[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Bedford 1-16-2024 by L.L. No. 1-2024.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law also repealed former Ch. 76, Landlord Registry, adopted 6-19-2007 by L.L. No. 6-2007, as amended.
A. 
The purpose of this chapter is to establish a registry of all residential rental property, as defined herein, which will enable the Town to identify persons responsible for the care and management of such properties to require health and safety inspections of such properties, obtain building diagnostic tests and/or require reporting of energy use and tenant energy costs in buildings, to provide information or technical assistance, improve building performance, and to disclose information to the public to support the health and well-being of residents. The outcomes of these actions will improve the health and well-being of Town residents through elevated building performance and the identification of opportunities to improve safety, cut costs, reduce pollution, improve tenant health and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, and by ensuring compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations concerning the safety and maintenance of such properties, including but not limited to the Town Code of the Town of Bedford and other local, state or federal rules, regulations or laws.
B. 
It is the policy of both the Town and the State of New York (the "state") to support the health and well-being of residents by promoting elevated building performance to reduce toxic air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions, lower environmental and socioeconomic energy burdens, mitigate the effect of global climate change and advance a clean energy economy. The Town finds that it can advance these Town and state policy goals by making available accurate, complete, and actionable information on building energy use, building performance and available services to help identify opportunities to cut costs, reduce pollution, improve tenant health and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from buildings in the Town.
C. 
The poorest performing buildings typically use several times the energy of the highest performing buildings for the same building use, causing undue cost strains and imposing avoidable pollution upon residents and the community. In addition, poorly performing buildings often contain harmful pollutants that affect the health and well-being of residents.
D. 
It is the intent of this chapter to improve the health and well-being of tenants and the people of the Town by requiring the reporting and disclosure of building performance information for all residential rental property. Collecting, reporting and sharing building performance information on a regular basis allows owners and occupants to understand their buildings' performance relative to similar buildings. Equipped with this information, owners and government agencies are able to make smarter and more cost-effective operational and capital investment decisions, improve health conditions, boost efficiency, and drive widespread, continuous improvement in building energy efficiency and building performance.
A. 
The Town is authorized to enact this chapter 76 pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the state, including, in particular:
(1) 
Article IX of the New York State Constitution, §§ 2(c)(6) and (10).
(2) 
New York Statute of Local Governments, § 10(1).
(3) 
New York Municipal Home Rule Law § 10, Subdivision 1(i) and (ii) and § 10, Subdivision 1(ii)a(11), (12), and (14).
(4) 
New York Energy Law § 11-109 (adoption of local energy construction codes that are more stringent than NYS Code).
(5) 
The supersession authority of New York Municipal Home Rule Law § 10, Subdivision 1 (ii)d(3);
(6) 
New York Town Law § 130, Subdivision 1 (Building Code), Subdivision 2 (Plumbing Code), Subdivision 8 (smoke, gases and waste) and Subdivision 15 (promotion of public welfare);
(7) 
New York Town Law § 64, Subdivision 17-a (protection of aesthetic interests) and Subdivision 23 (general powers); and
(8) 
Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (2019).
For the purpose of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
BENCHMARKING
The process of measuring a building's energy and water use by utilizing Portfolio Manager, as defined herein, tracking that use over time, and comparing performance to similar buildings.
BENCHMARKING INFORMATION
Information generated by Portfolio Manager or comparable commercially available tool, including descriptive information about the physical building and its operational characteristics.
BUILDING
Any structure having a roof, supported by columns or by walls or self-supporting, and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals or chattel.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT
The Town of Bedford Building Department.
BUILDING DIAGNOSTIC TEST
A test of certain building conditions including but not limited to atmospheric ventilation testing of fuel-burning appliances; spillage test to measure CO, CO2 infiltration; infrared test to test envelope performance and air infiltrations; blower door test to test envelope performance and air infiltrations; and indoor air quality test.
