NYC Rent-Stabilized Apartments Could See Another Price Hike

NEW YORK — Tenants of New York City's rent-stabilized apartments could see their rents rise this fall under a proposal the Rent Guidelines Board adopted Tuesday. The board voted 5-4 to consider allowing apartment rent hikes of 0.5% to 2.75% for one-year leases and 1.5% to 3.75% for two-year leases.

The proposal puts the board on track to allow hikes for both sets of rent-stabilized apartment leases for the third straight year as lawmakers in Albany eye reforms to the state's rent laws, which are due to expire in June. The city is home to some 966,000 rent-stabilized apartments.

The range of increases in the board's proposal are similar to last year's, when hikes of 0.75 to 2.75% for one-year leases and 1.75 to 3.75% for two-year leases were considered. The board ultimately allowed hikes of 1.5% for one-year leases and 2.5% for two-year leases last June.

The vote marked a key step in the board's roughly two-month process of deciding just how much more landlords of rent-stabilized homes can require tenants to pay. The nine-member panel is slated to hear public testimony on the proposal at four meetings next month before voting June 25 on final hikes that will go into effect in October.

The range of increases appeared to dissatisfy landlords and tenant advocates alike. Adriene Holder, a top lawyer at the Legal Aid Society and former board member, called on the board to freeze rents or vote for the "smallest allowable increase" as the city continues to grapple with a shortage of affordable housing.

"We cannot find any justification for this increase, especially in light of the Board’s own data showing that landlords’ profits have increased every year for 13 years in a row, while tenants continue to struggle each month towards paying their rents," Holder, the attorney-in-charge of Legal Aid's Civil Practice, said in a statement.

The board's landlord representatives, on the other hand, floated increases as large as 5.75% for apartments with one-year leases and 6.75% for those with two-year leases, according to The Real Deal.

"We live in a capitalist society, where people go into business to make a profit, not break even," attorney Patti Stone, one of the landlord representatives, reportedly said. "Owners have been under-compensated."