Section 12 - Enforcement and proceduresa.(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. 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. After a complaint of rent overcharge has been filed and served on an owner, the voluntary adjustment of the rent and/or the voluntary tender of a refund of rent overcharges shall not be considered by the division of housing and community renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction as evidence that the overcharge was not willful. (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 most recent reliable annual registration statement for a rent stabilized tenant filed and served upon the tenant six or more 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. The division of housing and community renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction, in investigating complaints of overcharge and in determining legal regulated rent, shall consider all available rent history which is reasonably necessary to make such determinations. (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 six 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 six years, the initial legal regulated rent) plus in each case, any lawful increases and adjustments. Where the rent charged on the date six 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 may be filed with the state division of housing and community renewal or in a court of competent jurisdiction at any time, however any recovery of overcharge penalties shall be limited to the six years preceding the complaint.(ii) A penalty of three times the overcharge shall be assessed upon all overcharges willfully collected by the owner starting six years before the complaint is filed.(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. The courts and the division shall have concurrent jurisdiction, subject to the tenant's choice of forum. (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 at minimum in the amount of one thousand but not to exceed two thousand dollars for the first such offense, and at minimum in the amount of two thousand but not to exceed three 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 at minimum in the amount of two thousand but not to exceed three thousand dollars for the first such offense, and at minimum in the amount of ten thousand but not to exceed eleven thousand 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) Except where a specific provision of this law requires the maintenance of rent records for a longer period, including records of the useful life of improvements made to any housing accommodation or any building, 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 six years prior to the most recent registration or annual statement for such accommodation. However, an owner's election not to maintain records shall not limit the authority of the division of housing and community renewal and the courts to examine the rental history and determine legal regulated rents pursuant to this subdivision.(9) The division of housing and community renewal and the courts, in investigating complaints of overcharge and in determining legal regulated rents, shall consider all available rent history which is reasonably necessary to make such determinations, including but not limited to (a) any rent registration or other records filed with the state division of housing and community renewal, or any other state, municipal or federal agency, regardless of the date to which the information on such registration refers; (b) any order issued by any state, municipal or federal agency; (c) any records maintained by the owner or tenants; and (d) any public record kept in the regular course of business by any state, municipal or federal agency. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall limit the examination of rent history relevant to a determination as to: (i) whether the legality of a rental amount charged or registered is reliable in light of all available evidence including, but not limited to, whether an unexplained increase in the registered or lease rents, or a fraudulent scheme to destabilize the housing accommodation, rendered such rent or registration unreliable;(ii) whether an accommodation is subject to the emergency tenant protection act;(iii) whether an order issued by the division of housing and community renewal or a court of competent jurisdiction, including, but not limited to an order issued pursuant to section seven of this act, or any regulatory agreement or other contract with any governmental agency, and remaining in effect within six years of the filing of a complaint pursuant to this section, affects or limits the amount of rent that may be charged or collected;(iv) whether an overcharge was or was not willful;(v) whether a rent adjustment that requires information regarding the length of occupancy by a present or prior tenant was lawful;(vi) the existence or terms and conditions of a preferential rent, or the propriety of a legal registered rent during a period when the tenants were charged a preferential rent;(vii) the legality of a rent charged or registered immediately prior to the registration of a preferential rent; or(viii) the amount of the legal regulated rent where the apartment was vacant or temporarily exempt on the date six years prior to a tenant's complaint.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. 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. The courts and the division shall have concurrent jurisdiction, subject to the tenant's choice of forum.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 challange 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.
N.Y. Emergency Tenant Protection Act Law § 12
Amended by New York Laws 2019, ch. 39, Sec. Q-13, eff. 6/24/2019.Amended by New York Laws 2019, ch. 36, Secs. F-3, F-2, F-1 eff. 6/14/2019.Amended by New York Laws 2019, ch. 36, Sec. A-6, eff. 6/14/2019.Amended by New York Laws 2015, ch. 20, Sec. A-27 and Sec. A-28, eff. 6/15/2015.