BUILDING PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
Any building information collected in connection with this chapter.
BUILDING RATINGS
The Town of Bedford will periodically review, adopt by Town Board resolution, and post criteria for specific ratings that each building will receive to enable the public to compare the relative performance of residential rental properties. Rating criteria shall be established based on inspection information and annual benchmarking data for each of the following:
A. 
Health and safety inspection;
B. 
Building emissions intensity;
C. 
Energy cost;
D. 
Indoor air quality; and
E. 
Overall building performance.
CARBON DIOXIDE EQUIVALENT
The metric used to compare the emissions of various greenhouse gases based upon their global warming potential as defined in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (2014) or any subsequent IPCC Assessment Report.
ENERGY
Electricity, natural gas, steam, propane, hot or chilled water, fuel oil or other product for use in a building, or renewable on-site electricity generation, for purposes of providing heating, cooling, lighting, water heating, or for powering or fueling other end-uses in the building and related facilities, as reflected in the utility bills or other documentation of actual energy use.
ENERGY UTILITY BILL
Any invoice provided to the owner of a residential rental property for the supply of energy, including without limitation electricity and water, to such residential rental property.
GREENHOUSE GAS
Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), or nitrogen trifluoride (NF3).
GROSS FLOOR AREA
The total number of enclosed square feet measured between the exterior surfaces of the fixed walls within any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy.
HEALTH AND SAFETY CRITERIA
Criteria enumerated by resolution of the Town Board and posted by the Building Department to ensure that building conditions do not present health and safety risks to building occupants including but not limited to asbestos, elevated CO levels, fuel gas leaks, fuel oil leaks and/or heating appliances, and elevated moisture levels.
HEALTH AND SAFETY INSPECTION
An on-site inspection as required pursuant to Section 76-6 of this chapter, conducted by a duly qualified third-party inspector, of a building to review New York State Building Code and Fire Code requirements and local health and safety criteria.
HEALTH AND SAFETY INSPECTION REPORT
A report prepared by a duly qualified third-party inspector following a health and safety inspection or health and safety energy audit, with respect to New York State Building Code and Fire Code requirements and local health and safety criteria, which shall also provide a link to the Town website building ratings.
HEALTH SAFETY ENERGY AUDIT
An inspection of a building that includes all components of a health and safety inspection as defined herein and also includes an analysis of a building's energy use, conducted by a duly qualified energy professional.
LEAD CRITERIA
An area of a building contructed prior to 1979 where paint is observed to be in poor condition duing a health and safety inspection or health, safety, and energy audit.
OWNER
Any individual or individuals, partnership or corporation, similar type of business organization or proprietary interest, whether for profit or otherwise, in whose name title to a building is vested.
POLLUTANTS
Airborne and/or waterborne by-products from the use of energy and/or synthetic materials in the residential rental property including but not limited to greenhouse gases, nitrogen oxides (NOx, NO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM10 and PM 2.5), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and black carbon.
PORTFOLIO MANAGER
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, the internet-based tool developed and maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to track and assess the relative energy performance of buildings nationwide, or any successor thereto.
RESIDENTIAL RENTAL PROPERTY
Includes all buildings containing at least two residential units, which are, or could be, either rented, leased, let or hired out, which shall be limited to two-family, multifamily or mixed-use commercial buildings containing at least one residential unit. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any two-family building in which one of the units is occupied by the owner shall not be subject to the inspection, benchmarking or disclosure requirements set forth in §§ 76-6 through 76-9 of this chapter, but shall be required to register pursuant to §§ 76-4 and 76-5 and comply with the record maintenance requirements pursuant to § 76-10, below. The burden to demonstrate that a unit in a two-family building is occupied by the owner shall be on the owner.
RESPONSIBLE PERSON
A responsible person over 21 years old, residing or doing business in Westchester County, who shall be responsible for the care and management of such property and is authorized by said owner to accept legal process on behalf of the owner when the owner resides or has its principal place of business outside of Westchester County.
