Senate Bill S1443

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  1443

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 2, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  DUANE, KRUEGER -- 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 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:

  Section 1. Subparagraph (g) of paragraph 1 of subdivision g of section
26-405 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by
chapter 749 of the laws of 1990, is amended to read as follows:
  (g) There has been since July first, nineteen hundred seventy, a major
capital improvement required for the operation, preservation or  mainte-
nance  of  the  structure.  An  adjustment under this subparagraph [(g)]
shall be in an amount sufficient to amortize the cost  of  the  improve-
ments  pursuant to this subparagraph [(g)] over a seven-year period.  NO
LANDLORD SHALL DENY ACCESS TO A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER LICENSED TO  PRAC-
TICE  IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW YORK OR A REGISTERED ARCHITECT LICENSED TO
PRACTICE IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK HIRED BY ANY TENANT, TENANTS 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 ADJUSTMENT OF MAXIMUM RENT  HAS
BEEN FILED. SUCH INSPECTION SHALL BE CONDUCTED AFTER NOTICE TO THE LAND-
LORD  AND  DURING NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS. SUCH TENANT MAY FILE THE REPORT
OF THE INSPECTION WITH THE CITY RENT AGENCY  FOR  CONSIDERATION  IN  THE
DETERMINATION OF SUCH APPLICATION; or
  S 2. Paragraph 6 of subdivision c of section 26-511 of the administra-
tive code of the city of New York, as amended by chapter 116 of the laws
of 1997, is amended to read as follows:

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD00409-01-9
              

S. 1443                             2

  (6)  provides  criteria whereby the commissioner may act upon applica-
tions by owners for increases in  excess  of  the  level  of  fair  rent
increase  established under this law provided, however, that such crite-
ria 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  manage-
ment  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 nine-
teen hundred sixty-eight through nineteen hundred seventy,  or  for  the
first three years of operation if the building was completed since nine-
teen  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 compar-
ative 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 seven-year period, based  upon  cash  purchase
price  exclusive  of interest or service charges. NO LANDLORD SHALL DENY
ACCESS TO A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER LICENSED TO PRACTICE IN THE  STATE  OF
NEW  YORK OR A REGISTERED ARCHITECT LICENSED TO PRACTICE IN THE STATE OF
NEW YORK HIRED BY ANY TENANT, TENANTS 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  ADJUSTMENT  OF  MAXIMUM  RENT  HAS  BEEN  FILED.  SUCH
INSPECTION  SHALL  BE  CONDUCTED AFTER NOTICE TO THE LANDLORD AND DURING
NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS. SUCH TENANT MAY FILE THE REPORT OF THE INSPECTION
WITH THE CITY RENT AGENCY FOR CONSIDERATION IN THE DETERMINATION 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 indebt-
edness 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  mort-
gage  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;

S. 1443                             3

  S 3. Paragraph 3 of subdivision d of section 6 of section 4 of chapter
576 of the laws of 1974, constituting the  emergency  tenant  protection
act  of  nineteen seventy-four, as amended by chapter 749 of the laws of
1990, is amended to read as follows:
   (3) there has been since January first, nineteen hundred seventy-four
a  major capital improvement required for the operation, preservation or
maintenance of the structure. An adjustment under this  paragraph  shall
be  in  an  amount  sufficient  to amortize the cost of the improvements
pursuant to this paragraph over a seven-year period.  NO LANDLORD  SHALL
DENY ACCESS TO A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER LICENSED TO PRACTICE IN THE STATE
OF  NEW YORK OR A REGISTERED ARCHITECT LICENSED TO PRACTICE IN THE STATE
OF NEW YORK HIRED BY ANY TENANT, TENANTS OR TENANT  ASSOCIATION  REPRES-
ENTING  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 ADJUSTMENT OF MAXIMUM RENT HAS BEEN FILED. SUCH
INSPECTION  SHALL  BE  CONDUCTED AFTER NOTICE TO THE LANDLORD AND DURING
NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS. SUCH TENANT MAY FILE THE REPORT OF THE INSPECTION
WITH THE CITY RENT AGENCY FOR CONSIDERATION IN THE DETERMINATION OF SUCH
APPLICATION, or
  S 4. Section 26-520 of the administrative code  of  the  city  of  New
York,  as  amended by local law number 3 of the city of New York for the
year 2006, is amended to read as follows:
  S 26-520 Expiration date. This chapter shall expire  on  April  first,
two thousand [nine] TWELVE unless rent control shall sooner terminate as
provided  in  subdivision  three  of  section one of the local emergency
housing rent control law.
  S 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
it shall have become a law, except that any rules and regulations neces-
sary for the timely implementation of this act  on  its  effective  date
shall be promulgated on or before such date; provided that the amendment
to  section  26-405  of  the  city  rent  and rehabilitation law made by
section one of this act shall remain in full force and  effect  only  so
long  as  the  public  emergency requiring the regulation and control of
residential rents and evictions continues, as provided in subdivision  3
of  section  1  of  the  local  emergency  housing  rent control act and
provided further that the  amendment  to  section  26-511  of  the  rent
stabilization  law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine made by section two of
this act shall expire on the same date as such law expires and shall not
affect the expiration of such law as provided under  section  26-520  of
such  law  and  provided  further that the amendment to section 6 of the
emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four made by section
three of this act shall expire on the same date as such act expires  and
shall not affect the expiration of such act as provided in section 17 of
chapter 576 of the laws of 1974, as amended.