That the provisions of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes shall not apply to any purchase or contract by said officers (or their agencies), respectively, for services or supplies if the amount thereof does not exceed $300: And provided further, That funds made available for administrative expenses in carrying out the functions, powers, and duties imposed upon the Housing and Home Finance Administrator, the Home Loan Bank Board, the Federal Housing Commissioner, and the Public Housing Commissioner, respectively, by or pursuant to law may at their option be consolidated into single administrative expense fund accounts of said officers or agencies for expenditure by them, respectively, in accordance with the provisions hereof. SEC. 503. Any low-rent or veterans' housing project undertaken or constructed under a program of a State or any political subdivision thereof and with the express purpose indicated in the State legislation of converting the project to a project with Federal assistance (if and when such Federal assistance becomes available), shall be approved as a low-rent housing project under the terms of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, if (a) a contract for State financial assistance for such project was entered into prior to January 1, 1949, (b) the project is or can become eligible for assistance by the Public Housing Administration in the form of loans and annual contributions under the provisions of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, and (c) the State or the public housing agency operating the project in the State makes application to the Public Housing Administration for Federal assistance for the project under the terms of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended: Provided, That loans made by the Public Housing Administration for the purpose of so converting the project to a project with Federal assistance shall be deemed, for the purposes of the provisions of section 9 and other sections of the United States Housing Act of 1937, to be loans to assist the development of the project. ACT CONTROLLING SEC. 504. Insofar as the provisions of any other law are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, the provisions of this Act shall be controlling. SEPARABILITY SEC. 505. Except as may be otherwise expressly provided in this Act, all powers and authorities conferred by this Act shall be cumulative and additional to and not in derogation of any powers and authorities otherwise existing. Notwithstanding any other evidences of the intention of Congress, it is hereby declared to be the controlling intent of Congress that if any provisions of this Act, or the application thereof to any persons or circumstances, shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of this Act or its applications to other persons and circumstances, but shall be confined in its operation to the provisions of this Act, or the application thereof to the persons and circumstances, directly involved in the controversy in which such judgment shall have been rendered. Approved August 10, 1948. [PUBLIC LAW 31-81ST CONGRESS] [H. R. 1731] AN ACT To extend certain provisions of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Housing and Rent Act of 1949". TITLE I-AMENDMENT TO TITLE I OF HOUSING AND RENT ACT OF 1947, AS AMENDED SEC. 2. Section 4 of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 4. (a) In order to assure preference or priority to veterans of World War II or their families "(1) no housing accommodations designed for single-family residence, the construction or conversion of which is completed after June 30, 1947, shall be offered for sale or resale, or sold or resold, to persons other than veterans of World War II or their families, unless such housing accommodations have been publicly offered for sale exclusively to veterans of World War II or their families (a) during the period of construction or conversion and for thirty days thereafter, prior to a sale or offering for sale to such nonveterans, and (b) for a period of seven days prior to a resale, or an offering for resale, to such nonveterans; and "(2) no housing accommodations designed for occupancy by other than transients, the construction or conversion of which is completed after June 30, 1947, shall be offered for rent or rerent, rented or rerented to persons other than veterans of World War II or their families, unless such housing acommodations have been publicly offered for rent exclusively to veterans of World War II or their families (a) during the period of construction or conversion and for thirty days thereafter, prior to a first renting or offering for rent to such nonveterans, and (b) for a period of seven days prior to a subsequent renting, or offering for rent, to such nonveterans; and "(3) no housing accommodations designed for single-family residence, the construction or conversion of which is completed after June 30, 1947, shall be offered for sale or resale, or sold or resold, to any person at a price less than the price for which it had been last offered for sale to veterans of World War II or their families for at least seven days: Provided, however, That in no event shall the public offering period to veterans of World War II or their families total less than thirty days in any first or original sale as required by paragraph (1) of this subsection; and "(4) no housing accommodations designed for occupancy by other than transients, the construction or conversion of which is completed after June 30, 1947, shall be offered for rent or rerent, or rented or rerented, to any person at a price less than the price for which it had been last offered for rent to veterans of World War II or their families for at least seven days: Provided, however, That in no event shall the public offering period to veterans of World War II or their families total less than thirty days in any first or original renting as required by paragraph (2) of this subsection. "(b) As used in this section "(1) the term 'person' shall include an individual, corporation, partnership, association or any other organized group of persons, or a representative of any of the foregoing. "(2) the term 'housing accommodations' shall include, without limitation, any building, structure, or part thereof, or land appurtenant thereto, or any real or personal property, designed, constructed, or converted for dwelling or residential purposes, together with all privileges, services or facilities in connection therewith; industrially made or prefabricated houses, sections, panels, or their aggregate as a 'package', designed or constructed for dwelling or residential purposes; and a certificate, deposit, membership, stock interest, or undivided interest in real estate, under a cooperative mutual ownership or similar plan, which carries with it the right of occupancy of individual dwelling units. "(c) The Housing Expediter is authorized to issue regulations and orders prescribing the manner in which such housing accommodations shall be publicly offered in good faith for sale or rent to veterans of World War II or their families and such other regulations or orders as he may deem necessary in the public interest to effectuate the provisions of this section. The Housing Expediter is further authorized to grant such exceptions to the provisions of this section for hardship cases as he may deem appropriate. "(d) Any person who willfully violates any provision of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of not more than $5,000 or to imprisonment for not more than one year, or to both such