Requires rent reduction in cases of submetered utility service

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why José M. Serrano says this is needed

Many residential apartment buildings in New York include charges for utilities in the rent. However, an increasing number of landlords are installing "submeters" which monitor utility use individually for each unit in the building. After the submeters are installed, the landlords charge tenants for utilities in addition to the rent. Under current law, the additional utility charges are accompanied by a rent reduction set by the Division of Housing and Community Renewal. These rent reductions, however, are based on the number of rooms in an apartment and do not reflect the actual utility usage costs of the tenants. This leads to many tenants having to pay more than they had agreed to pay when they signed their lease in order to stay in their apartments after their building converts to submetering. This bill mandates that the rent reductions which tenants receive after their building is converted must be based on their actual utility costs in order to protect against an increase in the cost of living for tenants. This legislation would also require the DHCR to, within 90 days, review the rent reductions which have already been made, and to modify them, if necessary, in order to bring them in line with tenants' actual costs. The bill would also require the DHCR to create an appeals process by which tenants can challenge their rent reductions. Currently rent reductions are based on the New York city Housing Vacancy Survey's average monthly costs for utilities. In the Survey, tenants were asked to "estimate" their monthly utility costs. This produced highly questionable data, upon which the DHCR's rent reductions were based.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.