The city’s Rent Guidelines Board took a preliminary vote on Monday in favor of a potential rent freeze for rent-stabilized tenants with one-year leases. If approved next month in a final vote, it would be a first for the city.
Under the plan, tenants with one-year leases could see a rent hike between 0 and 3 percent, meaning there might be no increase at all. Rent increases for two-year leases would be in range of 0.5 percent and 4.5 percent. The board approved the proposal by 8-to-1 on a preliminary basis, though some landlords are unhappy with the initial outcome. Percentages would be set at the time of the final approval.
“It is outrageous. It is unprecedented,” Jack Freund of the Rent Stabilization Association told the New York Daily News.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, who supports a one-year freeze for rent-stabilized tenants, appointed six members of the nine-member board to date. [NYDN] — Mark Maurer