Sec. 12. ENFORCEMENT AND PROCEDURES.
a. (1) Subject to the conditions and limitations of this
paragraph, any owner of housing accommodations in a
city having a population of less than one million or a
town or village as to which an emergency has been
declared pursuant to section three, who, upon complaint
of a tenant or of the state division of housing and
community renewal, is found by the state division of
housing and community renewal, after a reasonable
opportunity to be heard, to have collected an
overcharge above the rent authorized for a housing
accommodation subject to this act shall be liable to
the tenant for a penalty equal to three times the
amount of such overcharge. In no event shall such
treble damage penalty be assessed against an owner
based solely on said owner's failure to file a proper
or timely initial or annual rent registration
statement. If the owner establishes by a preponderance
of the evidence that the overcharge was neither willful
nor attributable to his negligence, the state division
of housing and community renewal shall establish the
penalty as the amount of the overcharge plus interest
at the rate of interest payable on a judgment pursuant
to section five thousand four of the civil practice law
and rules. (i) Except as to complaints filed pursuant
to clause (ii) of this paragraph, the legal regulated
rent for purposes of determining an overcharge, shall
be deemed to be the rent indicated in the annual
registration statement filed four years prior to the
most recent registration statement, (or, if more
recently filed, the initial registration statement)
plus in each case any subsequent lawful increases and
adjustments. (ii) As to complaints filed within ninety
days of the initial registration of a housing
accommodation, the legal regulated rent for purposes of
determining an overcharge shall be deemed to be the
rent charged on the date four years prior to the date
of the initial registration of the housing
accommodation (or, if the housing accommodation was
subject to this act for less than four years, the
initial legal regulated rent) plus in each case, any
lawful increases and adjustments. Where the rent
charged on the date four years prior to the date of the
initial registration of the accommodation cannot be
established, such rent shall be established by the
division.
(a) The order of the state division of housing and
community renewal shall apportion the owner's
liability between or among two or more tenants
found to have been overcharged by such owner
during their particular tenancy of a unit.
(b) (i) Except as provided under clauses (ii)
and (iii) of this subparagraph, a complaint
under this subdivision shall be filed with
the state division of housing and community
renewal within four years of the first
overcharge alleged and no award of the
amount of an overcharge may be based upon
an overcharge having occurred more than
four years before the complaint is filed.
(ii) No penalty of three times the overcharge
may be based upon an overcharge having
occurred more than two years before the
complaint is filed or upon an overcharge
which occurred prior to April first,
nineteen hundred eighty-four.
(iii) Any complaint based upon overcharges
occurring prior to the date of filing of
the initial rent registration as provided
in subdivision b of section twelve-a of
this act shall be filed within ninety days
of the mailing of notice to the tenant of
such registration.
(c) Any affected tenant shall be notified of and
given an opportunity to join in any complaint
filed by an officer or employee of the state
division of housing and community renewal.
(d) An owner found to have overcharged shall, in all
cases, be assessed the reasonable costs and
attorney's fees of the proceeding, 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.
(e) The order of the state division of housing and
community renewal awarding penalties may, upon
the expiration of the period in which the owner
may institute a proceeding pursuant to article
seventy-eight of the civil practice law and
rules, be filed and enforced by a tenant in the
same manner as a judgment or, in the
alternative, not in excess of twenty percent
thereof per month may be offset against any rent
thereafter due the owner.
(f) Unless a tenant shall have filed a complaint of
overcharge with the division which complaint has
not been withdrawn, nothing contained in this
section shall be deemed to prevent a tenant or
tenants, claiming to have been overcharged, from
commencing an action or interposing a
counterclaim in a court of competent
jurisdiction for damages equal to the overcharge
and the penalty provided for in this section,
including 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, plus the
statutory costs and allowable disbursements in
connection with the proceeding. Such action must
be commenced or counterclaim interposed within
four years of the date of the alleged overcharge
but no recovery of three times the amount of the
overcharge may be awarded with respect to any
overcharge which had occurred more than two
years before the action is commenced or
counterclaim is interposed.
(2) In addition to issuing the specific orders provided
for by other provisions of this act, the state
division of housing and community renewal shall be
empowered to enforce this act and its regulations by
issuing, upon notice and a reasonable opportunity for
the affected party to be heard, such other orders as
it may deem appropriate.
(3) If the owner is found by the commissioner:
(i) to have violated an order of the division the
commissioner may impose by administrative order
after hearing, a civil penalty in the amount of
two hundred fifty dollars for the first such
offense and one thousand dollars for each
subsequent offense; or
(ii) to have harassed a tenant to obtain vacancy of
his housing accommodation, the commissioner may
impose by administrative order after hearing, a
civil penalty for any such violation. Such
penalty shall be in the amount of up to one
thousand dollars for a first such offense and up
to twenty-five hundred dollars for each
subsequent offense or for a violation consisting
of conduct directed at the tenants of more than
one housing accommodation. Such order shall be
deemed a final determination for the purposes of
judicial review. Such penalty may, upon the
expiration of the period for seeking review
pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil
practice law and rules, be docketed and enforced
in the manner of a judgment of the supreme
court.
(4) Any proceeding pursuant to article seventy-eight of
the civil practice law and rules seeking review of
any action pursuant to this act shall be brought
within sixty days of the expiration of the ninety day
period and any extension thereof provided in
subdivision c of this section or the rendering of a
determination, whichever is later. Any action or
proceeding brought by or against the commissioner
under this act shall be brought in the county in
which the housing accommodation is located.
