First rent laws in the nation (1920–1929) In 1920, New York adopted the Emergency Rent Laws, which effectively charged the courts of New York State with their administration. The rent laws were the result of a series of widespread rent strikes in New York City from 1918 to 1920 that had been sparked by a
World War I coal and housing shortage with the subsequent land speculation and raising of rents which had followed it.
Slum rent control in NYC (1939-1943) The City-Wide Tenants League was formed as a result of the 1943
Knickerbocker Village rent strikes. It and other housing and tenant organizations were successful in lobbying for the passage of the
Minkoff Act of 1939, which prohibited rent increases in
old law tenements not complying with the
Multiple Dwellings Act, which effectively acted as a form of rent control for low-income tenants since over 90% of old law tenements contained violations. The CWTL later changed its name to the
United Tenants League. The law lapsed in 1943, after being extended in 1940.
Federal regulation (1943–1950) In 1942, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the
Emergency Price Control Act into law. The goal of the act was to prevent inflation in the booming, fully employed wartime economy by setting price controls nationwide. Following this the UTL, the Citizens Housing Council, and Consumer organizations pressed
Mayor La Guardia to have the
Office of Price Administration (OPA) freeze rents in the city. La Guardia did make this request but initially the OPA refused on the basis of the city's vacancy rate, 7.5% as of 1940, being too high to justify controls. However,
this became a rallying point for the civil organizations, with a diverse and large amount of organizational pressure placed on the OPA to institute rent controls in NYC. On November 1, 1943, the OPA froze New York rents at their March 1, 1943, levels, New York's current rent control program began in 1943. It is the longest-running in the United States. It also detailed a process of rent decontrol, overseen by state boards, but protests in New York delayed attempts at rent decontrol by the board.
State regulation (1950–1962) The state of New York took over when federal regulation ended in 1950, passing a law that retained rent caps, managed by a state board. Compared to the OPA, it was weak with many loopholes; however it still was tenant victory compared to the rest of the nation. In New York City, apartments in single and two-family homes became deregulated after April 1, 1953. Cities and towns outside New York City were given permission to deregulate when ready. The most expensive luxury apartments in New York City began to be deregulated starting in 1958. By 1961, only New York City and 18 of New York's 57 other counties had rent regulation.
Mixed regulation (1962–1984) New York City and the state government began dual administration of rent regulation in 1962, and 75,000 expensive apartments were gradually deregulated by 1968. In 1969, construction and vacancy rates slumped, causing non-regulated rents to rise nationally. This rapid increase in rents caused New York to pass the Rent Stabilization Law of 1969, which introduced rent stabilization to units built after the 1947 cutoff for buildings to be eligible for rent control, covering approximately 325,000 units in New York City. The Local Law 30 of 1970 introduced a new method of rent control price calculation, based on the Maximum Base Rate, which adapted to the changing costs faced by landlords, allowing them to pass those costs on to renters. A 1971 law took away New York City's ability to regulate rents and gave the power to the state government. The Omnibus Housing Act of 1983 transferred the responsibilities for rent regulation in New York City from the New York City Conciliation and Appeals Board (CAB) to the
New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) effective April 1984.
