Landlords With Rent-Stabilized Properties Cleared To Raise Rents Up To 2.5%
The owners of New York City's roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments will be able to enact the largest increase of rents in five years.
The city's Rent Guidelines Board voted Tuesday to allow the rents of rent-stabilized apartments to be raised 1.5% for one-year leases and 2.5% for two-year leases, the New York Times reports. The increases are more than the board allowed last year after back-to-back years of rent freezes. The ruling goes into effect Oct. 1.
A group advocating on behalf of landlords pushed for increases of 4.5% for one-year leases and 7.25% for two-year deals, but with the board made up of representatives appointed by the mayor, whose signature issue is affordable housing, such significant increases were unlikely, despite reports that operating costs for multifamily buildings increased 4.5% year over year, the Times reports.
According to a previous New York Times investigation, more than 150,000 rent-regulated apartments in New York City are now too expensive to be considered affordable to low-income New Yorkers, as landlords have pushed rents up over the years and laws protecting rent-stabilized units have been gutted. Rent-stabilized units in many parts of the city still rent for more than $2K a month.
