When the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) released its annual study, their findings suggested that rent-stabilized tenants were on track to see the third consecutive year of city-wide rent freezes. The RGB report concluded that the average net operating income for rent-stabilized properties had increased almost 11 percent between 2014 and 2015, the largest increase seen since 1998 and grounds to justify another rent freeze. Mayor de Blasio along with tenants found delight in the prospect of another rent freeze, but landlords aren’t thrilled and the Rent Stabilization Association (RSA) has plans to push back, once again, against another rent freeze.
According to Real Estate Weekly, RSA will call for a four percent rent increase on one-year leases and an eight percent increase on two year at a Rent Guidelines Board meeting to be held on Thursday, April 20. The group, who is in the process of appealing a ruling handed down by a Manhattan Supreme Court judge to allow last year’s rent freeze to remain in place, is now charging the RGB with “depriving landlords of the only revenue source they need need to pay property taxes,” which they say have increased every year under Mayor de Blasio.
“This year’s numbers clearly demonstrate justification for a rent increase – but it’s an election year and de Blasio controls all nine members of the RGB,” said RSA’s president Joseph Strasburg.
The group states that while rent freezes may appear to be beneficial for tenants on the surface, they are in fact counterproductive and make it difficult for property owners to make necessary repairs and to keep up the quality of many affordable apartments.
Curbed reached out to RGB for comment but did not receive a response as of publication.
- Landlords group to call for four percent hike on one-year leases [Real Estate Weekly]
- Rent-stabilized tenants in NYC may get another rent freeze [Curbed]
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