N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 9 § 2522.5 - Lease agreements
(a) Vacancy
lease or rental.
(1) For housing
accommodations other than hotels, upon the renting of a vacant housing
accommodation, the owner shall provide to the tenant a copy of the fully
executed lease for a one- or two-year term, at the tenant's option (except
where a mortgage or mortgage commitment existing as of April 1, 1969 prohibits
the granting of one-year lease terms), bearing the signature of the owner and
tenant and the beginning and ending dates of the lease term, within 30 days
from the owner's receipt of the vacancy lease signed by the tenant. Such lease
shall conform to the intent of section 5-702 of the General Obligations Law
(plain English). The rent provided therein may not exceed the last legal
regulated rent in addition to all increases authorized by this code. For a
housing accommodation subject to the City Rent Law which becomes vacant after
March 31, 1984, the owner may not increase the rent charged in the initial
lease or other rental agreement pursuant to annual guidelines for a period of
one year or until the expiration date of the initial lease or rental agreement,
whichever is later.
(2) For housing
accommodations in hotels rented to an occupant who has never had a lease, such
occupant may at any time during his or her occupancy request a lease and the
owner must, within 15 days after such request, grant a lease commencing on the
date such request was made at a rent which does not exceed the legal regulated
rent, for a term of at least six months. The hotel occupant who requests such a
lease becomes a permanent tenant but the lease need not be renewed.
Notwithstanding the above, an owner shall not refuse to grant a lease or to
extend or continue a tenancy in order to prevent the hotel occupant from
becoming a permanent tenant, except to the extent that the owner may be
permitted to do so by law pursuant to a warrant of eviction, or other order of
a court of competent jurisdiction, or a governmental vacate order.
(3) In addition, where a hotel occupant has
not requested a lease, an owner shall not refuse to extend or continue a
tenancy solely in order to prevent the hotel occupant from becoming a permanent
tenant.
(b) Renewal
lease.
(1) For housing accommodations other
than hotels, upon such notice as is required by section
2523.5 of this Title, the tenant
shall have the right of selecting at his or her option a renewal of his or her
lease for a one- or two-year term; except that where a mortgage or a mortgage
commitment existing as of April 1, 1969 prohibits the granting of one- year
lease terms or the tenant is the recipient of a Senior Citizen Rent Increase
Exemption pursuant to section 26-509 of the Administrative code of the City of
New York, the tenant may not select a one-year lease. The owner shall furnish
to the tenant signing a renewal lease form, pursuant to section
2523.5 of this Title, a copy of the
fully executed renewal lease form, bearing the signatures of the owner and
tenant, and the beginning and ending dates of the lease term, within 30 days
from the owner's receipt of the renewal lease form signed by the tenant. Such
renewal lease form shall conform to the intent of section 5-702 of the General
Obligations Law.
(2) Upon complaint
by the tenant that he or she was not served with a copy of the fully executed
vacancy lease or renewal lease form pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision
(a) or paragraph (1) of this subdivision, the DHCR shall order the owner to
furnish the copy of the vacancy lease or renewal lease form. In addition to any
other penalties provided under this code, noncompliance by the owner within 20
days of such order shall result in the denial of any rent guideline increases
for vacancy or renewal leases until the fully executed copy of the vacancy
lease or renewal lease form is furnished by the owner to the tenant.
(c) Lease rider and notice of
rights.
(1) For housing accommodations
subject to this code, an owner shall furnish to each tenant signing a vacancy
or renewal lease, a rider in a form promulgated or approved by the DHCR, in
larger type than the lease, describing the rights and duties of owners and
tenants as provided for under the RSL including a detailed description in a
format as prescribed by DHCR of how the rent was adjusted from the prior legal
rent. Such rider shall conform to the "plain English" requirements of section
5-702 of the General Obligations Law. Copies of the form as promulgated by DHCR
shall also be available in all languages that may be required pursuant to
DHCR's language access plan. The rider shall be attached as an addendum to the
lease. Upon the face of each lease, in bold print, in English and any other
language as required by the DHCR language access plan, shall appear the
following: "ATTACHED RIDER SETS FORTH RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF TENANTS AND
LANDLORDS UNDER THE RENT STABILIZATION LAW."
(i) For vacancy leases, such rider shall in
addition also include a notice of the prior legal regulated rent, if any, which
was in effect immediately prior to the vacancy, an explanation, and in a format
prescribed by DHCR, how the rental amount provided for in the vacancy lease has
been computed above the amount shown in the most recent annual registration
statement, as well as the prior lease, and a statement that any increase above
the amount set forth in such registration statement is in accordance with the
adjustments permitted by the rent guidelines board and this code.