THIRD-PARTY INSPECTOR
A participant in a NYSERDA Residential Energy Assessment program and that is authorized by the Town of Bedford to provide health and safety inspections.
UTILITY
An entity that distributes and sells energy or water to a residential rental property.
A. 
Registration. Every owner of any residential rental property shall be required to register such property with the Building Department, on such form or forms as prescribed by the Building Department or its designee, within a period of 60 days of becoming the owner of any residential rental property in the Town of Bedford. A new form shall be filed whenever there is a change of ownership, and it shall be the responsibility of the new owner to ensure that such form is filed within a period of 60 days from taking title to the property. It shall be the responsibility of all owners of residential rental property to register such property with the Building Department or its designee, whether notified to do so by the Building Department or its designee or not.
B. 
Recertification. Every owner who has registered a residential rental property with the Building Department or its designee shall be required to recertify, on such form or forms as prescribed by the Building Department or its designee, within five years of the previous recertification. It shall be the responsibility of all owners of residential rental property to recertify such residential rental property with the Building Department or its designee every five years, whether notified to do so by the Building Department or its designee or not.
C. 
Registry fee. Every owner or prospective owner of residential rental property, at the time he or she is required to register or recertify said residential rental property with the Building Department or its designee, shall also be required to pay a fee to the Town of Bedford for the registration or recertification of the residential rental property, whether all units are rented or not, as set forth in the Town Schedule of Fees.[1] It is the responsibility of the residential rental property owner to submit the registry fee with the registration or recertification form.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Schedule of Fees is on file in the Town offices.
A. 
The residential rental property registration form shall include the following information:
(1) 
The property address, and the section, block and lot number of the property as stated on the Tax Map of the Town of Bedford, and the number of residential dwelling units on each property.
(2) 
The email address, mailing address and telephone number of the owner(s).
(3) 
The name and names, titles, email address, mailing addresses and telephone numbers of any responsible person(s) of the corporation, LLC, partnership or other similar business entity if the ownership is held in a nonindividual capacity.
(4) 
The name, email address, mailing address and telephone number of a local responsible person as defined in § 76-1 herein.
B. 
The form shall be signed by the owner or a responsible person and shall contain the following declaration: "I certify that all information contained in this statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. I understand that the willful making of any false statement of material fact herein will subject me to the provisions of law relevant to the making and filing of false instruments and shall constitute a violation of this chapter." It shall be the responsibility of each owner to timely notify the Building Department or its designee whenever the information provided in this form has become outdated or for any reason is no longer accurate.
C. 
The recertification form shall certify that all information previously submitted to the Building Department or its designee with respect to the initial registration of the residential rental property is unchanged and remains accurate and shall be signed by the owner or a responsible person and shall contain the following declaration: "I certify that all information contained in this statement is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. I understand that the willful making of any false statement of material fact herein will subject me to the provisions of law relevant to the making and filing of false instruments and shall constitute a violation of this chapter."
A. 
To ascertain if any local or New York State Building Code or Fire Code violations exist and to determine the overall performance of the building, the owner of a residential rental property must have an initial health and safety inspection, or health, safety, and energy audit as defined herein, of the residential rental property. The initial health and safety inspection shall be completed not later than the completion date as set by the Town of Bedford after registration and within three years after this chapter is reenacted, whichever comes first. The owner of the residential rental property shall schedule a health and safety inspection or health, safety, and energy audit by an independent, third-party inspector chosen from a Town-provided list and retained by the owner of the residential rental property. The owner of the residential rental property may retain a third-party inspector not referenced on the Town-provided list so long as the third-party inspector is authorized by the Building Department in writing to perform the required health and safety inspection.
B. 
After completion of the initial health and safety inspection or health, safety, and energy audit (which includes the health and safety inspection), a health safety inspection shall be conducted every five years after the date of the most recent inspection for the building.
