A 7499: Provides that non-payment of New York city taxes shall be a prima facie finding that a housing accommodation subject to the emergency housing rent control act is not a person's primary residence as claimed by the delinquent taxpayer and non-payment of NYS taxes shall be a prima facie finding that a housing accommodation subject to the emergency tenant protection act of 1974 is not a person's primary residence.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7499 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY March 28, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. NOVAKHOV -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Housing AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York and the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four, in relation to determining primary residency; and to amend the tax law, in relation to verification of residence The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Clause 10 of subparagraph (i) of paragraph 2 of subdivision 2 e of section 26-403 of the administrative code of the city of New York, 3 as amended by chapter 422 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as 4 follows: 5 (10) Housing accommodations not occupied by the tenant, not including 6 subtenants or occupants, as [his or her] such tenant's primary resi- 7 dence, as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction. For purposes 8 of determining primary residency, as used in this chapter, the failure 9 to file a New York city resident income tax return for the two preceding 10 calendar years (setting forth the housing accommodation as an individ- 11 ual's residence) by an individual required by law to file such a return, 12 shall result in a finding that the tenant does not occupy the unit as 13 such tenant's primary residence; provided, however, that this provision 14 shall not apply to an individual who has requested an extension of time 15 for payment of tax, or who is not required to file a resident income tax 16 return, or where any other factor exists which would excuse the timely 17 filing of the return; provided further, that the timely filing of the 18 return, alone, shall not result in a presumption that the individual 19 does occupy the unit as such individual's primary residence or that the 20 filing of an action to determine a tenant's primary residence shall not 21 preclude such tenant from filing an amended tax return provided that 22 such amended return is filed within sixty days of the commencement of 23 the action. Further, for the purposes of determining primary residency, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03955-01-5 
 A. 7499 2 1 a tenant who is a victim of domestic violence, as defined in section 2 four hundred fifty-nine-a of the social services law, who has left the 3 unit because of such violence, and who asserts an intent to return to 4 the housing accommodation shall be deemed to be occupying the unit as 5 [his or her] such tenant's primary residence. No action or proceeding 6 shall be commenced seeking to recover possession on the ground that a 7 housing accommodation is not occupied by the tenant as [his or her] such 8 tenant's primary residence unless the owner or lessor shall have given 9 thirty days notice to the tenant of [his or her] such owner's or 10 lessor's intention to commence such action or proceeding on such 11 grounds. 12 § 2. Subparagraph (f) of paragraph 1 of subdivision a of section 13 26-504 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as amended by 14 chapter 422 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows: 15 (f) not occupied by the tenant, not including subtenants or occupants, 16 as [his or her] such tenant's primary residence, as determined by a 17 court of competent jurisdiction[, provided, however that no]. For 18 purposes of determining primary residency, as used in this chapter, the 19 failure to file a New York city resident income tax return for the two 20 preceding calendar years (setting forth the housing accommodation as an 21 individual's residence) by an individual required by law to file such a 22 return, shall result in a finding that the tenant does not occupy the 23 unit as such tenant's primary residence; provided, however, that this 24 provision shall not apply to an individual who has requested an exten- 25 sion of time for payment of tax, or who is not required to file a resi- 26 dent income tax return, or where any other factor exists which would 27 excuse the timely filing of a return; provided further, that the timely 28 filing of the return, alone, shall not result in a presumption that the 29 individual does occupy the unit as such individual's primary residence 30 or that the filing of an action to determine a tenant's primary resi- 31 dence shall not preclude such tenant from filing an amended tax return 32 provided that such amended return is filed within sixty days of the 33 commencement of the action. Further, no action or proceeding shall be 34 commenced seeking to recover possession on the ground that a housing 35 accommodation is not occupied by the tenant as [his or her] such 36 tenant's primary residence unless the owner or lessor shall have given 37 thirty days notice to the tenant of [his or her] such owner's or 38 lessor's intention to commence such action or proceeding on such 39 grounds. For the purposes of determining primary residency, a tenant who 40 is a victim of domestic violence, as defined in section four hundred 41 fifty-nine-a of the social services law, who has left the unit