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New York Rent Laws
ETPA Table of Contents
The NYS Emergency Tenant Protection Act (1974) [ETPA]
Sec. 5. HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS SUBJECT TO REGULATION.
a. A declaration of emergency may be made pursuant to section
three as to all or any class or classes of housing
accommodations in a municipality, except:
(1) housing accommodations subject to the emergency housing
rent control law, or the local emergency housing rent
control act, other than housing accommodations subject
to the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen
hundred sixty-nine;
(2) housing accommodations owned or operated by the United
States, the state of New York, any political
subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, any
municipality or any public housing authority;
(3) housing accommodations in buildings in which rentals
are fixed by or subject to the supervision of the state
division of housing and community renewal under other
provisions of law or the New York city department of
housing preservation and development or the New York
state urban development corporation, or, to the extent
that regulation under this act is inconsistent
therewith aided by government insurance under any
provision of the National Housing Act;
(4) (a) housing accommodations in a building
containing fewer than six dwelling units, other
than any plot or parcel of land in cities having a
population of one million or more which had been
rented prior to May first, nineteen hundred fifty,
for the purpose of permitting the tenant thereof
to construct or place his own dwelling thereon and
heretofore or hereafter decontrolled, exempt, not
subject to control or exempted from regulation and
control under the provisions of the emergency
housing rent control law or the local emergency
housing rent control act and on which plot or
parcel of land there exists a dwelling owned and
occupied by a tenant of such plot or parcel;
(b) for purposes of this paragraph four, a
building shall be deemed to contain six or more
dwelling units if it is part of a multiple family
garden-type maisonette dwelling complex containing
six or more dwelling units having common
facilities such as a sewer line, water main or
heating plant and operated as a unit under common
ownership, notwithstanding that certificates of
occupancy were issued for portions thereof as one-
or two-family dwellings.
(5) housing accommodations in buildings completed or
buildings substantially rehabilitated as family units
on or after January first, nineteen hundred seventy-
four;
(6) housing accommodations owned or operated by a hospital,
convent, monastery, asylum, public institution, or
college or school dormitory or any institution operated
exclusively for charitable or educational purposes on a
non-profit basis other than those accommodations
occupied by a tenant on the date such housing
accommodation is acquired by any such institution, or
which are occupied subsequently by a tenant who is not
affiliated with such institution at the time of his
initial occupancy;
(7) rooms or other housing accommodations in hotels, other
than hotel accommodations in cities having a population
of one million or more not occupied on a transient
basis and heretofore subject to the emergency housing
rent control law, the local emergency housing rent
control act or to the New York city rent stabilization
law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine;
(8) any motor court, or any part thereof, any trailer, or
trailer space used exclusively for transient occupancy
or any part thereof; or any tourist home serving
transient guests exclusively, or any part thereof; The
term "motor court" shall mean an establishment renting
rooms, cottages or cabins, supplying parking or storage
facilities for motor vehicles in connection with such
renting and other services and facilities customarily
supplied by such establishments, and commonly known as
motor, auto or tourist court in the community. The
term "tourist home" shall mean a rooming house which
caters primarily to transient guests and is known as a
tourist home in the community.
(9) non-housekeeping, furnished housing accommodations,
located within a single dwelling unit not used as a
rooming or boarding house, but only if:
(a) no more than two tenants for whom rent is
paid (husband and wife being considered one tenant
for this purpose), not members of the landlord's
immediate family, live in such dwelling unit, and
(b) the remaining portion of such dwelling unit
is occupied by the landlord or his immediate
family.
(10) housing accommodations in buildings operated
exclusively for charitable purposes on a non-profit
basis;
(11) housing accommodations which are not occupied by the
tenant, not including subtenants or occupants, as his
primary residence, as determined by a court of
competent jurisdiction. For the purposes of this
paragraph, where a housing accommodation is rented to a
not-for-profit hospital for residential use, affiliated
subtenants authorized to use such accommodations by
such hospital shall be deemed to be tenants. No action
or proceeding shall be commenced seeking to recover
possession on the ground that a housing accommodation
is not occupied by the tenant as his primary residence
unless the owner or lessor shall have given thirty days
notice to the tenant of his intention to commence such
action or proceeding on such grounds.
