Senate Bill S5680

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5680
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 10, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RIVERA -- 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, the
   emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four and the emer-
   gency housing rent control law, in relation to the amount of  time  to
   submit supporting documentation for major capital improvements
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraph 1 of subdivision  g  of  section  26-405  of  the
 administrative  code  of the city of New York is amended by adding a new
 subparagraph (g-1) to read as follows:
   (G-1) NO INCREASE FOR MAJOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SHALL BE  GRANTED  TO
 ANY  LANDLORD  OR  PROPERTY  OWNER,  UNLESS AN APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL
 NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION ARE SUBMITTED WITHIN  ONE  HUNDRED  TWENTY  DAYS
 AFTER  THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW INSTALLATION OR IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
 MENTS.
   § 2. Paragraph 6 of subdivision c of section 26-511 of the administra-
 tive code of the city of New York, as amended by section 29 of part A of
 chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to read as follows:
   (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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD11347-03-9

 S. 5680                             2
 
 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 an eight-year period for a building with thir-
 ty-five or fewer housing accommodations, or a  nine-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  rent  act of 2015, based upon cash
 purchase price exclusive of interest or service charges.   Notwithstand-
 ing  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  incre-
 ments  and  added to the stabilized rent as established or set in future
 years. NO INCREASE FOR MAJOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SHALL  BE  GRANTED  TO
 ANY  LANDLORD  OR  PROPERTY  OWNER,  UNLESS AN APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL
 NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION IS SUBMITTED  WITHIN  ONE  HUNDRED  TWENTY  DAYS
 AFTER  THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW INSTALLATION OR IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
 MENTS;
   § 3. Subdivision b of section 4 of chapter 576 of the  laws  of  1974,
 constituting  the  emergency  tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-
 four, is amended by adding a new paragraph 3-a to read as follows:
   (3-A) NO INCREASE FOR MAJOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS SHALL BE  GRANTED  TO
 ANY  LANDLORD  OR  PROPERTY  OWNER,  UNLESS AN APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL
 NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION IS SUBMITTED  WITHIN  ONE  HUNDRED  TWENTY  DAYS
 AFTER  THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW INSTALLATION OR IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVE-
 MENTS;
   § 4. Subparagraph 7 of the second undesignated paragraph of  paragraph
 (a)  of  subdivision  4 of section 4 of chapter 274 of the laws of 1946,
 constituting the emergency housing  rent  control  law,  as  amended  by

 S. 5680                             3
 
 section  32  of  part A of chapter 20 of the laws of 2015, is amended to
 read as follows:
   (7)  there has been since March first, nineteen hundred fifty, a major
 capital improvement required for the operation, preservation or  mainte-
 nance  of  the structure; which for any order of the commissioner issued
 after the effective date of the rent  act  of  2015  the  cost  of  such
 improvement  shall  be amortized over an eight-year period for buildings
 with thirty-five or fewer units or a nine year period for buildings with
 more than [thiry-five] THIRTY-FIVE units. NO INCREASE FOR MAJOR  CAPITAL
 IMPROVEMENTS  SHALL BE GRANTED TO ANY LANDLORD OR PROPERTY OWNER, UNLESS
 AN APPLICATION INCLUDING ALL NECESSARY DOCUMENTATION IS SUBMITTED WITHIN
 ONE HUNDRED TWENTY DAYS AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THE NEW INSTALLATION  OR
 IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS, or
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that:
   a.  the  amendments  to  section 26-405 of the city rent and rehabili-
 tation law made by section one of this act shall remain  in  full  force
 and effect only as 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;
   b. the amendments to section 26-511 of the administrative code of  the
 city  of  New  York made by section two of this act shall not affect the
 expiration of such section and shall be deemed to expire therewith;
   c. the amendments to section 4 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; and
   d.  the  amendments to section 4 of the emergency housing rent control
 law made by section four of this act shall expire on the  same  date  as
 such  law  expires  and  shall  not affect the expiration of such law as
 provided in subdivision 2 of section 1 of chapter 274  of  the  laws  of
 1946.