occupy it as such at the expiration of the sublease; (c) an owner may terminate the tenancy of a tenant who sublets or assigns contrary to the terms of this paragraph but no action or proceeding based on the non-primary residence of a tenant may be commenced prior to the expiration date of his or her lease; (d) where an apartment is sublet the prime tenant shall retain the right to a renewal lease and the rights and status of a tenant in occupancy as they relate to conversion to condominium or cooperative ownership; (e) where a tenant violates the provisions of subparagraph (a) of this paragraph the subtenant shall be entitled to damages of three times the overcharge and may also be awarded attorneys fees and interest from the date of the overcharge at the rate of interest payable on a judgment pursuant to section five thousand four of the civil practice law and rules; (f) the tenant may not sublet the unit for more than a total of two years, including the term of the proposed sublease, out of the four-year period preceding the termination date of the proposed sublease. The provisions of this subparagraph shall only apply to subleases commencing on and after July first, nineteen hundred eighty-three; (g) for the purposes of this paragraph only, the term of the proposed sublease may extend beyond the term of the tenant's lease. In such event, such sublease shall be subject to the tenant's right to a renewal lease. The subtenant shall have no right to a renewal lease. It shall be unreasonable for an owner to refuse to consent to a sublease solely because such sublease extends beyond the tenant's lease; and (h) notwithstanding the provisions of section two hundred twenty-six-b of the real property law, a not-for-profit hospital shall have the right to sublet any housing accommodation leased by it to its affiliated personnel without requiring the landlord's consent to any such sublease and without being bound by the provisions of subparagraphs (b), (c) and (f) of this paragraph. Commencing with the effective date of this subparagraph, whenever a not-for-profit hospital executes a renewal lease for a housing accommodation, the legal regulated rent shall be increased by a sum equal to fifteen percent of the previous lease rental for such housing accommodation, hereinafter referred to as a vacancy surcharge, unless the landlord shall have received within the seven year period prior to the commencement date of such renewal lease any vacancy increases or vacancy surcharges allocable to the said housing accommodation. In the event the landlord shall have received any such vacancy increases or vacancy surcharges during such seven year period, the vacancy surcharge shall be reduced by the amount received by any such vacancy increase or vacancy surcharges.
(13) provides that an owner is entitled to a rent increase where there has been a substantial modification or increase of dwelling space, or installation of new equipment or improvements or new furniture or furnishings provided in or to a tenant's housing accommodation, on written informed tenant consent to the rent increase. In the case of a vacant housing accommodation, tenant consent shall not be required. The temporary increase in the legal regulated rent for the affected housing accommodation shall be one-one hundred sixty-eighth, in the case of a building with thirty-five or fewer housing accommodations or one-one hundred eightieth in the case of a building with more than thirty-five housing accommodations where such increase takes effect on or after the effective date of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this paragraph, of the total actual cost incurred by the landlord in providing such reasonable and verifiable modification or increase in dwelling space, furniture, furnishings, or equipment, including the cost of installation but excluding finance charges and any costs that exceed reasonable costs established by rules and regulations promulgated by the division of housing and community renewal. Such rules and regulations shall include: (i) requirements for work to be done by licensed contractors and prohibit common ownership between the landlord and the contractor or vendor; and (ii) a requirement that the owner resolve within the dwelling space all outstanding hazardous or immediately hazardous violations of the Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code (Uniform Code), New York City Fire Code, or New York City Building and Housing Maintenance Codes, if applicable. Provided further that an owner who is entitled to a rent increase pursuant to this paragraph shall not be entitled to a further rent increase based upon the installation of similar equipment, or new furniture or furnishings within the useful life of such new equipment, or new furniture or furnishings. Provided further that the recoverable costs incurred by the landlord, pursuant to this paragraph, shall be limited to an aggregate cost of fifteen thousand dollars that may be expended on no more than three separate individual apartment improvements in a fifteen year period beginning with the first individual apartment improvement on or after June fourteenth, two thousand nineteen. Provided further that increases to the legal regulated rent pursuant to this paragraph shall be removed from the legal regulated rent thirty years from the date the increase became effective inclusive of any increases granted by the applicable rent guidelines board.
(14) where the amount of rent charged to and paid by the tenant is less than the legal regulated rent for the housing accommodation, the amount of rent for such housing accommodation which may be charged upon vacancy thereof, may, at the option of the owner, be based upon such previously established legal regulated rent, as adjusted by the most recent applicable guidelines increases and any other increases authorized by law. For any tenant who is subject to a lease on or after the effective date of a chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen which amended this paragraph, or is or was entitled to receive a renewal or vacancy lease on or after such date, upon renewal of such lease, the amount of rent for such housing accommodation that may be charged and paid shall be no more than the rent charged to and paid by the tenant prior to that renewal, as adjusted by the most recent applicable guidelines increases and any other increases authorized by law. Provided, however, that for buildings that are subject to this statute by virtue of a regulatory agreement with a local government agency and which buildings receive federal project based rental assistance administered by the United States department of housing and urban development or a state or local section eight administering agency, where the rent set by the federal, state or local governmental agency is less than the legal regulated rent for the housing accommodation, the amount of rent for such housing accommodation which may be charged with the approval of such federal, state or local governmental agency upon renewal or upon vacancy thereof, may be based upon such previously established legal regulated rent, as adjusted by the most recent applicable guidelines increases and other increases authorized by law; and further provided that such vacancy shall not be caused by the failure of the owner or an agent of the owner, to maintain the housing accommodation in compliance with the warranty of habitability set forth in subdivision one of section two hundred thirty-five-b of the real property law.
