Section 12-a - Rent registrationa.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.N.Y. Emergency Tenant Protection Act Law § 12-a
Amended by New York Laws 2023, ch. 760,Sec. C-2, eff. 12/22/2023.