Amd 12-a, Emerg Ten Prot Act of 1974; amd 26-517, NYC Ad Cd
Requires that any limited liability company who files a rent registration statement shall include a list of all members of such limited liability company and each member's ownership interest.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5693A
SPONSOR: Rosenthal L TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seven-
ty-four and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation
to rent registration statements filed by a limited liability company
PURPOSE:
To create greater transparency in rent registration statements filed
with the New York State Division of Homes and Community Renewal (NYS
DHCR).
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends section 12-a of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws
of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen
seventy-four, by adding a new subdivision b-1.
Section two establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
To meet the affordable housing demand, the preservation of rent-stabi-
lized apartments becomes even more critical. Since the passage of 2019's
Housing Security and Tenant Protection Act, data obtained from rent
registration statements has shown thousands of apartments being kept
vacant. A May 2022 memo compiled by NYS DHCR showed 61,593 rent-stabi-
lized apartments were registered as vacant in 2021. During the prior
year, 33,667 of these units were registered as vacant. Data from the
2021 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey found 42,860 vacant units.
Complicating efforts to determine the true number of vacant units and
determine which buildings' units are not registered is the fact that
many owners are listed as limited liability companies without naming the
principals of the company. When registrations are entered as an LLC, it
provides anonymity to landlords that intentionally withhold many units
from the market, ensuring that the registrations do not show the true
number of units they have kept vacant.
By requiring the disclosure of members of an LLC on the registration
statement filed with NYS DHCR, this bill will create more transparency
and help identify buildings engaged in systematic warehousing.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5693--A
Cal. No. 117
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 22, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, BURDICK, EPSTEIN -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Housing -- reported from committee,
advanced to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining
its place on the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seven-
ty-four and the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to rent registration statements filed by a limited liability
company
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 12-a of section 4 of chapter 576 of the laws of
2 1974, constituting the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen
3 seventy-four, is amended by adding a new subdivision b-1 to read as
4 follows:
5 b-1. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, when the owner of
6 a housing accommodation is a limited liability company and is register-
7 ing such housing accommodation pursuant to this section, such limited
8 liability company shall be required to include in its submission to the
9 state division of housing and community renewal a list of all beneficial
10 owners of such limited liability company and the proportion of each
11 owner's interest in such limited liability company. The requirement set
12 forth by this section shall be in addition to the data required pursuant
13 to subdivision a of this section. For the purposes of this subdivision,
14 "beneficial owner" shall mean an individual who, directly or indirectly,
15 through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship or other-
16 wise, owns any equity interest of an entity, and/or has a level of
17 control over the funds or assets of the entity that, as a practical
18 matter, enables the individual, directly or indirectly, to control,
19 manage or direct the entity and the use of its funds and assets or any
20 part thereof.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09857-04-3
A. 5693--A 2
1 § 2. Section 26-517 of the administrative code of the city of New York
2 is amended by adding a new subdivision b-1 to read as follows:
3 b-1. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, when the owner of
4 a housing accommodation is a limited liability company and is register-
5 ing such housing accommodation pursuant to this section, such limited
6 liability company shall be required to include in its submission to the
7 state division of housing and community renewal a list of all beneficial
8 owners of the membership interests of such limited liability company and
9 the proportion of each direct or indirect member's ownership interest in
10 such limited liability company. The requirement set forth by this
11 section shall be in addition to the data required pursuant to subdivi-
12 sion a of this section. For the purposes of this subdivision, "benefi-
13 cial owner" shall mean an individual who, directly or indirectly,
14 through any contract, arrangement, understanding, relationship or other-
15 wise, owns any equity interest of an entity, and/or has a level of
16 control over the funds or assets of the entity that, as a practical
17 matter, enables the individual, directly or indirectly, to control,
18 manage or direct the entity and the use of its funds and assets or any
19 part thereof.
20 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
21 the amendments to section 26-517 of chapter 4 of title 26 of the admin-
22 istrative code of the city of New York made by section two of this act
23 shall expire on the same date as such law expires and shall not affect
24 the expiration of such law as provided under section 26-520 of such law.
