Emergency Tenant Protection Act 576/74

* S 4. Establishment of rent guidelines boards; duties. a. In each
county wherein any city having a population of less than one million or
any town or village has determined the existence of an emergency
pursuant to section three of this act, there shall be created a rent
guidelines board to consist of nine members appointed by the
commissioner of housing and community renewal upon recommendation of the
county legislature which recommendation shall be made within thirty days
after the first local declaration of an emergency in such county; two
such members shall be representative of tenants, two shall be
representative of owners of property, and five shall be public members
each of whom shall have had at least five years experience in either
finance, economics or housing. One public member shall be designated by
the commissioner to serve as chairman and shall hold no other public
office. No member, officer or employee of any municipal rent regulation
agency or the state division of housing and community renewal and no
person who owns or manages real estate covered by this law or who is an
officer of any owner or tenant organization shall serve on a rent
guidelines board. One public member, one member representative of
tenants and one member representative of owners shall serve for a term
ending two years from January first next succeeding the date of their
appointment; one public member, one member representative of tenants and
one member representative of owners shall serve for terms ending three
years from the January first next succeeding the date of their
appointment and three public members shall serve for terms ending four
years from January first next succeeding the dates of their appointment.
Thereafter, all members shall serve for terms of four years each.
Members shall continue in office until their successors have been
appointed and qualified. The commissioner shall fill any vacancy which
may occur by reason of death, resignation or otherwise in a manner
consistent with the original appointment. A member may be removed by the
commissioner for cause, but not without an opportunity to be heard in
person or by counsel, in his defense, upon not less than ten days
notice. Compensation for the members of the board shall be at the rate
of one hundred dollars per day, for no more than twenty days a year,
except that the chairman shall be compensated at the rate of one hundred
twenty-five dollars a day for no more than thirty days a year. The board
shall be provided staff assistance by the division of housing and
community renewal. The compensation of such members and the costs of
staff assistance shall be paid by the division of housing and community
renewal which shall be reimbursed in the manner prescribed in section
four of this act. The local legislative body of each city having a
population of less than one million and each town and village in which
an emergency has been determined to exist as herein provided shall be
authorized to designate one person who shall be representative of
tenants and one person who shall be representative of owners of property
to serve at its pleasure and without compensation to advise and assist
the county rent guidelines board in matters affecting the adjustment of
rents for housing accommodations in such city, town or village as the
case may be.
b. A county rent guidelines board shall establish annually guidelines
for rent adjustments which, at its sole discretion may be varied and
different for and within the several zones and jurisdictions of the
board, and in determining whether rents for housing accommodations as to
which an emergency has been declared pursuant to this act shall be
adjusted, shall consider among other things (1) the economic condition
of the residential real estate industry in the affected area including
such factors as the prevailing and projected (i) real estate taxes and
sewer and water rates, (ii) gross operating maintenance costs (including
insurance rates, governmental fees, cost of fuel and labor costs), (iii)
costs and availability of financing (including effective rates of
interest), (iv) over-all supply of housing accommodations and over-all
vacancy rates, (2) relevant data from the current and projected cost of
living indices for the affected area, (3) such other data as may be made
available to it. As soon as practicable after its creation and
thereafter not later than July first of each year, a rent guidelines
board shall file with the state division of housing and community
renewal its findings for the preceding calendar year, and shall
accompany such findings with a statement of the maximum rate or rates of
rent adjustment, if any, for one or more classes of accommodation
subject to this act, authorized for leases or other rental agreements
commencing during the next succeeding twelve months. The standards for
rent adjustments may be applicable for the entire county or may be
varied according to such zones or jurisdictions within such county as
the board finds necessary to achieve the purposes of this subdivision.
The standards for rent adjustments established annually shall be
effective for leases commencing on October first of each year and during
the next succeeding twelve months whether or not the board has filed its
findings and statement of the maximum rate or rates of rent adjustment
by July first of each year. If such lease is entered into before such
filing by the board, it may provide for the rent to be adjusted by the
rates then in effect, subject to change by the applicable rates of rent
adjustment when filed, such change to be effective as of the date of the
commencement of the lease. Said lease must provide that, if the new
rates of rent adjustment differ for leases of different terms, the
tenant has the option of changing the original lease term to any other
term for which a rate of rent adjustment is set by the board, with the
rental to be adjusted accordingly.
Where a city, town or village shall act to determine the existence of
public emergency pursuant to section three of this act subsequent to the
establishment of annual guidelines for rent adjustments of the
accommodations subject to this act, the rent guidelines board as soon as
practicable thereafter shall file its findings and rates of rent
adjustment for leases or other rental agreements for the housing
accommodations in such a city, town or village, which rates shall be
effective for leases or other rental agreements commencing on or after
the effective date of the determination.
c. In a city having a population of one million or more, the rent
guidelines board shall be the rent guidelines board established pursuant
to the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred
sixty-nine as amemded, and such board shall have the powers granted
pursuant to the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred
sixty-nine as amended.
d. Maximum rates of rent adjustment shall not be established more than
once annually for any housing accommodation within a board`s
jurisdiction. Once established, no such rate shall, within the one-year
period, be adjusted by any surcharge, supplementary adjustment or other
modification.
* NB expires June 15, 2011