NYC Rent Guidelines Board

26-510. Rent guidelines board a. There shall be a rent guidelines board to consist of nine members, appointed by the mayor. Two members shall be representative of tenants, two shall be representative of owners of property, and five shall be public members each of whom shall have had at least five years experience in either finance, economics or housing. One public member shall be designated by the mayor to serve as chairman and shall hold no other public office. No member, officer or employee of any municipal rent regulation agency or the state division of housing and community renewal and no person who owns or manages real estate covered by this law or who is an officer of any owner or tenant organization shall serve on a rent guidelines board. One public member, one member representative of tenants and one member representative of owners shall serve for a term ending two years from January first next succeeding the date of their appointment; one public member, one member representative of tenants and one member representative of owners shall serve for terms ending three years from the January first next succeeding the date of their appointment and two public members shall serve for terms ending four years from January first next succeeding the dates of their appointment. The chairman shall serve at the pleasure of the mayor. Thereafter, all members shall continue in office until their successors have been appointed and qualified. The mayor shall fill any vacancy which may occur by reason of death, resignation or otherwise in a manner consistent with the original appointment. A member may be removed by the mayor for cause, but not without an opportunity to be heard in person or by counsel, in his or her defense, upon not less than ten days notice. b. The rent guidelines board shall establish annually guidelines for rent adjustments, and in determining whether rents for housing accommodations subject to the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four1 or this law shall be adjusted shall consider, among other things (1) the economic condition of the residential real estate industry in the affected area including such factors as the prevailing and projected (i) real estate taxes and sewer and water rates, (ii) gross operating maintenance costs (including insurance rates, governmental fees, cost of fuel and labor costs), (iii) costs and availability of financing (including effective rates of interest), (iv) over-all supply of housing accommodations and over all vacancy rates, (2) relevant data from the current and projected cost of living indices for the affected area, (3) such other data as may be made available to it. Not later than July first of each year, the rent guidelines board shall file with the city clerk its findings for the preceding calendar year, and shall accompany such findings with a statement of the maximum rate or rates of rent adjustment, if any, for one or more classes of accommodations subject to this law, authorized for leases or other rental agreements commencing on the next succeeding October first or within the twelve months thereafter. Such findings and statement shall be published in the City record. c. Such members shall be compensated on a per diem basis of one hundred dollars per day for no more than twenty-five days a year except that the chairman shall be compensated at one hundred twenty-five dollars a day for no more than fifty days a year. The chairman shall be chief administrative officer of the rent guidelines board and among his or her powers and duties he or she shall have the authority to employ, assign and supervise the employees of the rent guidelines board and enter into contracts for consultant services. The department of housing preservation and development shall cooperate with the rent guidelines board and may assign personnel and perform such services in connection with the duties of the rent guidelines board as may reasonably be required by the chairman. d. Any housing accommodation covered by this law owned by a member in good standing of an association registered with the department of housing preservation and development pursuant to section 26-511 of this chapter2 which becomes vacant for any reason, other than harassment of the prior tenant, may be offered for rental at any price notwithstanding any guideline level established by the guidelines board for renewal leases, provided the offering price does not exceed the rental then authorized by the guidelines board for such dwelling unit plus five percent for a new lease not exceeding two years and a further five percent for a new lease having a minimum term of three years, until July first, nineteen hundred seventy, at which time the guidelines board shall determine what the rental for a vacancy shall be. e. With respect to hotel dwelling units, covered by this law pursuant to section 26-506 of this chapter, the council, after receipt of a study from the rent guidelines board, shall establish a guideline for rent increases, irrespective of the limitations on amount of increase in subdivision d hereof, which guideline shall apply only to permanent tenants. A permanent tenant is an individual or family who at any time since May thirty-first, nineteen hundred sixty-eight, or hereafter, has continuously resided in the same hotel as a principal residence for a period of at least six months. On January first. nineteen hundred seventy-one and once annually each succeeding year the rent guidelines board shall cause a review to be made of the levels of fair rent increases provided under this subdivision and may establish different levels of fair rent increases for hotel dwelling units renting within different rental ranges based upon the board's consideration of conditions in the market for hotel accommodations and the economics of hotel real estate. Any hotel dwelling unit which is voluntarily vacated by the tenant thereof may be offered for rental at the guideline level for vacancies established by the rent guidelines board. If a hotel dwelling unit becomes vacant because the prior tenant was evicted therefrom, there shall be no increase in the rental thereof except for such increases in rental that the prior tenant would have had to pay had he or she continued in occupancy. g.3 From September twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred sixty-nine until the rate of permissible increase is established by the council pursuant to subdivision e of this section, there shall not be collected from any permanent hotel tenant any rent increase in excess of ten percent over the rent payable for his or her dwelling unit on May thirty-first, nineteen hundred sixty-eight. except for hardship increases authorized by the conciliation and appeals board. Any owner who collects or permits any rent to be collected in excess of the amount authorized by this subdivision shall not be eligible to be a member in good standing of a hotel industry stabilization association. h. The rent guidelines board prior to the annual adjustment of the level of fair rents provided for under subdivision b of this section for dwelling units and hotel dwelling units covered by this law, shall hold a public hearing or hearings for the purpose of collecting information relating to all factors set forth in subdivision b of this section. Notice of the date, time, location and summary of subject matter for the public hearing or hearings shall be published in the City Record daily for a period of not less than eight days and at least once in one or more newspapers of general circulation at least eight days immediately preceding each hearing date, at the expense of the city of New York, and the hearing shall be open for testimony from any individual, group, association or representative thereof who wants to testify. i. Maximum rates of rent adjustment shall not be established more than once annually for any housing accommodation within the board's jurisdiction. Once established, no such rate shall, within the one-year period, be adjusted by any surcharge, supplementary adjustment or other modification. (L.1985, c. 907, § 1,)