(ii) Such rider shall also set forth that the
tenant may, within 60 days of the execution of the lease, require the owner to
provide the documentation directly to the tenant supporting the detailed
description regarding the adjustment of the prior legal rent pursuant to
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph. The owner shall provide such documentation
within thirty days of that request.
(iii) The method of service of the lease
rider, the tenant request for documentation, and the owner's provision of
documentation, together with proof of same, shall conform to the requirements
set forth in the lease rider itself or such other bulletin or document rendered
pursuant to section
2527.11 of this Title.
(iv) For renewal leases, such rider shall be
attached to the form sent to the tenant pursuant to section
2523.5 of this Title.
(2) For housing accommodations in
hotels, each owner shall furnish to each person, at the time of registration, a
Notice of Rights in a form promulgated or approved by the DHCR, describing the
rights and duties of hotel owners, occupants and tenants as provided for under
the RSL and this code and a hotel occupant's right to become a permanent tenant
at a legal regulated rent by requesting a lease for a term of at least six
months at any time during his or her occupancy. Such notice, which shall
conform to the "plain English" requirements of section 5-702 of the General
Obligations Law, shall also be available in Spanish. Such notice shall be
provided to each hotel occupant in residence on the effective date of this code
no later than 90 days from such effective date. An owner who violates the RSL
and this code by failing to furnish this Notice of Rights, and/or by engaging
in any conduct which compels a person to rent as a hotel occupant, prevents a
hotel occupant from becoming a permanent tenant, or results in a hotel occupant
vacating a housing accommodation, shall be subject to a loss of a guidelines
adjustment pursuant to paragraph (3) of this subdivision as well as penalties
pursuant to section
2526.2(b) and
(c)(1) of this Title, and may be subject to a
penalty pursuant to section
2526.2(c)(2) of
this Title, in an amount no less than $1,000.
(3) Where a tenant, permanent tenant or hotel
occupant is not furnished, as required by the above provision, with a copy of
the lease rider pursuant to paragraph (1), the notice pursuant to paragraph
(2), or the documentation required on demand by paragraph (1)(ii) of this
subdivision, the owner shall not be entitled to collect any adjustments in
excess of the rent set forth in the prior lease unless the owner can establish
that the rent collected was otherwise legal. In addition to issuing an order
with respect to applicable overcharges, DHCR shall order the owner to furnish
the missing rider, notice, or documentation. The furnishing of the rider,
notice, or documentation by the owner to the tenant or hotel occupant shall
result in the elimination, prospectively, of such penalty. With respect to
housing accommodations in hotels, noncompliance by the owner shall not prevent
the hotel occupant from becoming a permanent tenant.
(d) Limitations. No provision may be made in
any vacancy or renewal lease for adjustment of the legal regulated rent
reserved in the lease except as follows:
(1)
if the applicable rent guidelines rate has not been fixed by the execution date
of the vacancy lease or the renewal offer, the lease may make provision for the
rent increase, if any, pursuant to the said rate when filed, to become
effective as of the commencement date of the lease term, unless the rent
guidelines board shall have fixed a later effective date for the said rate, in
which event the adjustment may only be effective as of the later
date;
(2) where such lease provides
that the rental reserved therein may be increased pursuant to an order issued
by the DHCR; or
(3) where such
lease provides that a rent increase shall be in the amount, if any, authorized
by the DHCR in the event an application is filed to establish a hardship
pursuant to section
2522.4(c) or (d)
of this Part; and
(4) in the case
of a vacancy lease, where an application for a rent adjustment pursuant to
2522.4(b), (c) or (d) of this Part is pending before the DHCR, such lease also
recites that such application is pending before the DHCR and the basis for the
adjustment, and that the increase which is the subject of such application, if
granted, may be effective during the term of the lease.
(e) Escalator clauses.
(1) Regardless of whether an escalator clause
was contained in the last effective lease or other rental agreement prior to
April 1, 1984, no renewal lease or vacancy lease commencing on or after April
1, 1984 shall provide for any escalator clause, except that nothing herein
shall prohibit the use of escalator clauses otherwise required by any other
statute or regulation affecting the housing accommodation.
(2) For buildings receiving benefits pursuant
to section 421-a of the Real Property Tax Law and the regulations promulgated
pursuant thereto, such clauses may provide for an annual or other periodic rent
increase over the initial rent at an average rate of not more than 2.2 percent
of the amount of such initial rent per annum not to exceed the maximum
cumulative amount, if any, permitted under the 421-a program rules and
regulations. After the tax benefits end, such additional 2.2 percent charges
shall no longer be added but the owner may continue to collect the cumulative
2.2 percent increases charged prior to the termination of said tax benefits.
