Rent control is the older of the two systems of rent regulation. It dates back to the housing shortage immediately following World War II and generally applies to buildings constructed before 1947. Rent stabilization generally covers buildings built after 1947 and before 1974, and apartments removed from rent control. Outside New York City rent stabilization is also known as ETPA, for the Emergency Tenant Protection Act.

These rent regulation programs were formerly administered separately in New York City and outside New York City. Starting April 1, 1984, however, in addition to administering rent regulation outside New York City, the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) also became responsible for administering rent regulation in New York City. The Omnibus Housing Act of 1983 mandated the consolidation of all rent regulation under DHCR and also made other changes in the rent laws significantly affecting tenants and owners. What follows is a brief description of the major elements of rent control and rent stabilization in New York City and outside New York City, and highlights of those changes in the law which DHCR administers. More details on these matters can be obtained by calling, writing, or visiting one of the DHCR borough or district rent offices.

Rent Control and Rent Stabilization: Which apartments are covered?

Which apartments are under Rent Control?

The rent control program applies to residential buildings constructed before February, 1947 in municipalities that have not declared an end to the postwar rental housing emergency. There are 55 municipalities that have rent control, including New York City, Albany, Buffalo, and various cities, towns and villages in Albany, Erie, Nassau, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Westchester counties.

In order for an apartment to be under rent control the tenant must have been living there continuously since before July 1, 1971. When a rent controlled apartment is vacated in NYC or most ETPA localities, it becomes rent stabilized (where the building contains at least six units), or completely removed from regulation.

Which apartments are under Rent Stabilization?

In New York City, apartments are under rent stabilization if they are in buildings of six or more units built between February 1, 1947, and December 31, 1973. Tenants in buildings built before February 1, 1947, who moved in after June 30, 1971, are also covered by rent stabilization. A third category of rent stabilized apartments covers buildings with three or more apartments constructed or extensively renovated on or after January 1, 1974 with special tax benefits. Generally, those buildings are only subject to stabilization while the tax benefits continue or, in some cases, until the tenant vacates.

Outside New York City, rent stabilization applies to non-rent controlled apartments in buildings of six or more units built before January 1, 1974, in the localities which have adopted ETPA in Nassau, Westchester and Rockland counties. Some municipalities limit ETPA to buildings of a specific size- for instance, buildings with 20 or more units, or 100 or more, but in any event, not less than six.

What is luxury decontrol?

The Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997, New York City Local Law 4 of 1994 and the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1993 provide for the deregulation of certain apartments based on the following conditions.

Statewide, pursuant to the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997, an apartment with a legal regulated or maximum rent of $2,000 or more per month on or after June 19, 1997, and which was or becomes vacant on or after June 19, 1997, is not subject to rent regulation. Previously, pursuant to the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1993, apartments were exempt from rent regulation, statewide, if they had legal rents of $2,000 or more per month at any time between July 7, 1993 and October 1, 1993 and were or became vacant on or after July 7, 1993. In New York City, Local Law No. 4 of 1994 further provided for deregulation of apartments with legal rents of $2,000 or more per month at any time which were or became vacant on or after April 1, 1994.

These laws also provide for deregulation of high-rent apartments occupied by high-income tenants by order of DHCR in response to the filing of an owner's petition for luxury deregulation.

Pursuant to the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1993 and Local Law No. 4 of 1994, for luxury deregulation petitions filed with DHCR on or before June 30, 1997 involving New York City apartments, deregulation occurs for apartments with legal rents of $2,000 or more per month and which are occupied by tenants whose household incomes were in excess of $250,000 in each of the two successive years prior to the filing of the owner's petition. Pursuant to the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1993, for deregulation petitions filed on or before June 30, 1997 involving apartments located outside New York City, deregulation occurs for apartments with legal rents of $2,000 or more on October 1, 1993 and which are occupied by tenants whose household incomes were in excess of $250,000 in each of the two successive years prior to the filing of the owner's petition.

Pursuant to the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997, for deregulation petitions filed with DHCR after January 1, 1998, deregulation will occur statewide for apartments with legal rents of $2,000 or more per month and which are occupied by tenants whose household incomes were in excess of $175,000 in each of the two successive years prior to the filing of the owner's petition.

Like rent control, rent stabilization also provides other protections to tenants besides limitations on the amount of rent. Tenants are entitled to receive required services, to have their leases renewed, and may not be evicted except on grounds allowed by law. Leases may be renewed for a term of one or two years, at the tenant's choice.