State regulation (1984–present) The passage of the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997 restricted rent stabilization to apartments for which the legal, or stabilized, rent was under $2,000 per month. The decontrol rent was set at $2,000. The decontrol income was $175,000. Rent laws were extended four more years through 2019. • Increased the minimum rent for high-rent or high-income deregulation of an apartment to $2,700, which will be adjusted each year by the one-year increase allowed by the Rent Guidelines Board. The minimum rent for deregulation now is achieved following the prior lease and not as a result of a vacancy increase or improvements to unit or buildings after vacancy. • Created a stepped vacancy increase for a two-year lease of 5% if vacant less than two years, 10% if vacant less than three years, 15% if vacant less than four years, 20% if vacant four or more years. The vacancy increase for a one-year lease is less by the approved percentage difference in lease increases between one- and two-year leases. • Changed the amortization period for major capital improvements from 84 months to 96 months in buildings with less than 35 units and changed the amortization period for major capital improvements from 84 months to 108 months in buildings with 35 or more units. The New York State Legislature enacted the
Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 in June of that year. • Makes the rent regulation system permanent, so they will not sunset at any time in the future without an act of the Legislature to repeal or terminate them. • Repeals the provisions that allow the removal of units from rent stabilization when the rent crosses a statutory high-rent threshold and the unit becomes vacant or the tenant's income is $200,000 or higher in the preceding two years. • Limits the use of the "owner use" provision to a single unit, requires that the owner or their immediate family use the unit as their primary residence, and protects long-term tenants from eviction under this exception by reducing the current length of tenancy required to be protected from eviction to 15 years. • Limits the temporary non-profit exception to rent stabilization by requiring units to remain rent-stabilized if they are provided to individuals who are or were homeless or are at risk of homelessness. Provides individuals permanently or temporarily housed by nonprofits status as tenants while ensuring that units used for these purposes remain rent stabilized. • Repeals the "vacancy bonus" provision that allows a property owner to raise rents as much as 20 percent each time a unit becomes vacant. Repeals the "longevity bonus" provision that allows rents to be raised by additional amounts based on the duration of the previous tenancy. Prohibits local Rent Guidelines Boards from reinstating vacancy bonus on their own. • Prohibits Rent Guidelines Boards from setting additional increases based on the current rental cost of a unit or the amount of time since the owner was authorized to take additional rent increases, such as a vacancy bonus. • Prohibits owners who have offered tenants a "preferential rent" below the legal regulated rent from raising the rent to the full legal rent upon renewal. Once the tenant vacates, the owner can charge any rent up to the full legal regulated rent, so long as the tenant did not vacate due to the owner's failure to maintain the unit in habitable condition. Owners with rent-setting regulatory agreements with federal or state agencies will still be permitted to use preferential rents based on their particular agreements. • Sets Maximum Collectible Rent increases for rent controlled tenants at the average of the five most recent Rent Guidelines Board annual rent increases for one-year renewals. This bill also prohibits fuel pass-along charges. • Extends the four-year look-back period to six or more years as reasonably necessary to determine a reliable base rent, extends the period for which an owner can be liable for rent overcharge claims from two to six years, and no longer allows owners to avoid treble damages if they voluntarily return the amount of the rent overcharge prior to a decision being made by a court or Housing and Community Renewal (HCR). Allows tenants to assert their overcharge claims in court or at HCR and states that while an owner may discard records after six years, they do so at their own risk. • Lowers the rent increase cap for Major Capital Improvements (MCIs) from six percent to two percent in New York City and from 15 percent to two percent in other counties. Provides the same protections of the two percent cap going forward on MCI rent increases attributable to MCIs that became effective within the prior seven years. Lowers increases further by lengthening the MCI formula's amortization period. Eliminates MCI increases after 30 years instead of allowing them to remain in effect permanently. Significantly tightens the rules governing what spending may qualify for MCI increases and tightens enforcement of those rules by requiring that 25 percent of MCIs be inspected and audited. • Caps the amount of IAI spending at $15,000 over a 15-year period and allows owners to make up to three IAIs during that time. Makes IAI increases temporary for 30 years rather than permanent and requires owners to clear any hazardous violations in the apartment before collecting an increase. • Requires HCR to submit an annual report on the programs and activities undertaken by the Office of Rent Administration and the Tenant Protection Unit regarding implementation, administration and enforcement of the rent regulation system. The report will also include data points regarding the number of rent stabilized units within each county, application and approvals for major capital improvements, units with preferential rents, rents charged, and overcharge complaints. • Strengthens and makes permanent the system that protects tenants in buildings that owners seek to convert into co-ops or condos. Eliminates the option of "eviction plans" and institutes reforms for non-eviction plans. Requires 51 percent of tenants in residence to agree to purchase apartments before the conversion can be effective. (Currently 15 percent of apartments must be sold and the purchasers may be outside investors.) For market-rate senior citizens and disabled tenants during conversion, evictions are permitted only for good cause, where an unconscionable rent increase does not constitute good cause. • Removes the geographical restrictions on the applicability of the rent stabilization laws, allowing any municipality that otherwise meets the statutory requirements (e.g., less than five percent vacancy in the housing stock to be regulated) to opt into rent stabilization. == Warehousing ==