Any lease containing the aforementioned provision shall also include a rider
with an endorsement signed by the tenant acknowledging the owner's right to
include such provision and to collect such rent increase for the tax benefit
period. Such rider shall state the approximate date of the expiration of such
tax benefits.
(3) Nothing in
paragraph (2) of this subdivision shall prohibit the inclusion of a lease
provision for an annual or other periodic rent increase over the legal
regulated rent at such rate of rental increase as is provided for and
authorized by section 423 of the Real Property Tax Law. Such additional charges
pursuant to such section 423 shall no longer be added after the tax benefits
end. Any lease containing the aforementioned provision shall also include a
rider with an endorsement signed by the tenant acknowledging the owner's right
to include such provision and to collect such rent increase for the tax benefit
period. Such rider shall state the approximate date of the expiration of such
tax benefits.
(4) No additional
charge which became effective on or after November 19, 1982, pursuant to
paragraph (2) of this subdivision, shall become part of the legal regulated
rent.
(f) Same terms and
conditions.
(1) The lease provided to the
tenant by the owner pursuant to subdivision (b) of this section shall be on the
same terms and conditions as the expired lease, except where the owner can
demonstrate that the change is necessary in order to comply with a specific
requirement of law or regulation applicable to the building or to leases for
housing accommodations subject to the RSL, or with the approval of the DHCR.
Nothing herein may limit the inclusion of authorized clauses otherwise
permitted by this Code or by order of the DHCR not contained in the expiring
lease. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the tenant shall have the right to have
his or her spouse or domestic partner added to the lease or any renewal thereof
as an additional tenant where said spouse or domestic partner resides in the
housing accommodation as his or her primary residence.
(g) Leases for housing accommodations in
cooperative or condominium-owned buildings shall be governed as follows:
(1) An owner of one or more housing
accommodations subject to this Code may evict the tenant of such housing
accommodation and/or refuse to renew a lease therefor, if such housing
accommodation is in a building, group of buildings or development which is the
subject of an Eviction Plan for conversion to cooperative or condominium
ownership under General Business Law, section 352-eeee (hereinafter "section
352-eeee"), provided:
(i) the Attorney
General has accepted for filing a plan to convert the building, group of
buildings or development to cooperative or condominium ownership and an
amendment declaring the plan effective as an Eviction Plan has been accepted
for filing and a closingh as been held thereunder; and
(ii) three years have elapsed from the date
on which the Attorney General has accepted for filing an amendment declaring
the plan effective as an Eviction Plan, and at such time or there after the
tenant's lease has expired or has been cancelled pursuant to paragraph (2) of
this subdivision.
(2) A
tenant in occupancy of a housing accommodation subject to this Code shall have
the right to a renewal lease or in the case of a permanent tenant, to continue
his or her tenancy on the terms and conditions and at the rent and adjustments
thereto as otherwise provided for in this Code.
(3) For the purposes of this section, filing
date shall mean the date on which a letter was issued by the Attorney General
accepting a plan for filing.
(4)
After the filing date, and prior to the plan being declared effective, if a
housing accommodation subject to this Code is vacated, such housing
accommodation may only be rented at a rent and upon such terms and conditions
as are authorized under this Code for a vacancy lease. Notwith standing the
foregoing, if a vacancy lease herein called an interim lease for such housing
accommodation is executed in connection with an agreement to purchase such
housing accommodation or the shares allocated thereto, pursuant to any Eviction
Plan or Non-Eviction Plan, as defined by section 352-eeee, such interim lease:
(i) may provide that once the plan has been
declared effective, if the tenant fails to purchase his or her housing
accommodation or the shares allocated thereto on the terms set forth in the
subscription or purchase agreement, or otherwise terminates or defaults on the
subscription or purchase agreement, such tenant may be evicted; and
(ii) may provide for a rental below the legal
regulated rent which shall not, upon the abandonment or withdrawal of the plan,
be increased to the legal regulated rent. If the plan is abandoned or
withdrawn, such tenant remains a rent-stabilized tenant.
(5) If a housing accommodation which was
subject to this Code is vacated or is rented to a new tenant after any plan
which affects such housing accommodation has been declared effective, and a
closing thereunder has occurred, such housing accommodation shall not be
subject to this Code.
(6) If a
building, group of buildings or development containing units to which this Code
applies is converted to cooperative or condominium ownership, the services
which shall be required to be maintained under this Code with respect to
housing accommodations which remain subject to this Code shall not be
diminished or modified without the approval of the DHCR as provided for in
section 2522.4(e) or (f)
of this Part.
Notes
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