(15) (a) where an owner combines two or more vacant housing accommodations or combines a vacant housing accommodation with an occupied housing accommodation, such initial rent for such new housing accommodation shall be the combined legal rent for both previous housing accommodations, subject to any applicable guideline increases and any other increases authorized by this chapter including any individual apartment improvement increases applicable for both housing accommodations. If an owner combines a rent regulated accommodation with an apartment not subject to rent regulation, the resulting apartment shall be subject to this chapter. If an owner increases the area of an apartment not subject to rent regulation by adding space that was previously part of a rent regulated apartment, each apartment shall be subject to this chapter.
(b) where an owner substantially increases the outer dimension of a vacant housing accommodation, such initial rent shall be the prior rent of such housing accommodation, increased by a percentage that is equal to the percentage increase in the dwelling space and such other increases authorized by this chapter including any applicable guideline increase and individual apartment improvement increase that could be authorized for the unit prior to the alteration of the outer dimensions.
(c) notwithstanding subparagraphs (a) and (b) of this paragraph, such increases may be denied based on the occurrence of such vacancy due to harassment, fraud, or other acts of evasion which may require that such rent be set in accordance with section 26-516 of this title.
(d) where the vacant housing accommodations are combined, modified, divided or the dimension of such housing accommodation otherwise altered and these changes are being made pursuant to a preservation regulatory agreement with a federal, state or local governmental agency or instrumentality, the rent stabilized rents charged thereafter shall be based on an initial rent set by such agency or instrumentality.
(e) where an owner substantially decreases the outer dimensions of a vacant housing accommodation, such initial rent shall be the prior rent of such housing accommodation, decreased by the same percentage the square footage of the original apartment was decreased by and such other increases authorized by this chapter including any applicable guideline increase and individual apartment improvement increase that could be authorized for the apartment prior to the alteration of the outer dimensions.
(f) (i) when an owner combines two or more rent regulated apartments, the owner may use each of the previous apartments' remaining individual apartment improvement allowances for the purposes of a temporary individual apartment improvement rent increase. The owner shall subsequently designate a surviving apartment for the purposes of registration that has the same apartment number as one of the prior apartments. If that prior apartment has any reimbursable individual apartment improvement money remaining after the combination, that money may be reimbursed for future individual apartment improvements undertaken within the subsequent fifteen years following the combination.
(ii) in order for an owner to qualify for a temporary individual apartment improvement rent increase when apartments are combined, the requirements for an individual apartment improvement, including all notification requirements under this chapter shall be met.
(g) owners shall maintain the records and rent histories of all combined apartments, both prior to and post combination, for the purposes of rent setting, overcharge and all other proceedings to which the records are applicable.
d. (1) Each owner subject to the rent stabilization law shall furnish to each tenant signing a new or renewal lease, a rider describing the rights and duties of owners and tenants as provided for under the rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine. Such publication shall conform to the intent of section 5-702 of the general obligations law and shall be attached as an addendum to the lease. Upon the face of each lease, in bold print, shall appear the following: "Attached to this lease are the pertinent rules and regulations governing tenants and landlords' rights under the rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine".
(2) The rider shall be in a form promulgated by the commissioner in larger type than the lease and shall be utilized as provided in paragraph one of this subdivision.
e. Each owner of premises subject to the rent stabilization law shall furnish to each tenant signing a new or renewal lease, a copy of the fully executed new or renewal lease bearing the signatures of owner and tenant and the beginning and ending dates of the lease term, within thirty days from the owner's receipt of the new or renewal lease signed by the tenant.
(Am. 2015 N.Y. Laws Ch. 20 Pt. A §§ 12, 16-a, 29, 6/26/2015, eff. 6/26/2015; Am. 2019 N.Y. Laws Ch. 36 Pt. B § 1, Pt. E § 2, Pt. I § 2, Pt. K §§ 2, 11, 12, 6/14/2019, eff. 6/14/2019; Am. 2019 N.Y. Laws Ch. 39 Pt. Q §§ 12, 13, 14, 28, 6/24/2019, retro eff. 6/14/2019; Am. 2023 N.Y. Laws Ch. 760, 12/22/2023, eff. 12/22/2023; Am. 2024 N.Y. Laws Ch. 95, 3/1/2024, eff. 12/22/2023)