Sec. 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 amended, 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.