fine and imprisonment. "(e) This section shall cease to be in effect at the close of June 30, 1950, or upon the date that the President proclaims that the protection to veterans of World War II or their families provided by this section is no longer needed, whichever date is the earlier, except that as to offenses committed, or rights or liabilities incurred, prior to such termination date, the provisions of this title and regulations and orders issued thereunder shall be treated as still remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any proper suit, action, or prosecution with respect to any such right, liability, or offense." TITLE II-MAXIMUM RENTS SEC. 201. (a) Section 202 (c) of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended by striking out paragraph (1) thereof and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "(1) (A) those housing accommodations, in any establishment which is located in a city of less than two million five hundred thousand population according to the 1940 decennial census and which is com 38207-53--18 monly known as a hotel in the community in which it is located, which are occupied by persons who are provided customary hotel services such as maid service, furnishing and laundering of linen, telephone and secretarial or desk service, use and upkeep of furniture and fixtures, and bellboy service; or "(B) those housing accommodations in hotels in cities of two million five hundred thousand population or more according to the 1940 decennial census (i) which are located in hotels in which 75 per centum or more of the occupied housing accommodations on March 1, 1949, were used for transient occupancy, or (ii) which are not located in hotels described in (i) but which on March 1, 1949, were used for transient occupancy; for the purposes of this subparagraph (B)— "(1) the term 'used for transient occupancy' means rented on a daily basis, to a tenant who had not on March 1, 1949, continuously resided in the hotel for ninety days or more; and "(2) the term 'hotel' means any establishment which on June 30, 1947, was commonly known as a hotel in the community in which it is located and was occupied by an appreciable number of persons who were provided customary hotel services such as maid service, furnishing and laundering of linen, telephone and secretarial or desk service, use and upkeep of furniture and fixtures, and bellboy service; or". (b) Section 202 (c) (2) of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended by striking out "trailer or trailer space" and inserting in lieu thereof "trailer, or trailer space, used exclusively for transient occupancy". (c) Section 202 (c) of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended by striking out paragraph (3) thereof and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "(3) any housing accommodations (A) the construction of which was completed on or after February 1, 1947, or which are housing accommodations created by a change from a nonhousing to a housing use on or after February 1, 1947, or which are additional housing accommodations created by conversion on or after February 1, 1947: Provided, however, That any housing accommodations resulting from any conversion created on or after the effective date of the Housing and Rent Act of 1949 shall continue to be controlled housing accommodations unless the Housing Expediter issues an order decontrolling them, which he shall issue if he finds that the conversion resulted in additional, selfcontained family units as defined by regulations issued by him: And provided further, That contracts for the rental of housing accommodations to veterans of World War II and their immediate families, the construction of which was assisted by allocations or priorities under Public Law 388, Seventy-ninth Congress, approved May 22, 1946, shall remain in full force and effect; or (B) the construction of which was completed on or after February 1, 1945, and prior to February 1, 1947, and which between the date of completion and June 30, 1947, both dates inclusive, at no time were rented (other than to members of the immediate family of the landlord) as housing accommodations; or". (d) Section 202 (d) of such Act, as amended, is amended by striking out "in which maximum rents were being regulated under such Act on March 1, 1947", and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "in which maximum rents (1) were being regulated under such Act on March 1, 1947, or (2) are established or reestablished pursuant to section 204 (i) (1) or (2) of this title". (e) Section 202 (e) of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "(e) The term 'rent' means the consideration, including any bonus, benefit, or gratuity demanded or received for or in connection with the use or occupancy of housing accommodations, or the transfer of a lease of housing accommodations." SEC. 202. Section 203 (b) of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "(b) On the termination of rent control in any area or portion thereof under this title all records and other data (and the cabinets or containers holding such records and data) used or held in connection with the establishment and maintenance of maximum rents in such area or portion thereof by the Housing Expediter, and all predecessor agencies, shall, on request, be transferred without reimbursement to the proper officials of any State or local subdivision of government that may be charged with the duty of administering a rent-control program in any State or local subdivision of government to which such records and data may be applicable: Provided, however, That any such records or data (and the cabinets or containers holding such records or data) shall be so made available subject to recall for use in carrying out the purposes of this title." SEC. 203. (a) Section 204 (a) of the Housing and Rent Act of 1947, as amended, is amended by striking out "March 31, 1949" and inserting in lieu thereof "June 30, 1950". (b) Section 204 (b) of such Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "(b) (1) Subject to the provisions of paragraphs (2) and (3) of this subsection, and subsections (h) and (i), during the period beginning on the effective date of this title and ending on the date this title ceases to be in effect, no person shall demand, accept, or receive any rent for the use or occupancy of any controlled housing accommodations greater than the maximum rent established under the authority of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as amended, and in effect with respect thereto on June 30, 1947: Provided, however, That the Housing Expediter shall, by regulation or order, make such individual and general adjustments in such maximum rents in any defense-rental area or any portion thereof, or with respect to any housing accommodations or any class of housing accommodations within any such area or any portion thereof, as may be necessary to remove hardships or to correct other inequities, or further to carry out the purposes and provisions of this title: Provided, however, That the landlord certifies that he is maintaining all services furnished as of the date determining the maximum rent and that he will continue to maintain such services so long as the adjustment in such maximum rent which may be granted continues in effect. In making and recommending individual and general adjustments to remove hardships or to correct other inequities, the Housing Expediter and the local boards. shall observe the principle of maintaining maximum rents for controlled housing accommodations, so far as is practicable, at levels |