Emergency Tenant Protection Act 576/74

* S 2. Legislative finding. The legislature hereby finds and declares
that a serious public emergency continues to exist in the housing of a
considerable number of persons in the state of New York which emergency
was at its inception created by war, the effects of war and the
aftermath of hostilities, that such emergency necessitated the
intervention of federal, state and local government in order to prevent
speculative, unwarranted and abnormal increases in rents; that there
continues to exist in many areas of the state an acute shortage of
housing accommodations caused by continued high demand, attributable in
part to new household formations and decreased supply, in large measure
attributable to reduced availability of federal subsidies, and increased
costs of construction and other inflationary factors; that a substantial
number of persons residing in housing not presently subject to the
provisions of the emergency housing rent control law or the local
emergency housing rent control act are being charged excessive and
unwarranted rents and rent increases; that preventive action by the
legislature continues to be imperative in order to prevent exaction of
unjust, unreasonable and oppressive rents and rental agreements and to
forestall profiteering, speculation and other disruptive practices
tending to produce threats to the public health, safety and general
welfare; that in order to prevent uncertainty, hardship and dislocation,
the provisions of this act are necessary and designed to protect the
public health, safety and general welfare; that the transition from
regulation to a normal market of free bargaining between landlord and
tenant, while the ultimate objective of state policy, must take place
with due regard for such emergency; and that the policy herein expressed
shall be subject to determination of the existence of a public emergency
requiring the regulation of residential rents within any city, town or
village by the local legislative body of such city, town or village.
* NB Expires June 15, 2011