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New York Rent Laws
ETPA Table of Contents
The NYS Emergency Tenant Protection Act (1974) [ETPA]
Sec. 10. REGULATIONS.
a. For cities having a population of less than one million and
towns and villages, the state division of housing and
community renewal shall be empowered to implement this act
by appropriate regulations. Such regulations may encompass
such speculative or manipulative practices or renting or
leasing practices as the state division of housing and
community renewal determines constitute or are likely to
cause circumvention of this act. Such regulations shall
prohibit practices which are likely to prevent any person
from asserting any right or remedy granted by this act,
including but not limited to retaliatory termination of
periodic tenancies and shall require owners to grant a new
one or two year vacancy or renewal lease at the option of
the tenant, except where a mortgage or mortgage commitment
existing as of the local effective date of this act provides
that the owner shall not grant a one-year lease; and shall
prescribe standards with respect to the terms and conditions
of new and renewal leases, additional rent and such related
matters as security deposits, advance rental payments, the
use of escalator clauses in leases and provision for
increase in rentals for garages and other ancillary
facilities, so as to insure that the level of rent
adjustments authorized under this law will not be subverted
and made ineffective. Any provision of the regulations
permitting an owner to refuse to renew a lease on grounds
that the owner seeks to recover possession of the housing
accommodation for his own use and occupancy or for the use
and occupancy of his immediate family shall require that an
owner demonstrate immediate and compelling need and shall
not apply where a member of the housing accommodation is
sixty-two years of age or older, has been a tenant in a
housing accommodation in that building for twenty years or
more, or has an impairment which results from anatomical,
physiological or psychological conditions, other than
addiction to alcohol, gambling, or any controlled substance,
which are demonstrable by medically acceptable clinical and
laboratory diagnostic techniques, and which are expected to
be permanent and which prevent the tenant from engaging in
any substantial gainful employment.
b. For cities having a population of one million or more, this
act may be implemented by regulations adopted pursuant to
the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred
sixty-nine, as amended, or as otherwise provided by law.
c. Each owner of premises subject to this act shall furnish to
each tenant signing a new or renewal lease, a copy of the
fully executed new or renewal lease bearing the signatures
of owner and tenant and the beginning and ending dates of
the lease term, within thirty days from the owner's receipt
of the new or renewal lease signed by the tenant.
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Sec. 10-a. RIGHT TO SUBLEASE.
Units subject to this law may be sublet pursuant to section two
hundred twenty-six-b of the real property law provided that
(a) the rental charged to the subtenant does not exceed the
legal regulated rent plus a ten percent surcharge payable to
the tenant if the unit sublet was furnished with the
tenant's furniture;
(b) the tenant can establish that at all times he has maintained
the unit as his primary residence and intends to occupy it
as such at the expiration of the sublease;
(c) an owner may terminate the tenancy of a tenant who sublets
or assigns contrary to the terms of this section but no
action or proceeding based on the non-primary residence of a
tenant may be commenced prior to the expiration date of his
lease;
(d) where an apartment is sublet the prime tenant shall retain
the right to a renewal lease and the rights and status of a
tenant in occupancy as they relate to conversion to
condominium or cooperative ownership;
(e) where a tenant violates the provisions of subdivision (a) of
this section the subtenant shall be entitled to damages of
three times the overcharge and may also be awarded attorneys
fees and interest from the date of the overcharge at the
rate of interest payable on a judgment pursuant to section
five thousand four of the civil practice law and rules;
(f) the tenant may not sublet the unit for more than a total of
two years, including the term of the proposed sublease, out
of the four-year period preceding the termination date of
the proposed sublease. The provisions of this subdivision
(f) shall only apply to subleases commencing on and after
July first, nineteen hundred eighty-three;
(g) for the purposes of this section only, the term of the
proposed sublease may extend beyond the term of the tenant's
lease. In such event, such sublease shall be subject to the
tenant's right to a renewal lease. The subtenant shall have
no right to a renewal lease. It shall be unreasonable for an
owner to refuse to consent to a sublease solely because such
sublease extends beyond the tenant's lease; and
(h) notwithstanding the provisions of section two hundred twenty-
six-b of the real property law, a not-for-profit hospital
shall have the right to sublet any housing accommodation
leased by it to its affiliated personnel without requiring
the landlord's consent to any such sublease and without
being bound by the provisions of subdivisions (b), (c) and
(f) of this section. Commencing with the effective date of
this subdivision, whenever a not-for-profit hospital
executes a renewal lease for a housing accommodation, the
legal regulated rent shall be increased by a sum equal to
fifteen percent of the previous lease rental for such
housing accommodation, hereinafter referred to as a vacancy
surcharge, unless the landlord shall have received within
the seven year period prior to the commencement date of such
renewal lease any vacancy increases or vacancy surcharges
allocable to the said housing accommodation. In the event
the landlord shall have received any such vacancy increases
or vacancy surcharges during such seven year period, the
vacancy surcharge shall be reduced by the amount received by
any such vacancy increase or vacancy surcharges.
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