(12) upon issuance of an order by the division, housing
accommodations which are: (1) occupied by persons who
have a total annual income in excess of two hundred
fifty thousand dollars per annum in each of the two
preceding calendar years, as defined in and subject to
the limitations and process set forth in section five-a
of this act; and (2) have a legal regulated rent of two
thousand dollars or more per month as of October first,
nineteen hundred ninety-three. Provided however, that
this exclusion shall not apply to housing
accommodations which became or become subject to this
act
(a) by virtue of receiving tax benefits pursuant
to section four hundred twenty-one-a or four
hundred eighty-nine of the real property tax law,
except as otherwise provided in subparagraph (i)
of paragraph (f) of subdivision two of section
four hundred twenty-one-a of the real property tax
law, or
(b) by virtue of article seven-C of the multiple
dwelling law.
(13) any housing accommodation with a legal regulated rent
of two thousand dollars or more per month at any time
between the effective date of this paragraph and
October first, nineteen hundred ninety-three which is
or becomes vacant on or after the effective date of
this paragraph. Provided however, that this exclusion
shall not apply to housing accommodations which became
or become subject to this act
(a) by virtue of receiving tax benefits pursuant to
section four hundred twenty-one-a or four hundred
eighty-nine of the real property tax law, except
as otherwise provided in subparagraph (i) of
paragraph (f) of subdivision two of section four
hundred twenty-one-a of the real property tax law,
or
(b) by virtue of article seven-C of the multiple
dwelling law. This paragraph shall not apply,
however, to or become effective with respect to
housing accommodations which the commissioner
determines or finds that the landlord or any
person acting on his or her behalf, with intent to
cause the tenant to vacate, has engaged in any
course of conduct (including, but not limited to,
interruption or discontinuance of required
services) which interfered with or disturbed or
was intended to interfere with or disturb the
comfort, repose, peace or quiet of the tenant in
his or her use or occupancy of the housing
accommodations and in connection with such course
of conduct, any other general enforcement
provision of this act shall also apply.
(14) (i) housing accommodations owned as a cooperative
or condominium unit which are or become vacant on
or after the effective date of this paragraph,
except that this subparagraph shall not apply to
units occupied by non-purchasing tenants under
section three hundred fifty-two-eee of the general
business law until the occurrence of a vacancy.
(ii) This paragraph shall not apply, however, to
or become effective with respect to housing
accommodations which the commissioner determines
or finds the landlord or any person acting on his
or her behalf, with intent to cause the tenant to
vacate, engaged in any course of conduct
(including, but not limited to, interruption or
discontinuance of required services) which
interfered with or disturbed or was intended to
interfere with or disturb the comfort, repose,
peace or quiet of the tenant in his or her use or
occupancy of the housing accommodations. In
connection with such course of conduct any other
general enforcement provision of this act shall
also apply;
b. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, nothing
shall prevent the declaration of an emergency pursuant to
section three of this act for rental housing accommodations
located in buildings or structures which are subject to the
provisions of article eighteen of the private housing
finance law.
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Sec. 5-a. HIGH INCOME RENT DECONTROL.
(a) For purposes of this section, annual income shall mean the
federal adjusted gross income as reported on the New York
state income tax return. Total annual income means the sum
of the annual incomes of all persons whose names are recited
as the tenant or co-tenant on a lease who occupy the housing
accommodation and all other persons that occupy the housing
accommodation as their primary residence on other than a
temporary basis, excluding bona fide employees of such
occupants residing therein in connection with such
employment and excluding bona fide subtenants in occupancy
pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred twenty-six-
b of the real property law. In the case where a housing
accommodation is sublet, the annual income of the tenant or
co-tenant recited on the lease who will reoccupy the housing
accommodation upon the expiration of the sublease shall be
considered.
