New York § 576 - 576Regulatory agreements

§ 576. 576Regulatory agreements

§ 576. Regulatory agreements. 1. Every housing development fund company as a condition precedent to receiving an advance pursuant to this article, shall enter into an agreement with the commissioner or with the supervising agency, as the case may be, to be regulated as follows: a. Maximum rentals shall be fixed by the commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be, based upon the final gross project cost, at an amount sufficient to pay the necessary costs of the project. b. Dwellings in any such project shall be available for persons or families whose probable aggregate annual income does not exceed six times the rental (including the value or cost to them of heat, light, water and cooking fuel) of the dwellings to be furnished such persons or families, except that in the case of persons or families with three or more dependents, such ratio shall not exceed seven to one. For purposes of this paragraph, tenants in a housing project of a housing development fund company organized under the provisions of the business corporations law and this article shall have added to their total annual carrying charges an amount equal to six per centum of the original investment of such person or family in the equity obligations of such housing company. c. Profits shall be used for capital improvements or to reduce rentals. d. Ordinary dividends may not be declared. Capital dividends may be declared only with the consent of the commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be. e. The property or franchises of the corporation may not be disposed of without the consent of the commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be, nor may the corporation be dissolved unless payment in full is made of remaining balances of principal and interest due and unpaid on any mortgage or mortgages, of any advances made from the fund pursuant to this article and of any and all expenses incurred in effecting such dissolution. f. The commissioner or the supervising agency, as the case may be, shall have power, in his or its discretion, if he or it determines that any advance pursuant to this article is in jeopardy of not being repaid, or that the proposed housing project for which such advance was made is in jeopardy of not being constructed, to appoint to the board of directors of the corporation a number of new directors, which number shall be sufficient to constitute a majority of such board. Directors so appointed need not be stockholders or members or meet other qualifications which may be prescribed by the certificate of incorporation or by-laws. In the absence of fraud or bad faith directors so appointed shall not be personally liable for the debts, obligations or liabilities of the corporation. 2. A regulatory agreement pursuant to this section shall be terminated upon repayment in full of any and all advances made pursuant to this article provided that such termination shall not take place until (a) assumption of the regulation of the project by the commissioner, in the case of a state-aided mortgage, or by the supervising agency, in the case of a municipally-aided mortgage or by the appropriate federal authorities in the case of a federally-aided mortgage or (b) if the project is not to be financed with a state-aided, municipally-aided or federally-aided mortgage, the expiration of any exemption of the real property of the project from local and municipal taxes. 3. The commissioner or supervising agency may require a housing development fund company receiving advances under this article to execute a financing statement for real property improvement. The financing statement shall be in such form as the commissioner or supervising agency shall prescribe and shall include the name and address of the housing development fund company and of the agency making the advances, the location of the project, with a description sufficient to identify the property, including street address, if any, and a statement that funds have or will be advanced to the company pursuant to this article and the maximum amount of such advances, together with such other information as the form shall specify. The financing statement shall be filed in the office in which a mechanic's lien affecting the property would be filed, which office shall accept it for filing without fee and docket it in the manner of such lien. From the date of such filing the state or municipality, as the case may be, shall have a lien for the total of advances under this article made and not repaid. The provisions of articles two and three of the lien law shall govern such lien, except that it shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of filing, unless extended as provided in section seventeen of the lien law. Upon repayment of the advances, the commissioner or supervising agency shall deliver to the housing development fund company a copy of the financing statement with an endorsement thereon that the lien is satisfied. Upon filing of such copy, without payment of fee, in the office in which the financing statement was filed, the lien shall be discharged.