Now that state lawmakers have determined the fate of New York's rent laws, the city's Rent Guidelines Board will move ahead with a vote for this year's increases. Due to vote on Monday night, the Wall Street Journal reports that the board is expected to approve a rent freeze, meaning a zero-percent increase, for one-year leases for the first time since its formation in 1969. Two-year leases are expected to rise a modest one to two percent. Of the Rent Guidelines Board nine members, at least two advocate for a freeze in rents for one-year leases.
The potential rent freeze could be due in large part to falling fuel costs. Although tenants may celebrate the freeze, the board's executive vice president thinks that a long-term freeze could, as the Journal formerly quoted, "undermine the financial stability of many regulated buildings at a time when Mr. de Blasio wants to build and preserve 200,000 units of lower-cost housing." Despite, the rent freeze would fulfill a 2013 campaign promise of Mayor de Blasio.
The Times estimates that the board will stay within a range of zero to two percent increases for one-year leases, and a half to three-and-a-half percent for two-year leases. The board was supposed to vote on Wednesday, but postponed the vote as Albany sorted out the state's rent laws.
· Rent Freeze in the Forecast for NYC [WSJ]
· New York City Board Set to Vote on Rent Freeze After State Legislators Reach Deal [NYT]
· Rent Board Postpones Vote While Waiting on Housing Laws [Curbed]
· Shockingly, Stabilized Rents May Freeze of Decrease in 2016 [Curbed]
· New York's Rent Regulation Laws Will Be Extended For Four Years [Curbed]
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