§ 5-04 The SOTA Unit.
RCNY § 5-04
(a)A SOTA application will not be approved pursuant to subdivision (c) of 31 RCNY § 5-03(a), unless the residence to which SOTA payments will be applied meets the following requirements: (1) The residence must be within one of the 50 states of the United States of America, the District of Columbia or one of the territories of the United States.
(2)The rent for the residence must be reasonable in comparison to other comparable units in the area where the unit is located.
(3)Except as provided in subdivision (b) of this section, the rent for the residence must not exceed forty percent of the household's gross income.
(4)If the lease is for an individual room in an apartment or in a single-family dwelling in New York City, the rent cannot exceed the lesser of forty percent of the household's gross income or $800. The residence cannot be an individual room in an apartment or other dwelling, except in New York City. Room rentals will only be approved for households consisting of one or two adults with no children and will not be approved where the room is in a rent-stabilized or rent-controlled unit.
(b)The rent for the residence may exceed forty percent of the household's gross income only if the household's proportionate share of the rent does not exceed forty percent of the household's gross income and there is an additional individual on the lease whose proportionate share of the rent does not exceed forty percent of such individual's gross income. For purposes of this subdivision, the household's proportionate share of the rent shall be half of the rent if there is one additional individual on the lease whose income is being used to enable the household to move into a unit with a rent that is higher than would otherwise be permitted. If there is more than one such additional individual, the household's proportionate share will be determined on a case by case basis, considering such factors as household composition and number of bedrooms intended to be used primarily by the household.
(c)If the residence is in New York City, in the New York State counties of Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk or Westchester, or in the New Jersey counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Passaic or Union, the residence must meet a safety and habitability assessment. If the residence is in New York City, such assessment will be the same assessment that is used in the CityFHEPS program under 68 RCNY Chapter 10. If the residence is in one of the other counties listed in this subparagraph, the assessment will be substantially similar to the assessment that is used in the CityFHEPS program. Regardless of the location of the residence, the landlord must comply with all applicable Building and Housing Code standards and ensure that the SOTA unit is habitable at the time of rental and during the year covered by the SOTA grant. (Added City Record 8/6/2021, eff. 9/7/2021)
