N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law § 610: Rental assistance and legal regulated rents

§ 610. Rental assistance and legal regulated rents. 1. (a)

Notwithstanding the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen

seventy-four or the rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred

sixty-nine, any regulation promulgated pursuant to such act or law, or

any other provision of law, where a housing accommodation is subject to

a regulatory agreement with a state or municipal agency or public

benefit corporation, or a political subdivision of the state, and where

a federal, state, or local program provides rental assistance for such

housing accommodation, such state or municipal agency or public benefit

corporation, or political subdivision of the state, may allow in such

regulatory agreement the owner of such housing accommodation to charge

and collect a rent for such housing accommodation that (i) does not

exceed the maximum payment standard or contract rent that the rental

assistance program may provide for such housing accommodation, but (ii)

does exceed the legal regulated rent for the housing accommodation.

(b) If any such rental assistance ends upon the vacancy of the housing

accommodation, the owner of such housing accommodation shall thereafter

charge and collect a rent for such housing accommodation that does not

exceed the lesser of (i) the previously established legal regulated rent

for such housing accommodation, as adjusted by the most recent

applicable guidelines increases approved by a rent guidelines board

established pursuant to the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen

seventy-four and any other increases authorized by law, regardless of

when the previously established legal regulated rent was last charged,

and (ii) any lower rent that is required by such regulatory agreement.

(c) If any such rental assistance ends during a tenancy, including,

but not limited to, upon the renewal of a lease, the owner of such

housing accommodation shall thereafter charge and collect a rent for

such housing accommodation that does not exceed the lesser of (i) the

previously established legal regulated rent for such housing

accommodation, as adjusted by the most recent applicable guidelines

increases approved by a rent guidelines board established pursuant to

the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four and any

other increases authorized by law, regardless of when the previously

established legal regulated rent was last charged, (ii) any rent charged

to and paid by the tenant immediately prior to the commencement of the

rental assistance that was less than the legal regulated rent for such

housing accommodation, as adjusted by such most recent applicable

guidelines increases and any other increases authorized by law, and

(iii) any lower rent that is required by such regulatory agreement.

2. Any rent charged pursuant to subdivision one of this section in

excess of the legal regulated rent for a housing accommodation shall not

be registered as the legal regulated rent pursuant to the emergency

tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four or the rent stabilization

law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine. The owner of such housing

accommodation shall continue to register the legal regulated rent and

any preferential rent calculated according to applicable guidelines

increases applied to the previously established legal regulated rent or

preferential rent, respectively, and separately register the actual rent

charged to the tenant pursuant to subdivision one of this section.

3. Where the owner of a housing accommodation charges and collects a

rent that exceeds the legal regulated rent for such housing

accommodation pursuant to subdivision one of this section, such owner

shall provide every tenant of such housing accommodation with a notice,

attached to the initial lease and all renewal leases, advising the

tenant in plain language that if such tenant ceases to receive the

rental assistance described in subdivision one of this section for any

reason, the rent for such housing accommodation shall be the legal

regulated rent, or any lower rent as required by subdivision one of this

section. The owner shall disclose any applicable regulatory agreement

and the applicability of this section in any legal proceeding brought

against a tenant whose rent is governed by this section.

4. An owner of a housing accommodation who fails to adjust a rent upon

the termination of any such rental assistance as required by subdivision

one of this section shall refund to the tenant the amount of the

overcharge and be liable for treble damages. The tenant shall have the

right to recover such overcharges and damages from the date of their

accrual, notwithstanding any statute of limitations set forth in the

emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four or the rent

stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine. The tenant may raise

such an overcharge as a claim or defense in any court of appropriate

jurisdiction, or in a proceeding at the division of housing and

community renewal, pursuant to the emergency tenant protection act of

nineteen seventy-four or the rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred

sixty-nine.

5. Where a regulatory agreement allows an owner of a housing

accommodation to charge and collect a rent for the housing accommodation

that exceeds the legal regulated rent for such housing accommodation in

accordance with subdivision one of this section, the state or municipal

agency or public benefit corporation, or political subdivision of the

state, that has executed the regulatory agreement shall audit such

owner's records at least once every three years to verify that such

owner is complying with the provisions of this section.