§ 85 — Control of rentals

§ 85. Control of rentals. 1. The commissioner shall fix the maximum\nrental per room to be charged the tenants of the dwellings furnished by\na housing company, the average of such rentals for the dwellings in any\nproject not to exceed the maximum average rental prescribed by law,\nexcept as provided in section eighty-seven. Such maximum average rental\nrate shall be determined upon the basis of the actual final cost of the\nproject containing such rooms so as to secure, together with all other\nincome of the housing company, a sufficient income to meet all necessary\npayments to be made by said housing company, as hereinafter prescribed,\nand such room rental rates shall be subject to revision by the\ncommissioner from time to time. The payments to be made by a housing\ncompany shall be\n (a) All fixed charges, and all operating and maintenance charges and\nexpenses which shall include a charge to be fixed by the commissioner to\nreimburse him in whole or in part for the expenses of inspection,\nsupervision and auditing, taxes, assessments, insurance, amortization\ncharges in amounts approved by the commissioner to amortize the mortgage\nindebtedness in whole or in part, improvements and additions to the\nprojects to the extent and in the amount approved by the commissioner;\ndepreciation charges if, when and to the extent deemed necessary by the\ncommissioner; reserves, sinking funds and expenses essential to\noperation and management of the project in amounts approved by the\ncommissioner.\n (b) A distribution not exceeding the maximum fixed by this article\nupon the capital of the housing company allotted to the project by the\ncommissioner, and interest on income debentures.\n (c) Where feasible in the discretion of the commissioner a sinking\nfund in an amount to be fixed by the commissioner for the gradual\nretirement of the capital, and income debentures of the housing company\nto the extent permitted by this article. When tenants own shares or\nincome debentures in a housing company, a sinking fund may with the\napproval and subject to the regulations of the commissioner be set up\nand maintained out of the net profits applicable to surplus and used\nsubject to the regulations of the commissioner for the purchase at not\nto exceed par and accrued interest of the shares and income debentures\nheld by tenants ceasing to be occupants of the buildings; shares so\npurchased may be resold by the housing companies. The moneys payable by\nthe project to reimburse the commissioner for the expenses of\ninspection, supervision and auditing as herein provided shall be paid to\nthe executive department. Letting, subletting or assignment of leases of\napartments in such buildings or structures at greater rentals than\nprescribed by the order of the commissioner are prohibited and all such\nleases shall be void for all purposes.\n 2. For the purpose of calculating rentals in such dwellings, alcoves,\ndining bays, and similar accommodations where their existence is legally\npermissible, and bathrooms in the case of apartments of three rooms or\nless, may, in the discretion of the commissioner, be counted as half\nrooms; bathrooms in apartments of four rooms or more shall not be\ncounted as rooms or half rooms.\n 3. In projects where the land is leased from a municipality the value\nof the land shall be taken at a sum fixed by the board, body or officer\ndesignated by the local legislative body and approved by the\ncommissioner. For all the purposes of this article (including the\nprovisions of section eighty-one) the determination of the actual or\nestimated cost of projects involving leased lands shall be made on the\nbasis provided in section eighty-three and other sections of this\narticle in the case of projects involving land purchased in fee by a\nhousing company, except that in projects involving leased land the value\nof the land leased, ascertained in the manner described above, shall be\nused instead of the cost of the land in determining the total cost of\nthe land and improvements comprising the project. In projects involving\nleased land, the rental, if any, during the period of construction may\nbe included as part of the cost of the project. The sections of this\narticle requiring the investment of at least one-fifth of the cost of\nthe projects capital and income debentures shall not apply to projects\ninvolving leased land but in such projects the value of the land,\nascertained in the manner described above, plus the amount obtained by\nthe investment in the capital and income debentures of the housing\ncompany shall be at least one-fifth of the cost of the project, and the\namounts, if any, to be raised by mortgage indebtedness shall not exceed\nfour-fifths of such cost.\n