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It's very expensive living in our fair city...and it just got even pricier.
On Wednesday, June 21, the New York City Rent Guidelines Board (NYCRGB)—which determines rent increases for lease renewals of rent stabilized apartments, lofts, hotels and single room occupancies (SROs)—voted to increase monthly rents on those seemingly mythical but actually very-real subset of NYC apartments: rent-regulated apartments, of which there are about a million across NYC.
RECOMMENDED: Here's how to check if your apartment is rent stabilized
After an uncomfortably close 5-4 decision, the board's nine mayoral appointees agreed to raise monthly payments for rent-regulated units up to 3 percent on one-year leases, as well as a two-part jump for two-year contracts: the first year of a lease bumping up by 2.75 percent and then another 3.2 percent over the previous year in the second half of the lease. That's a nearly 6 percent increase by the lease's end.
The increases will apply to leases on rent-stabilized apartments issued or renewed from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2024.
The controversial rent-hike request, which had the approval of tenant representatives, is the second consecutive year that the Rent Guidelines Board has allowed an increase on stabilized rents. Last year, the panel voted for an increase of 3.25 percent for one-year leases and 5 percent on two-year leases. The 2022 and 2023 decisions mark the highest rent jump in a decade. "Roughly two million people—a quarter of New York City’s total population—live in rent stabilized apartments, and no other American city has a program as vast," reports The New York Times.
Mayor Eric Adams issued a statement following Wednesday's decision, saying: "I want to thank the members of the Rent Guidelines Board for their critically important and extremely difficult work protecting tenants from unsustainable rent increases, while also ensuring small property owners have the necessary resources to maintain their buildings. Finding the right balance is never easy, but I believe the board has done so this year."
The news does not affect unregulated apartments, subsidized housing or good ol' market-rate apartments and lease terms, which are still negotiated between building owners and tenants.