If a tenant's rights are violated, DHCR can reduce rents and levy civil penalties against the owner. Rents may be reduced if services are not maintained. In cases of overcharge, DHCR may assess penalties of interest or treble damages payable to the tenant.

Rent Registration

The Omnibus Housing Act required owners to initially register with DHCR, no later than June 30, 1984, the rents and services for all rent stabilized apartments occupied on April 1, 1984. Owners were required to send a copy of the registration to tenants, who had 90 days to challenge the information provided by the owner. If a tenant timely challenged the rent and the challenge was upheld, DHCR ordered a refund of any overcharges, plus interest, for a period of four years prior to the filing of the challenge and treble damages for a period of two years prior to the filing.

For apartments which become subject to rent stabilization after 1984, an owner is required to file an initial registration within 90 days after they become subject to rent stabilization. After the initial registration, owners must file an annual registration statement giving the April 1st rent for each unit and provide tenants with a copy. Owners who do not file initial or annual statements will not be eligible for rent increases and are subject to additional penalties.

However, under the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1993, upon the service and filing of a late registration, an owner can not be found to have collected an overcharge for the period of nonregistration, provided the increases in the rent were lawful except for the failure to file a timely registration. The penalty of treble damages can not be assessed against an owner based solely on that owner's failure to file a timely registration. Furthermore, pursuant to the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997, DHCR is prohibited from investigating issues concerning rent registrations for years occurring more than four years before the filing of a rent overcharge complaint.

Rent Increases

The Rent Guidelines Boards (one in New York City and one each in Nassau, Westchester, and Rockland counties) set maximum allowable rates for rent increases in stabilized apartments. These guideline rates are set once a year and are effective for leases beginning on or after October 1st of each year. Pursuant to the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997, owners who sign vacancy leases are entitled to collect vacancy increases provided in the Act. These vacancy increases are described in DHCR's Fact Sheets 5, 26 and 31.

Both in New York City and the ETPA counties, rents can be increased during the lease period in any one of three ways, so long as the lease provides for the collection of an increase during the lease term: (1) with the written consent of the tenant in occupancy, if the owner increases services or equipment, or makes improvements to an apartment; (2) with DHCR approval, if the owner installs a building-wide major capital improvement; or (3) in cases of hardship with DHCR approval.

Rent Overcharges

For rent stabilized apartments, owners may be ordered to refund excess rent based on a finding of rent overcharge. A finding by DHCR of a willful rent overcharge by the owner may result in the assessment of treble damages payable to the tenant. There is a retroactive four-year maximum on rent overcharge refunds, for complaints filed on or after April 1, 1984, and a two year maximum on treble damages. The treble damage penalty was extended to New York City by the 1983 Omnibus Housing Act; it applies only to willful overcharges collected or for complaints filed on or after April 1, 1984. Outside New York City, ETPA provides for treble damages for willful or negligent overcharges.

Municipalities in Nassau and Westchester counties which have authorized the SCRIE program as of January 2003:

Services Provided by Rent Offices

DHCR Borough Rent Offices

The Borough Rent Office staff provide information and assistance to tenants and owners of rent controlled and rent stabilized apartments. Tenants may pick up complaint forms for overcharges, service reductions and other violations, and owners may receive applications for major capital improvement (MCI) and hardship increases. Informative fact sheets, operational bulletins policy statements, and advisory opinions on numerous rent regulatory topics are also available. All of these are free of charge.

A special unit to assist small building owners is located at each of the Borough Rent Offices. The Small Building Owners Assistance Unit will help owners of 50 rental units or less in filling out registration forms, compliance with rent regulation requirements, and other record-keeping and financial matters.

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Municipalities in Nassau, Rockland and Westchester Counties which have adopted the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 as of January 2003:

Nassau County	Cities of	Glen Cove, Long Beach
	Town of	North Hempstead
	Villages of	Cedarhurst, Floral Park, Flower Hill, Freeport, Great Neck, Great Neck Plaza, Hempstead, Lynbrook, Mineola, North Hempstead-town(unincorporated), Rockville Centre, Russell Gardens, Thomaston, Baxter Estates
Rockland County	Town of	Haverstraw
	Village of	Spring Valley
Westchester County	Cities of	Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains, Yonkers
	Towns of	East Chester, Greenburgh, Harrison, Mamaroneck
	Villages of

Definitions of Rent Regulation Terms

Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 (ETPA) - This is the law that provides for rent stabilization in Nassau, Rockland and Westchester counties. For a building to be covered by ETPA, it must be located in a municipality that adopted the Emergency Tenant Protection Act.

Fair Market Rent - The fair market rent is the rent charged the first stabilized tenant after the vacancy of a rent controlled tenant, subject to challenge in a Fair Market Rent Appeal.

