N.Y. Emergency Tenant Protection Act 576/74 § 12-a: Rent registration

§ 12-a. Rent registration. a. Each housing accommodation in a city

having a population of less than one million or a town or village as to

which an emergency has been declared pursuant to section three of this

act which is subject to this act shall be registered by the owner

thereof with the state division of housing and community renewal prior

to July first, nineteen hundred eighty-four upon forms prescribed by the

commissioner of such division. The data to be provided on such forms

shall include the following: (1) the name and address of the building or

group of buildings or development in which such housing accommodation is

located and the owner and the tenant thereof; (2) the number of housing

accommodations in the building or group of buildings or development in

which such housing accommodation is located; (3) the number of housing

accommodations in such building or group of buildings or development

subject to this act and the number of such housing accommodations

subject to the emergency housing rent control law; (4) the rent charged

on the registration date; (5) the number of rooms in such housing

accommodation; and (6) all services provided in the last lease or rental

agreement commencing at least six months prior to the local effective

date of this act.

b. Registration pursuant to this section shall not be subject to the

freedom of information law, provided that registration information

relative to a tenant, owner, lessor or subtenant shall be made available

to such party or his authorized representative.

c. Housing accommodations which become subject to this act after the

initial registration period must be registered within ninety days

thereafter. Registration of housing accommodations subject to the

emergency housing rent control law immediately prior to the date of

filing the initial registration statement as provided in this section

shall include, in addition to the items listed above, where existing,

the maximum rent immediately prior to the date that such housing

accommodations became subject to this act.

d. Copies of the registration shall be filed with the state division

of housing and community renewal in such place or places as it may

require. In addition, one copy of that portion of the registration

statement which pertains to the tenant's unit must be mailed by the

owner to the tenant in possession at the time of initial registration or

to the first tenant in occupancy if the apartment is vacant at the time

of initial registration.

e. The failure to file a proper and timely initial or annual rent

registration statement shall, until such time as such registration is

filed, bar an owner from applying for or collecting any rent in excess

of the legal regulated rent in effect on the date of the last preceding

registration statement or if no such statements have been filed, the

legal regulated rent in effect on the date that the housing

accommodation became subject to the registration requirements of this

section. The filing of a late registration shall result in the

prospective elimination of such sanctions and provided that increases in

the legal regulated rent were lawful except for the failure to file a

timely registration, the owner, upon the service and filing of a late

registration, shall not be found to have collected an overcharge at any

time prior to the filing of the late registration. In addition to all

other requirements set forth in this subdivision, in the event a timely

rent registration is not filed and after notice of such delinquency is

provided by the division of housing and community renewal to the owner

in the form of electronic mail and mail to the address listed in the

owner's most recent registration statement, the owner shall be subject

to a fine of five hundred dollars per unregistered unit for each month

the registration is delinquent. Such a fine shall be imposed by order,

and such order imposing a fine shall be deemed a final determination for

the purposes of judicial review. Such fine may, upon the expiration of

the period for seeking review pursuant to article seventy-eight of the

civil practice law and rules, be docketed and enforced in the manner of

a judgment of the supreme court by the division of housing and community

renewal.

f. An annual statement shall be filed containing the current rent for

each unit and such other information contained in subdivision a of this

section as shall be required by the division. The owner shall provide

each tenant then in occupancy with a copy of that portion of such annual

statement as pertains to the tenant's unit.

g. Within a city having a population of one million or more, each

housing accommodation subject to this act shall be registered with the

state division of housing and community renewal as shall be provided in

the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine.

h. Each housing accommodation for which a timely registration

statement was filed between April first, nineteen hundred eighty-four

and June thirtieth, nineteen hundred eighty-four, pursuant to

subdivision a of this section shall designate the rent charged on April

first, nineteen hundred eighty-four, as the rent charged on the

registration date.