because 42 of such violence, and who asserts an intent to return to the housing 43 accommodation shall be deemed to be occupying the unit as [his or her] 44 such tenant's primary residence. For the purposes of this subparagraph 45 where a housing accommodation is rented to a not-for-profit hospital for 46 residential use, affiliated subtenants authorized to use such accommo- 47 dations by such hospital shall be deemed to be tenants, or 48 § 3. Paragraph 11 of subdivision a of section 5 of section 4 of chap- 49 ter 576 of the laws of 1974, constituting the emergency tenant 50 protection act of nineteen seventy-four, as amended by section 1 of part 51 J of chapter 36 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows: 52 (11) housing accommodations which are not occupied by the tenant, not 53 including subtenants or occupants, as [his or her] such tenant's primary 54 residence, as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction. For the 55 purposes of determining primary residency, a tenant who is a victim of 56 domestic violence, as defined in section four hundred fifty-nine-a of 
 A. 7499 3 1 the social services law, who has left the unit because of such violence, 2 and who asserts an intent to return to the housing accommodation shall 3 be deemed to be occupying the unit as [his or her] such tenant's primary 4 residence. Further, for purposes of determining primary residency, as 5 used in this chapter, the failure to file a New York state resident 6 income tax return for the two preceding calendar years (setting forth 7 the housing accommodation as an individual's residence) by an individual 8 required by law to file such a return, shall result in a finding that 9 the tenant does not occupy the unit as such tenant's primary residence; 10 provided, however, that this provision shall not apply to an individual 11 who has requested an extension of time for payment of tax, or who is not 12 required to file a resident income tax return, or where any other factor 13 exists which would excuse the timely filing of the return; provided 14 further, that the timely filing of the return, alone, shall not result 15 in a presumption that the individual does occupy the unit as such indi- 16 vidual's primary residence or that the filing of an action to determine 17 a tenant's primary residence shall not preclude such tenant from filing 18 an amended tax return provided that such amended return is filed within 19 sixty days of the commencement of the action. For the purposes of this 20 paragraph, where a housing accommodation is rented to a not-for-profit 21 hospital for residential use, affiliated subtenants authorized to use 22 such accommodations by such hospital shall be deemed to be tenants. For 23 the purposes of this paragraph, where a housing accommodation is rented 24 to a not-for-profit for providing, as of and after [the effective date 25 of the chapter of the laws of two thousand nineteen that amended this 26 paragraph] June fourteenth, two thousand nineteen, permanent housing to 27 individuals who are or were homeless or at risk of homelessness, affil- 28 iated subtenants authorized to use such accommodations by such not-for- 29 profit shall be deemed to be tenants. No action or proceeding shall be 30 commenced seeking to recover possession on the ground that a housing 31 accommodation is not occupied by the tenant as [his or her] such 32 tenant's primary residence unless the owner or lessor shall have given 33 thirty days notice to the tenant of [his or her] such owner's or 34 lessor's intention to commence such action or proceeding on such 35 grounds. 36 § 4. The tax law is amended by adding a new section 171-bb to read as 37 follows: 38 § 171-bb. Verification of residence filing address. (1) The commis- 39 sioner is authorized to verify to owners of multiple dwellings covered 40 by the city rent and rehabilitation law, the rent stabilization law of 41 nineteen hundred sixty-nine and/or the emergency tenant protection act 42 of nineteen seventy-four whether or not, in a given calendar year, a New 43 York city or New York state resident income tax return was filed by an 44 individual who is a tenant in the owner's multiple dwelling and, if so, 45 the residence address which is set forth on the tax return. Such 46 verification shall be in writing and shall be considered a certificate 47 or affidavit for the purposes of rule forty-five hundred twenty of the 48 civil practice law and rules. 49 (2) The department may charge a reasonable fee, to be determined by 50 the commissioner, in payment to the department for the expense incurred 51 in verifying the filing and residence address. 52 (3) The commissioner shall promulgate such rules and regulations as it 53 deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this section. 54 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided that the amend- 55 ment to section 26-403 of the city rent and rehabilitation law made by 56 section one of this act shall remain in full force and effect only so 
 A. 7499 4 1 long as the public emergency requiring the regulation and control of 2 residential rents and evictions continues, as provided in subdivision 3 3 of section 1 of the local emergency housing rent control act; and 4 provided further that the amendment to section 26-504 of chapter 4 of 5 title 26 of the administrative code of the city of New York made by 6 section two of this act shall expire on the same date as such law 7 expires and shall not affect the expiration of such law as provided 8 under section 26-520 of such law.