NEW YORK — It is a decades-old tradition: A nine-member city board meets once a year in a packed auditorium in lower Manhattan before a raucous crowd of hundreds of tenants and landlords.
Tensions flare. Protesters are sometimes arrested. And the board’s final decision never seems to fully satisfy tenants or landlords.
But by the end of the night the board has the final say on the maximum increase in rent that landlords can charge the 2.4 million residents of the city’s nearly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments — almost half the city’s rental stock.
The Rent Guidelines Board voted Tuesday on the first rent ceilings approved since legislators in Albany passed sweeping changes to the state’s rent laws about two weeks ago, strengthening rent regulations and establishing new protections for millions of tenants statewide.
So, how much of a rent increase can I expect?
If you live in a rent-stabilized apartment, your rent may go up by a maximum of 1.5% for one-year leases.
If you have a two-year lease, your landlord can now increase your rent by up to 2.5%.
The median rent of a rent-stabilized apartment in New York City was $1,269 in 2017. So the typical city tenant could pay an extra $19 for a one-year lease or about $31 for a two-year lease.
The increases will be in effect for rent-stabilized tenants who renew leases after Oct. 1.
Are these large increases?
The new increases are modest given the history of the board, which was formed 50 years ago.
The board allowed rent increases of up to 14% for certain two-year leases in 1980. Under the Bloomberg administration, yearly rent increases for one-year leases hovered at about 3.25% on average.
But rent caps have been considerably lower under Mayor Bill de Blasio.
During his first mayoral campaign, he pledged a temporary freeze on regulated rents, in order, he said, to protect low-income tenants from a roaring real estate market. A majority of rent-stabilized tenants pay more than 30% of their income in rent.
In 2015, the board approved a rent freeze on one-year leases for the first time in its history. It did so again in 2016, but the board approved modest increases in 2017. This year’s increases are identical to those approved last year.
This year, the board considered rent increases as high as 6.75%, rent decreases and another rent freeze, which tenant groups supported.
“We need to decide as a city to prioritize people that live here over how much landlords are going to make,” Sheila Garcia, one of the tenant representatives on the board, said before the vote. “Our mandate is not to make sure that profits continue to increase.”
How does the city determine how much rent can increase?
The board is mandated to establish fair rents for property owners and tenants.
The mayor appoints members to the board, which is one of the few tools a mayor has to directly influence the cost of housing in the city. It is made up of two tenant representatives, two landlord representatives and five members of the public with experience in housing or economics.
Board members consider detailed reports that outline the condition of the housing stock, the rent tenants are already paying and landlords’ operating costs.
Board members also hold a series of public meetings. This year they heard from about two dozen landlords and 219 tenants who testified during four hearings.
Then they hold a final vote on the maximum rent increases landlords can charge.
What does this have to do with the new rent laws passed in Albany?
State lawmakers recently passed landmark changes aimed at abolishing a series of provisions that landlords used to raise rents beyond ceilings that are approved by the Rent Guidelines Board.
Before the law change, landlords could, for example, increase rents by up to 20% when a unit became vacant. Legislators scrapped another provision that allowed building owners to deregulate tens of thousands of units when their rents passed a certain threshold.
With those provisions gone, landlords now have significantly fewer ways to raise rents, making the rent increases approved annually by the city all the more important.
The real estate industry strenuously fought the measures in Albany. Building owners said the changes will leave landlords hamstrung, unable to charge enough rent to maintain their buildings.
The new laws were far-reaching: They strengthened protections for tenants in unregulated apartments, too.
What do landlords say about the rent increases?
Landlord groups were not pleased.
They had clamored for higher increases they said were necessary to offset changes to the state law and to cover higher costs in fuel, property taxes and maintenance of aging buildings.
Operating costs for rent stabilized buildings increased 5.5% from March 2018 to March 2019, according to a city report.
But for the 13th straight year, the most recent data showed, income outpaced expenses for rent-stabilized properties, and from 2016 to 2017, their net operating income grew by 0.4%.
“The RGB, de Blasio and the state Legislature believe they are solving the housing affordability crisis by placing a stranglehold on rental property owners, but all they are doing is hurting the very people — tenants — they are trying to protect,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 property owners.
“Continued inadequate guidelines and the latest reforms to the state rent laws will undoubtedly lead to the deterioration of the city’s already-aging housing stock.”
Wait, how do I know if I live in a regulated apartment?
Rent-stabilized apartments are typically in buildings that were built before 1974 with six or more units, and also constructed or renovated since then with special tax benefits.
The only way to know for sure if your apartment is regulated is by contacting the state agency that administers the rent laws.
And if I’m in an unregulated unit?
Well, these rent increases do not directly affect you.
Your landlord is free to charge as much rent as they wish, unless you live in subsidized housing.
Did the final vote get rowdy?
Yes.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.