Fair Market Rent Appeal - A challenge to the first rent stabilized rent after rent control which must be filed within 90 days after the tenant receives the initial apartment registration.

Fuel Cost Adjustment - A separate rent adjustment applied to rent controlled apartments only. This adjustment is based on fuel price changes during the prior year. The rent adjustment may go up or down depending on the price of various types of heating fuel. See

Harassment - A course of action intended to force a tenant out of his or her apartment or cause a tenant to give up rights granted to the tenant by the Rent Stabilization or Rent Control Laws. No owner, or owner's representative, may interfere with a tenant's privacy, comfort or quiet enjoyment of the tenant's apartment.

Heat and Hot Water - By law owners must provide tenants with heat and hot water.

Initial Apartment Registration - Registration that occurs when an apartment first becomes subject to the registration requirements of the rent stabilization law. A copy of the registration form must be served on the tenant.

Luxury Decontrol - Apartments can become deregulated in one of two ways if the rent is over $2,000. The first way is if the apartment becomes vacant with such a rent. The second is upon application by the owner, where the tenant(s) in occupancy have an annual income in excess of $175,000 per year for the two prior years.

Major Capital Improvement (MCI) - An MCI is a building wide improvement which is for the operation, preservation and maintenance of the structure, directly or indirectly benefits all tenants, involves a capital expenditure which is deemed depreciable by the Internal Revenue Service and meets the requirements set forth in the Agency's useful life schedule. To be eligible to collect a rent increase for an MCI, an owner must first apply to DHCR and obtain an order granting the rent increase.

Maximum Base Rent (MBR) - A maximum base rent is established for each rent controlled apartment and is updated every two years to reflect changes in operating costs.Petition for Administrative Review (PAR) - An administrative appeal, filed by an owner or tenant, against an order issued by the Rent Administrator, which alleges errors in fact or application of the law.

Rent Overcharge - A rent overcharge occurs when a tenant pays an amount of rent above the legal rent. Some allowable adjustments to a legal rent occur when a major capital improvement is approved, upon the renewal of a lease, or if an owner adds equipment or services with the tenant's consent.

Rent Reduction - If an owner is not providing all required services, a tenant may file a complaint with DHCR seeking to have the services restored. If the Agency determines that the services have not been restored, the Agency will issue a service reduction order which may relate to an individual apartment or may be building-wide. In rent stabilized apartments the rent will be reduced by an amount equal to the most rent guideline increase. In rent controlled apartments, the rent is reduced by a dollar amount based on the nature of the condition or decrease in service.

Rent Restoration - This is an application filed by the owner to restore rents that were reduced by a rent reduction order. It is filed after the services have been restored. If granted, the effective date in rent stabilization is based on the date of the owner's application; for rent controlled apartments, the effective date is prospective only from the first day of the month after the issuance of the order.

Senior Citizens Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) -

Service - Both the Rent Control and Rent Stabilization Laws require that the owner continue to provide all services provided on the base date, (generally the date the apartment became subject to regulations), as well as any services which are required by law.

Sublet Apartment - Rent stabilized apartments are rented pursuant to a lease between an owner and a tenant. Under certain circumstances, a tenant may enter into a sublease with a new tenant (called the subtenant) for the rental of the apartment. The owner has the right to charge the prime tenant a sublet allowance during the period of sublet if the sublet occurs during a renewal lease term. The prime tenant (tenant who holds the lease with the owner) may pass this allowance onto the subtenant. The prime tenant may also charge the subtenant an additional 10% for the use of furniture. An apartment which is sublet continues to be under the jurisdiction of the rent stabilization law. The subtenant is protected from overcharges by the prime tenant and may file an overcharge complaint against the prime tenant if he or she feels a rent in excess of a legal rent is being collected. Generally the subtenant may not file such a complaint against the owner.

Substantial Rehabilitation - A major reconstruction of the building, taking place after January 1, 1974, wherein at least 75% of the building-wide and apartment systems have been completely replaced with new systems. Upon completion of such work an apartment is no longer subject to regulation and market rents can be charged.

Succession - The ability of a tenant to "pass on" their regulated apartment to certain immediate family members. The family member may have the right to succeed to the tenancy provided the family member's primary residence has been with the tenant for two years or since the inception of the relationship.

Treble Damages - Treble damages refers to a penalty of three times the dollar amount of an overcharge that is payable to the tenant. This penalty, imposed by an order of DHCR, is assessed against an owner when he or she willfully collects any rent in excess of the legal regulated rent.