(b) On or before the first day of May in each calendar year, the
owner of each housing accommodation for which the legal
regulated rent as of October first, nineteen hundred ninety-
three is two thousand dollars or more per month may provide
the tenant or tenants residing therein with an income
certification form prepared by the division of housing and
community renewal on which such tenant or tenants shall
identify all persons referred to in subdivision (a) of this
section and shall certify whether the total annual income is
in excess of two hundred fifty thousand dollars in each of
the two preceding calendar years. Such income certification
form shall state that the income level certified to by the
tenant may be subject to verification by the department of
taxation and finance pursuant to section one hundred seventy-
one-b of the tax law, and shall not require disclosure of
any information other than whether the aforementioned
threshold has been exceeded. Such income certification form
shall clearly state that:
(i) only tenants residing in housing accommodations which
had a legal regulated rent of two thousand dollars or
more per month as of October first, nineteen hundred
ninety-three are required to complete the
certification form;
(ii) that tenants have protections available to them which
are designed to prevent harassment;
(iii) that tenants are not required to provide any
information regarding their income except that which
is requested on the form and may contain such other
information the division deems appropriate. The
tenant or tenants shall return the completed
certification to the owner within thirty days after
service upon the tenant or tenants. In the event that
the total annual income as certified is in excess of
two hundred fifty thousand dollars in each such year,
the owner may file the certification with the state
division of housing and community renewal on or
before June thirtieth of such year. Upon filing such
certification with the division, the division shall,
within thirty days after the filing, issue an order
providing that such housing accommodation shall not
be subject to the provisions of this act upon the
expiration of the existing lease. A copy of such
order shall be mailed by regular and certified mail,
return receipt requested, to the tenant or tenants
and a copy thereof shall be mailed to the owner.
(c) 1. In the event that the tenant or tenants either
fail to return the completed certification to the owner
on or before the date required by subdivision (b) of
this section or the owner disputes the certification
returned by the tenant or tenants, the owner may, on or
before June thirtieth of such year, petition the state
division of housing and community renewal to verify,
pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one-b of the
tax law, whether the total annual income exceeds two
hundred fifty thousand dollars in each of the two
preceding calendar years. Within twenty days after the
filing of such request with the division, the division
shall notify the tenant or tenants that such tenant or
tenants named on the lease must provide the division
with such information as the division and the
department of taxation and finance shall require to
verify whether the total annual income exceeds two
hundred fifty thousand dollars in each such year. The
division's notification shall require the tenant or
tenants to provide the information to the division
within sixty days of service upon such tenant or
tenants and shall include a warning in bold faced type
that failure to respond will result in an order being
issued by the division providing that such housing
accommodations shall not be subject to the provisions
of this act.
2. If the department of taxation and finance determines
that the total annual income is in excess of two
hundred fifty thousand dollars in each of the two
preceding calendar years, the division shall, on or
before November fifteenth of such year, notify the
owner and tenants of the results of such verification.
Both the owner and the tenants shall have thirty days
within which to comment on such verification results.
Within forty-five days after the expiration of the
comment period, the division shall, where appropriate,
issue an order providing that such housing
accommodation shall not be subject to the provisions of
this act upon expiration of the existing lease. A copy
of such order shall be mailed by regular and certified
mail, return receipt requested, to the tenant or
tenants and a copy thereof shall be sent to the owner.
3. In the event the tenant or tenants fail to provide the
information required pursuant to paragraph one of this
subdivision, the division shall issue, on or before
December first of such year, an order providing that
such housing accommodation shall not be subject to the
provisions of this act upon the expiration or the
current lease. A copy of such order shall be mailed by
regular and certified mail, return receipt requested,
to the tenant or tenants and a copy thereof shall be
sent to the owner.
4. The provisions of the state freedom of information act
shall not apply to any income information obtained by
the division pursuant to this section.
(d) This section shall apply only to paragraph twelve of
subdivision a of section five of this act.
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