C. 
Any health safety inspection conducted pursuant to Subsection A of this § 76-6 which reveals the presence of a health and safety criteria violation shall be remedied by the owner within 30 days of the receipt of the health and safety inspection report by the owner, or in a time frame as determined by the Building Department or its designee. The owner of the residential property shall report completion of such required remediation to the Building Department prior to the thirty-day period set forth in the health and safety inspection report.
D. 
Failure to bring any residential rental property into conformance with such health and safety inspection report and/or to remedy a health and safety criteria violation within 30 days shall constitute a violation of this chapter subject to the penalties set forth in § 76-11 of this chapter, it being expressly understood that this provision shall not constitute the exclusive remedy of the Town of Bedford but shall be an addition thereto.
E. 
With respect to any residential rental property that has demonstrated lead criteria during a health and safety inspection or health, safety, and energy audit, the third-party inspector shall notify Westchester County's Lead Safe Westchester Program not later than one week after observing the existence of lead criteria and shall copy the Building Department on such communication with the county.
F. 
Any owner required to address a health and safety criteria violation under this section may request additional time to remedy the health and safety criteria violation, which extension shall be granted at the Building Department's sole discretion. The owner's duty under Subsection C shall continue until the Building Department or its designee determines that the residential rental property no longer has a health and safety criteria violation.
A. 
The owner of any residential rental property shall perform benchmarking annually and enter such information into Portfolio Manager the total energy and water consumed by each residential rental property, along with the building address, primary use type, and gross floor area, and all other descriptive information required by Portfolio Manager for the previous calendar year. The initial benchmarking shall occur not later than the required completion date as set by the Town of Bedford after registration of the residential rental property, or three years after this chapter is reenacted, whichever comes first. The owner shall share data with the Building Department by adding the Building Department as eligible to receive information from Portfolio Manager.
B. 
The information described in § 76-7A above for a residential rental property on master-metered campuses shall be entered into Portfolio Manager at the campus level, unless such residential rental property is submetered at the building level, after which point information regarding such residential rental property shall be entered into Portfolio Manager at the building level.
C. 
The owner of a new (less than one year old) residential rental property that has not accumulated 12 months of energy or water use data by the first applicable date following occupancy shall comply with § 76-7A above in the following year.
D. 
Where the current owner learns that any information reported as part of a benchmarking submission is inaccurate or incomplete, the owner shall amend the reported information in Portfolio Manager and shall provide an updated benchmarking submission to the Building Department or its designee within 30 days of learning of the inaccuracy.
A. 
An owner of an individual residential rental property shall be exempt from any requirements of §§ 76-6 and 76-7 if the owner of such residential rental property submits documentation, in a form prescribed by the Building Department or its designee, establishing either of the following:
(1) 
The residential rental property is presently experiencing qualifying financial distress, as defined by any of the following:
(a) 
The residential rental property is the subject of a qualified tax lien sale or public auction due to property tax arrearages;
(b) 
The residential rental property is controlled by a court-appointed receiver; or
(c) 
The residential rental property has been acquired by a deed in lieu of foreclosure; or
(2) 
The residential rental property is new construction and the residential rental property's certificate of occupancy was issued during the calendar year for which a health and safety inspection, benchmarking, building performance information or other disclosure is required.
B. 
The Building Department or its designee may grant an extension of time for compliance with §§ 76-5, 76-6 and 76-7 above, if the owner of a residential rental property indicates, in a form to be determined by the Building Department or its designee, that, despite good-faith efforts, the owner could not satisfy the requirements of this chapter by the imposed deadlines.
A. 
Within 30 days after a health and safety inspection or health, safety, and energy audit has been completed, the health and safety inspection report shall be provided to the Building Department or its designee, in such form as required by the Town of Bedford.
B. 
