NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2353
SPONSOR: Fall TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the real property tax law, in relation to exempting real
property of an applicable battery park city property from payments in
lieu of taxes; to amend a chapter of the laws of 2022 relating to
directing the battery park city authority to extend its lease with the
city of New York, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 9032-B and
A. 10414-A, in relation to directing the battery park city authority to
extend its restated and amended master lease by at least fifty years;
and to repeal certain provisions of the real property tax law relating
thereto
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to clarify provisions of Chapter 686 of the
Laws of 2022 relating to Battery Park City.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Chapter 686 of the Laws of 2022 provided that certain tenants and home-
owners in Battery Park City would be eligible for the Senior Citizen
Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE), Disability. Rent Increase Exemption
(DRIE), Senior Citizen Homeowners Exemption (SCHE), and Disabled Home-
owners Exemption (DHE) programs. This bill amends Chapter 686 by clari-
fying what property is eligible and what entity has title to the land.
It also extends Battery Park City Authority's master lease with New York
City.
JUSTIFICATION:
This bill provides necessary clarification of Chapter 686 of the Laws of
2022 to ensure its effective implementation.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as
part A of a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the real property tax
law relating to authorizing eligibility for SCRIE and DRIE for tenants
of properties located in battery park city, as proposed in legislative
bills numbers S.9032-B and A.10414-A, takes effect; provided, however,
that section three of this act shall take effect on the same date and in
the same manner as part C of a chapter of the laws of 2022 relating to
directing the battery park city authority to extend its lease with the
city of New York, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 9032-B and
A. 10414-A, takes effect.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2353
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 25, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. FALL -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Aging
AN ACT to amend the real property tax law, in relation to exempting real
property of an applicable battery park city property from payments in
lieu of taxes; to amend a chapter of the laws of 2022 relating to
directing the battery park city authority to extend its lease with the
city of New York, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 9032-B
and A. 10414-A, in relation to directing the battery park city author-
ity to extend its restated and amended master lease by at least fifty
years; and to repeal certain provisions of the real property tax law
relating thereto
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The section heading, paragraphs b and i of subdivision 1,
2 subdivision 2, the opening paragraph of paragraph b of subdivision 3 and
3 subdivisions 6, 7 and 8 of section 467-c of the real property tax law,
4 as amended by part A of a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the real
5 property tax law relating to authorizing eligibility for SCRIE and DRIE
6 for tenants of properties located in battery park city, as proposed in
7 legislative bills numbers S. 9032-B and A. 10414-A, are amended and a
8 new paragraph n of subdivision 1 is added to read as follows:
9 Exemption for property owned by certain housing companies or [leased
10 by] sublessees of the battery park city authority and occupied by senior
11 citizens or persons with disabilities.
12 b. "Dwelling unit" means that part of a dwelling in which an eligible
13 head of the household resides and (1) which is subject to the provisions
14 of[: (1)] Article II, IV, V, or XI of the private housing finance law;
15 or (2) [that part of a dwelling] which was or continues to be subject to
16 a mortgage insured or initially insured by the federal government pursu-
17 ant to section two hundred thirteen of the National Housing Act, as
18 amended, in which an eligible head of the household resides; or (3) [a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04140-01-3
A. 2353 2
1 sublease with the] which is within an applicable battery park city
2 [authority] property.
3 i. "Maximum rent" means the maximum rent, excluding gas and electric
4 utility charges, which has been authorized or approved by the commis-
5 sioner or the supervising agency or the legal regulated rent established
6 for the dwelling unit pursuant to the provisions of either Article II,
7 IV, V or XI of the private housing finance law, or the rental estab-
8 lished for a cooperatively owned dwelling unit previously regulated
9 pursuant to the provisions of Article II, IV, V or XI of the private
10 housing finance law; or such approved rent for a dwelling unit in a
11 dwelling subject to a mortgage insured or initially insured by the
12 federal government pursuant to section two hundred thirteen of the
13 National Housing Act, as amended; or such rent established for a dwell-
14 ing unit which was subject to a mortgage insured or initially insured by
15 the federal government pursuant to section two hundred thirteen of the
16 National Housing Act, as amended; or the rent established for an appli-
17 cable battery park city property [pursuant to a regulatory agreement
18 between the battery park city authority and the landlord].
19 n. "Applicable battery park city property" means a property that is
20 (1) subject to a lease or sublease with the battery park city authority;
21 and (2) has one or more residential units which are subject to limita-
22 tions on rent increases pursuant to:
23 (i) a contractual agreement with the battery park city authority,
24 which may be within the lease or sublease between the battery park city
25 authority and the lessee or sublessee; or
26 (ii) a regulatory agreement with the commissioner or supervising agen-
27 cy.
28 2. The governing body of any city having a population of one million
29 or more, acting through its local legislative body or other governing
30 agency is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt and amend local laws
31 or ordinances providing that real property of a housing company [or
32 landlord who is subject to a sublease with the battery park city author-
33 ity] shall be exempt from real property taxes [or] and that real proper-
34 ty of an applicable battery park city property shall be exempt from
35 payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT), in an amount equal to the rent
36 increase exemptions actually credited to eligible heads of households
37 pursuant to this section. Any such exemption shall be in addition to any
38 other exemption or abatement of taxes authorized by law.
