608-A - Rent regulation of rehabilitated multiple dwellings acquired and reconveyed by the federal government.
* § 608-a. Rent regulation of rehabilitated multiple dwellings acquired and reconveyed by the federal government. 1. For the purposes of this section: (a)"Agency" shall mean a department of housing preservation and development in a city having a population of one million or more. (b) "Eligible property" shall mean real property located in a city having a population of one million or more that has been: (i) acquired by the federal government as the result of the foreclosure of a mortgage loan insured by the federal government, and (ii) conveyed by the federal government to an owner approved by the agency for the purpose of undertaking an eligible rehabilitation project. (c) "Eligible multiple dwelling" shall mean a multiple dwelling located on eligible property that has been the subject of an eligible rehabilitation project. (d) "Eligible rehabilitation project" shall mean the rehabilitation of an eligible multiple dwelling in accordance with an agreement between the owner of the eligible property and the federal government. 2. Notwithstanding the provision of, or any regulation promulgated pursuant to, the emergency housing rent control law, the local emergency housing rent control act, the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, and/or any local law enacted pursuant thereto, upon completion of an eligible rehabilitation project, the agency may establish the initial rent for each dwelling unit within the eligible multiple dwelling. All dwelling units within such building subsequent to establishment of initial rents by the agency shall be subject to the emergency housing rent control law, the local emergency housing rent control act, the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, and/or any local law enacted pursuant thereto, if applicable in the municipality in which such building is located, but only if such laws and/or acts would otherwise apply to such dwelling units; provided, however, that substantial rehabilitation work performed in the course of an eligible rehabilitation project shall not cause such laws and/or acts to cease to apply to such dwelling units. The tenants in occupancy of such dwelling units in such a building that are regulated pursuant to such laws and/or acts shall be offered a choice of a one-year or two-year lease at the initial rent established by the agency, notwithstanding any contrary provisions of, or regulations adopted pursuant to, such laws and/or acts. The agency shall cause all tenants in occupancy of each dwelling unit affected by this subdivision to be notified of and have an opportunity to comment upon the contemplated rehabilitation. Such notification shall advise such tenants of the approximate expected rent increase and the subsequent availability of a one-year or two-year lease. Such notification and opportunity to comment shall be provided prior to commencement of the rehabilitation and again after its completion before establishment of the initial rents. 3. The supervising agency shall use its best efforts to ensure that activities carried out pursuant to this section are structured so as to minimize the likelihood of any involuntary economic displacement of tenants who reside in multiple dwellings which are the subject of such activities. However, if temporary physical displacement is required as a direct result of rehabilitation work which is performed in the course of the eligible rehabilitation project, suitable temporary relocation arrangements shall be provided. * NB Repealed June 30, 2014