BILL NUMBER: S8110
SPONSOR: HOYLMAN-SIGAL
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the emergency housing rent control law, in relation to
major capital improvements and individual apartment improvements in rent
regulated units
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill bars major capital improvement and individual apartment
improvement rent increases in any building that has recently accumulated
a significant pattern of hazardous violations to ensure that owners who
allow such hazards to persist cannot pass the cost of 'improvements' on
to tenants unless those improvements directly and substantially cure the
hazards that triggered the violations.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends 8-a of chapter 274 of the laws of 1946, constituting
the Emergency Housing Rent Control Law, by revising paragraphs (d) and
(e) of subdivision 1 and adding a new subdivision 4.
8-a(d) bars a temporary major-capital-improvement (MCI) rent increase
for any building that, within the "look-back period," has accumulated a
qualifying "pattern of violations," unless the proposed MCI will direct-
ly and substantially cure those violations.
8-a(e) applies the same bar and exception to individual-apartment-
improvement (IAI) rent increases.
Subdivision 4(a) defines "look-back period."
Subdivision 4(b) defines "pattern of violations."
Subdivision 4(c) enumerates six qualifying categories of violations.
Section two sets forth the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Major Capital Improvement (MCI) and Individual Apartment Improvement
(IAI) surcharges are intended to reimburse owners for substantial, last-
ing upgrades and to spur responsible reinvestment in the housing stock.
Too often, however, owners seek these increases while tenants endure
unreliable heat, inoperable elevators, or other unresolved safety
hazards, circumstances that clearly reflect chronic neglect rather than
meaningful reinvestment in the property.
Under current law, an owner is disqualified from an MCI or IAI increase
only when a violation is open. Owners can, and frequently do, clear
those violations with minimal, short-lived repairs, then secure rent
increases before the underlying problems resurface. Tenants thus shoul-
der repeated costs for improvements that do not address the building's
most urgent hazards.
This bill closes that gap by tying MCI and IAI eligibility to an owner's
recent code compliance record: if a building exhibits a pattern of
hazardous violations, DHCR must deny the rent increase application
unless the proposed work directly and substantially eliminates those
recurring hazards. In doing so, the bill realigns financial incentives
with safe, preventative maintenance and protects residents from financ-
ing improvements that leave critical safety problems unresolved.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.