Research


Scope and Content Note

The series consists of apartment registration statements for municipalities in Westchester County for the years 1944-1981. These records were generated as a result of the passage of the Federal Emergency Price Control Act of January 30, 1942. The apartment registration statements contained in this series are for those municipalities that are no longer subject to regulation under the Emergency Housing Rent Control Law of 1950. It also includes those records which were decontrolled under provisions of the Village of Larchmont resolution of June 30, 1975, pursuant to the authority of Section 12-2 of the Emergency Housing Rent Control Law.

Most of the registration statements contained in this series are dated 1944 and consist of two types of forms issued by the U.S. Office of Price Administration (OPA). Form DD-U is for the registration of rental dwellings. Data include general instructions; maximum rent date; effective date of regulations; address of the rental unit; apartment number or location; number of rooms; total number of dwelling units in the structure; names and mailing addresses of the landlord and the tenant; amount of maximum rent (by week or month); list of equipment (furniture, running water, hot water, flush toilet, bathrooms, central heating, heating stove, refrigerator, electricity, and cooking stove) and services (garage, heater or heating fuel, cold and hot water, light, ice or refrigeration, janitor service, garbage disposal, painting and decorating, and interior and exterior repairs) that are available; and the signature of the landlord or agent.

Form DH-U is for the registration of hotels, rooming houses, boardinghouses, dormitories, auto camps, residence clubs, tourist homes, and cabins and trailer camps. This form contains data on the type of establishment; total number of rooms for rent; total number of occupants when fully rented; total number of bathrooms; inclusion or exclusion of meal policy; name and address of establishment; name and address of landlord; a list of maximum rents for rooms rented or offered for rent (by day, week, or month); and the date and signature of the landlord or agent.

With the take over of rent control by the state in 1950, use of the OPA forms was discontinued and state forms, containing virtually the same information as the OPA statements, were put into effect. In addition to the actual registration statements, the files also contain related data such as reports regarding the change of identity of landlords, orders determining facts or fixing maximum rents, orders denying applications or terminating proceedings for rent control, and landlord's reports of vacancy decontrol.

The vacancy decontrol report was required to be filed with the Local Rent Office within 30 days following the date of the first rental of such accommodations after decontrol. Each report contains address of apartment; name and mailing address of landlord; date of vacancy; maximum monthly rent in effect before vacancy; name of tenant prior to vacancy; name of new tenant and date of occupancy; current monthly rent; whether a written lease has been executed; and a list of improvements, additional services, or equipment supplied to the new tenant. The report also contains the date and signature of the landlord and is notarized. The reverse side of the form lists the pertinent regulation relating to vacancy decontrol and a notice of receipt, signed and dated by the Administrator of the Local Rent Office.