Landlord operating costs covering a million rent-stabilized apartments went up by a mere 0.5 percent last year, according to a new report from the Rent Guidelines Board. That’s the lowest increase since 2002, and it means that a rent freeze is far more likely to pass than in years past.
“The data we have right now points to either a rent rollback or a rent freeze,” Harvey Epstein, a tenant representative on the guidelines board, said.
Tenant and landlord advocates both told the New York Post that the report will put intense pressure on the board and Mayor de Blasio to freeze rents.
“We presume again that the mayor will be calling for zero [increase], and he now controls the entire board. So the prospects for a reasonable guidelines board don’t look good to us,” Jack Freund, vice president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords, told the Post.
De Blasio sought a rent freeze last year when operating costs went up 5.7 percent. At the time, the board decided to raise rents one percent for one-year lease renewals. [NYP] – Christopher Cameron