Within 30 days after a health and safety inspection or health, safety, and energy audit has been completed, the owner shall post in a public area where possible and provide to all tenants the health and safety inspection report or health, safety, and energy audit results and any remediation actions that have been taken, and maintain a record of such communications with tenants for five years.
C. 
The owner of a residential rental property shall provide a copy of benchmarking and any health and safety inspection report issued pursuant to this chapter to a prospective purchaser of the residential rental property and maintain a record of such communications for five years.
D. 
In order to maintain the continuity of publically available information about Residential Rental Property, before ownership of any occupied residential rental property is transferred, the owner shall provide to the buyer, at or before closing, all information necessary for the buyer to report building performance information for the entire year, if required, in a timely manner. It shall be a violation of this chapter for any seller to fail to provide any such information at or before closing. This Subsection D does not apply to transfers of title to real property in the following circumstances:
(1) 
Through a foreclosure sale or trustee's sale, or a deed in lieu of foreclosure;
(2) 
Through a preforeclosure sale where the seller has reached an agreement with the mortgage to sell the building for an amount less than the amount owed on the mortgage;
(3) 
Through the exercise of or under the threat of eminent domain;
(4) 
From one family member to another family member without consideration;
(5) 
Under a court order or probate proceedings;
(6) 
Under a decree of legal separation or dissolution of marriage, or property settlement agreement; or
(7) 
Incidental to such decree.
E. 
The Town shall make available to the public on the Town website building performance information for the previous calendar year no later than September 1 of each year for residential rental properties.
F. 
The Town will use best efforts to send to each building owner and make available on the Town website, and update at least annually, the following building performance information:
(1) 
Summary and comparative statistics on energy and water consumption and applicable comparative ratings for residential rental properties derived from aggregation of building performance information; and
(2) 
For each residential rental property individually:
(a) 
The building address, use types and gross floor area; and
(b) 
Annual summary statistics from benchmarking and building ratings; and
(c) 
A comparison of the annual summary statistics across calendar years for all years since annual reporting under this chapter has been required for said building.
(3) 
Where the current owner of any residential rental property learns that any information reported as part of a building performance information submission is inaccurate or incomplete, the owner shall amend the reported information and shall provide an updated building performance information submission to the Building Department or its designee within 30 days of learning of the inaccuracy.
G. 
No later than September 1 of each year, the Building Department or its designee shall submit a report to the Town Board including but not limited to building performance information summary statistics for residential rental properties, as required by the Building Department or its designee, the total number of residential rental properties, a list of all residential rental properties, if any, that the Building Department or its designee has determined to be exempt from any requirements of this chapter and the reason or reasons for the exemption, the number of violations issued pursuant to this chapter during the preceding year, the amount of any fines assessed and any fines collected for violations of this chapter during the preceding year, and the status of compliance with the requirements of this chapter.
Owners of residential rental properties shall maintain records of energy and water bills and other documents received from tenants and/or utilities with respect to energy and water use, and any other records the Building Department or its designee determines to be necessary for carrying out the purposes of this chapter. Such records shall be preserved by owners for a period of at least five years. At the request of the Building Department or its designee, such records shall be made available for inspection and audit by the Building Department, or its designee.
A. 
Failure to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute a violation of the Code of the Town of Bedford.
B. 
A violation of this chapter shall constitute an unclassified misdemeanor, and any person who shall violate any provision of this chapter, or any person who shall knowingly assist therein, shall be liable to a minimum fine of $250 and a maximum fine of $5,000, or imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both such fine and imprisonment. Each and every day that any such violation continues following notification that such violation exists shall constitute a separate offense. Any initial notice of violation shall be written by the Building Inspector, or his or her designee, or by the third-party inspector and shall be served by mail or made by personal service on the owner.
C. 
This section shall not constitute the exclusive remedy of the Town of Bedford for a violation of this chapter, but shall be an addition to any other remedies available thereto, including but not limited to commencing a proceeding to obtain injunctive relief.