Rent Freeze Likely in Today’s Vote
It’s looking like the rent freeze promised by mayor Bill de Blasio may come to pass. Today’s vote by the Rent Guidelines Board will determine whether it does. Both landlord and tenant leaders told the Wall Street Journal they expect the freeze, which the mayor has been talking about since his campaign in 2013. Rent Stabilization Association EVP Jack Freund, which reps 25k rent-regulated landlords, tells the WSJ that it’ll be a second blow for landlords, after the state legislature voted on Thursday to make it tougher to take high-rent apartments off rent regulation. After much back-and-forth over the specifics, including one proposal for a 4% rent decrease one-year leases, the freeze experts say the freeze is likely to pass. It would be the first ever all-out freeze approved by the board. Last year’s 1% increase was the lowest since the board started setting rents in 1969. [WSJ]