39 notwithstanding any other provision of law, when a head of the house-
40 hold to whom a then current, valid tax abatement certificate has been
41 issued moves his principal residence from one dwelling unit subject to
42 this section, to the local emergency housing rent control law or to the
43 emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four to a subsequent
44 dwelling unit which is subject to the provisions of articles II, IV, V
45 or XI of the private housing finance law and which is located within the
46 same municipal corporation, or which is or was subject to a mortgage
47 insured or initially insured by the federal government pursuant to
48 section two hundred thirteen of the National Housing Act, as amended,
49 [or which is subject to the provisions of a sublease between the land-
50 lord and the battery park city authority] and which is located within
51 the same municipal corporation, or which is an applicable battery park
52 city property, the head of the household may apply for a tax abatement
53 certificate relating to the subsequent dwelling unit, subject to any
54 terms and conditions imposed by reason of any fund created under subdi-
55 vision eight of this section, and such certificate may provide that the
56 head of the household shall be exempt from paying that portion of the
A. 2353 3
1 maximum rent or legal regulated rent for the subsequent dwelling unit
2 which is the least of the following:
3 6. Any such local law or ordinance may provide that upon receipt of a
4 copy of the rent increase exemption order/tax abatement certificate, the
5 housing company managing the dwelling unit or the landlord of the dwell-
6 ing unit[, subject to a sublease with the] within an applicable battery
7 park city [authority] property, of the eligible head of the household
8 shall promptly accord to the eligible head of the household covered by
9 such order/certificate the appropriate credit against the monthly maxi-
10 mum rent then or thereafter payable. To the extent the full amount of
11 such credit has not been accorded for any past period since the effec-
12 tive date specified in the order/certificate, the housing company or
13 landlord shall credit the total aggregate amount not so credited to the
14 monthly maximum rent next payable or to such subsequent monthly maximum
15 rents as the supervising agency may authorize. It shall be illegal to
16 collect any amount for which a rent increase exemption order/tax abate-
17 ment certificate provides credit or to withhold credit for any such
18 amounts already collected, and collection or retention of any such
19 amount for a dwelling unit occupied by such eligible head of the house-
20 hold shall be deemed a rent overcharge, and upon conviction therefor the
21 housing company and its directors and any employee and any agent respon-
22 sible therefor or the landlord and any employee and any agent responsi-
23 ble therefor shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not
24 to exceed one thousand dollars or imprisonment not to exceed six months,
25 or both.
26 7. Any such local law or ordinance may provide that in order to obtain
27 the benefits to which it is entitled under this section, a housing
28 company or landlord [who is subject to a sublease with the] of an appli-
29 cable battery park city [authority] property must file with the collect-
30 ing officer charged with the duty of collecting taxes [or PILOT] of the
31 municipality or PILOT a sworn application, in such form as such officer
32 may prescribe, for any quarterly period in which the housing company or
33 landlord has accorded an eligible head of the household an exemption
34 hereunder from the payment of the maximum rent. Subject to prior or
35 subsequent verification thereof, the collecting officer shall credit the
36 total amount of such exemptions actually accorded to occupants of dwell-
37 ing units contained in the property against the real property taxes or
38 PILOT otherwise payable with respect to the property. The housing compa-
39 ny or landlord shall attach to such application copies of all rent
40 increase exemption orders/tax abatement certificates issued to eligible
41 heads of the household residing in dwelling units in such real property.
42 8. Any such local law or ordinance may provide that in the event that
43 the real property of a housing company or [landlord who is subject to a
44 sublease with the] applicable battery park city [authority] property
45 containing one or more dwelling units shall be totally exempt from local
46 and municipal real property taxes or PILOT for any fiscal year as a
47 result of the exemptions from maximum rent credited pursuant to this
48 section, or otherwise, such municipality may make or contract to make
49 payments to a housing company or landlord in an amount not exceeding the
50 amount necessary to reimburse the housing company or landlord for the
51 total dollar amount of all exemptions from the payment of the maximum
52 rent accorded pursuant to this section to eligible heads of the house-
53 hold residing in dwelling units in such real property. Notwithstanding
54 the foregoing, the battery park city authority shall have no obligation
55 whatsoever to reimburse a landlord.
A. 2353 4
1 A municipality may create and establish a fund in order to provide for
2 the payments made in accordance with contracts entered into pursuant to
3 this subdivision. There may be paid into such fund (1) all of the rental
4 surcharges collected by the municipality from housing companies organ-
5 ized and existing pursuant to Articles II, IV, V and XI of the private
6 housing finance law and (2) any moneys appropriated or otherwise made
7 available by the municipality for the purpose of such fund.
8 § 2. Subdivision 13 of section 467-c of the real property tax law, as
9 added by part A of a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the real prop-
10 erty tax law relating to authorizing eligibility for SCRIE and DRIE for
11 tenants of properties located in battery park city, as proposed in
12 legislative bills numbers S. 9032-B and A. 10414-A, is REPEALED.
13 § 3. Section 1 of part C of a chapter of the laws of 2022 relating to
14 directing the battery park city authority to extend its lease with the
15 city of New York, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 9032-B and
16 A. 10414-A, is amended to read as follows:
17 Section 1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, with-
18 in six months of the effective date of this act, the battery park city
19 authority shall extend the expiration date of the restated and amended
20 master lease [between the authority and the city of New York, dated
21 November 24, 1969 and] captioned "Restated Amended Agreement of Lease"
22 dated June 10, 1980, a memorandum of which was recorded [December 26,
23 1969] in the Office of the City Register on page [1] 163 of reel [161]
24 527, as supplemented, restated and amended, until June 18, 2119 or
25 later.
26 § 4. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
27 manner as part A of a chapter of the laws of 2022 amending the real
28 property tax law relating to authorizing eligibility for SCRIE and DRIE
29 for tenants of properties located in battery park city, as proposed in
30 legislative bills numbers S. 9032-B and A. 10414-A, takes effect;
31 provided, however, that section three of this act shall take effect on
32 the same date and in the same manner as part C of a chapter of the laws
33 of 2022 relating to directing the battery park city authority to extend
34 its lease with the city of New York, as proposed in legislative bills
35 numbers S. 9032-B and A. 10414-A, takes effect.