(5) Violations of this act or of the regulations and
orders issued pursuant thereto may be enjoined by the
supreme court upon proceedings commenced by the state
division of housing and community renewal or the
tenant or tenants who allege they have been
overcharged. The division shall not be required to
post bond.
(6) In furtherance of its responsibility to enforce this
act, the state division of housing and community
renewal shall be empowered to administer oaths, issue
subpoenas, conduct investigations, make inspections
and designate officers to hear and report. The
division shall safeguard the confidentiality of
information furnished to it at the request of the
person furnishing same, unless such information must
be made public in the interest of establishing a
record for the future guidance of persons subject to
this act.
(7) In any action or proceeding before a court wherein a
party relies for a ground of relief or defense or
raises issue or brings into question the construction
or validity of this act or any regulation, order or
requirement hereunder, the court having jurisdiction
of such action or proceeding may at any stage certify
such fact to the state division of housing and
community renewal. The state division of housing and
community renewal may intervene in any such action or
proceeding.
(8) Any owner who has duly registered a housing
accommodation pursuant to section twelve-a of this
act shall not be required to maintain or produce any
records relating to rentals of such accommodation
more than four years prior to the most recent
registration or annual statement for such
accommodation.
b. Within a city having a population of one million or more,
the state division of housing and community renewal shall
have such powers to enforce this act as shall be provided
in the New York City rent stabilization law of nineteen
hundred sixty-nine, as amended, or as shall otherwise be
provided by law.
c. The state division of housing and community renewal may,
by regulation, provide for administrative review of all
orders and determinations issued by it pursuant to this
act. Any such regulation shall provide that if a petition
for such review is not determined within ninety days after
it is filed, it shall be deemed to be denied. However, the
division may grant one extension not to exceed thirty days
with the consent of the party filing such petition; any
further extension may only be granted with the consent of
all parties to the petition. No proceeding may be brought
pursuant to article seventy-eight of the civil practice
law and rules to challenge any order or determination
which is subject to such administrative review unless such
review has been sought and either (1) a determination
thereon has been made or (2) the ninety-day period
provided for determination of the petition for review (or
any extension thereof) has expired.
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Sec. 12-a. RENT REGISTRATION.
a. Each housing accommodation in a city having a population of
less than one million or a town or village as to which an
emergency has been declared pursuant to section three of
this act which is subject to this act shall be registered by
the owner thereof with the state division of housing and
community renewal prior to July first, nineteen hundred
eighty-four upon forms prescribed by the commissioner of
such division. The data to be provided on such forms shall
include the following:
(1) the name and address of the building or group of
buildings or development in which such housing
accommodation is located and the owner and the tenant
thereof;
(2) the number of housing accommodations in the building or
group of buildings or development in which such housing
accommodation is located;
(3) the number of housing accommodations in such building
or group of buildings or development subject to this
act and the number of such housing accommodations
subject to the emergency housing rent control law;
(4) the rent charged on the registration date;
(5) the number of rooms in such housing accommodation; and
(6) all services provided in the last lease or rental
agreement commencing at least six months prior to the
local effective date of this act.
b. Registration pursuant to this section shall not be subject
to the freedom of information law, provided that
registration information relative to a tenant, owner, lessor
or subtenant shall be made available to such party or his
authorized representative.
c. Housing accommodations which become subject to this act
after the initial registration period must be registered
within ninety days thereafter. Registration of housing
accommodations subject to the emergency housing rent control
law immediately prior to the date of filing the initial
registration statement as provided in this section shall
include, in addition to the items listed above, where
existing, the maximum rent immediately prior to the date
that such housing accommodations became subject to this act.
d. Copies of the registration shall be filed with the state
division of housing and community renewal in such place or
places as it may require. In addition, one copy of that
portion of the registration statement which pertains to the
tenant's unit must be mailed by the owner to the tenant in
possession at the time of initial registration or to the
first tenant in occupancy if the apartment is vacant at the
time of initial registration.
e. The failure to file a proper and timely initial or annual
rent registration statement shall, until such time as such
registration is filed, bar an owner from applying for or
collecting any rent in excess of the legal regulated rent in
effect on the date of the last preceding registration
statement or if no such statements have been filed, the
legal regulated rent in effect on the date that the housing
accommodation became subject to the registration
requirements of this section. The filing of a late
registration shall result in the prospective elimination of
such sanctions and provided that increases in the legal
regulated rent were lawful except for the failure to file a
timely registration, the owner, upon the service and filing
of a late registration, shall not be found to have collected
an overcharge at any time prior to the filing of the late
registration. If such late registration is filed subsequent
to the filing of an overcharge complaint, the owner shall be
assessed a late filing surcharge for each late registration
in an amount equal to fifty percent of the timely rent
registration fee.
f. An annual statement shall be filed containing the current
rent for each unit and such other information contained in
subdivision a of this section as shall be required by the
division. The owner shall provide each tenant then in
occupancy with a copy of that portion of such annual
statement as pertains to the tenant's unit.
g. Within a city having a population of one million or more,
each housing accommodation subject to this act shall be
registered with the state division of housing and community
renewal as shall be provided in the New York city rent
stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine.
h. Each housing accommodation for which a timely registration
statement was filed between April first, nineteen hundred
eighty-four and June thirtieth, nineteen hundred eighty-
four, pursuant to subdivision a of this section shall
designate the rent charged on April first, nineteen hundred
eighty-four, as the rent charged on the registration date.