Updated September 2026. The Rent Guidelines Board adopted Order #58 on June 25, 2026: 0% for a one-year lease and 0% for a two-year lease, on rent stabilized leases commencing October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. Leases begun between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026 stay under Order #57, at 3% and 4.5%. The annual DHCR registration for 2026 was due July 31, 2026.

About one million New York City apartments are rent stabilized. Tenants want to know whether an apartment qualifies and what the rent can legally become; owners want to know what to file, by when, on which form. Both answers follow, from the current orders and fact sheets.

What is rent stabilization in New York City?

Rent stabilization is a system of rent regulation enacted in 1969, when rents were rising sharply in many post-war buildings. New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the agency owners call DHCR, puts the protections in three parts: tenants are entitled to required services, to have their leases renewed, and may not be evicted except on grounds allowed by law. Leases renew for a term of one or two years, at the tenant’s choice.

Which apartments are rent stabilized?

Three tests cover most of the stock. A unit is stabilized if it sits in a building of six or more units built between February 1, 1947 and December 31, 1973. Tenants in pre-1947 buildings who moved in after June 30, 1971 are covered too. Third are buildings of three or more apartments built or extensively renovated on or after January 1, 1974 with special tax benefits, generally only while those benefits continue.

The board’s rule of thumb for a building: six or more units, built before 1974 or newer with tax exemptions, not a co-op or condo. HCR Fact Sheet #1 adds that stabilization also covers buildings receiving J-51, 421-a and 421-g benefits.

Tax-benefit buildings are where the fights happen. On expiry, a 421-a or J-51 unit can be deregulated only if the lease and every renewal carried a prominent 12-point notice saying so and giving the approximate expiration date. Without that notice the tenant in occupancy keeps full stabilization, including renewal rights. Apartments in 421-a buildings stabilized before July 3, 1984 stay stabilized until the first vacancy after expiry.

What did the 2019 rent law change?

The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act was signed June 14, 2019. Per HCR, it made the rent laws permanent, repealed high-rent vacancy and high-income deregulation, repealed vacancy decontrol and longevity increases, made preferential rent the base rent for the tenancy, and limited MCI and IAI increases.

In practice: an owner used to take a 20% increase on vacancy once a year, plus, where the apartment had been occupied for at least eight years, 0.6% for each year since the prior vacancy. Both are gone. The MCI cap in the city fell from 6% to 2% a year. IAI spending is capped at $15,000 over 15 years, no more than three increases. Overcharge collectibility and rent history review both went from four years to six. Apartments stay stabilized regardless of rent level, and the laws no longer sunset.

What is the Rent Guidelines Board increase for 2026?

Zero. Order #58 sets 0% and 0% for leases commencing October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, computed over the lawful rent charged and paid on September 30, 2026. It applies equally to units under the 421-a partial tax exemption. Rent collected above that level must be credited against the next month’s rent. Seven building owners filed an Article 78 petition in Richmond County Supreme Court on July 22, 2026 asking the court to vacate the June 25 vote; as of September 2, 2026 the board still publishes Order #58 as the operative order, so the numbers above stand unless a court says otherwise.

Two rules attach to every number. No separate vacancy allowance is permitted under the 2019 act. And the renewal adjustments also apply to vacant apartments that become occupied during the order’s term, one adjustment per guideline year.

How does the board reach a number? It votes each June, ahead of a July 1 deadline, after public hearings, weighing taxes, water and sewer rates, operating costs, financing, housing supply, vacancy rates and cost-of-living data. Guidelines run October 1 to September 30, so check a lease against the order number, not the calendar year.

What is the difference between rent control and rent stabilization?

Two different sets of regulations, and rent control is older and far smaller. The 2023 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey counted about 24,020 rent controlled apartments against about 996,600 rent stabilized ones.

The line is drawn by tenancy. Rent control tenants are generally in buildings built before February 1, 1947 with continuous occupancy since before July 1, 1971. A tenant who took occupancy after June 30, 1971 in a building of six or more units built before January 1, 1974 is generally rent stabilized.

The mechanics differ. Rent control runs on the Maximum Base Rent system: an MBR is set per apartment and adjusted every two years for operating costs, and an owner who certifies that services are provided and violations removed may raise the rent by the lesser of the average of the five most recent one-year board renewals or 7.5 percent a year, until the rent reaches the MBR. Rent controlled tenants are statutory tenants, so no renewal lease is required and the units are not registered annually.

Vacancy ends rent control. If the building was built before January 1, 1974 and held six or more units at any time, the apartment becomes rent stabilized and the owner files an Initial Apartment Registration, DHCR Form RR-1, giving the tenant a copy by certified mail. In a building of five or fewer apartments it may instead be fully deregulated.

How do I know if my apartment is rent stabilized?

Ask HCR, and only HCR. The Rent Guidelines Board holds no information on whether a particular apartment is stabilized, and its building lists cover only owners who registered, compiled from 2024 registrations as of November 2025.

The answer comes from the Ask HCR portal, which takes an Apartment Rent History request and an Am I Rent Stabilized request on one form and mails a response to the apartment within approximately 20 business days. Rent history goes only to the owner and the tenants in place.

A faster clue sits in the lease: if the apartment is stabilized, the owner is supposed to attach the New York City lease rider, which states the prior rent and the reasons it was increased.

What does the owner owe: registration, riders and renewal offers?

Registration. Within 90 days after an apartment first becomes subject to rent stabilization the owner files an initial registration. After that, an annual statement is due by July 31 giving the April 1 rent for each unit, with a copy to each tenant in occupancy. The fine is $500 per unregistered unit for each month registrations are delinquent.

The renewal offer. In New York City the owner mails or hand-delivers a DHCR Renewal Lease Form, RTP-8, between 90 and 150 days before the lease expires. The tenant has 60 days to choose a term, sign and return it; the owner has 30 days to return the fully executed copy. Renewal leases keep the same terms unless a change is necessary to comply with a law or regulation. If the tenant does not accept within 60 days, the owner may refuse to renew and may proceed in court.

The rider. The New York City lease rider must be attached to the renewal form, and it explains how the proposed rent was computed. A tenant never offered a renewal files DHCR Form RA-90.

Declining to renew for a permitted reason, such as personal use by the owner or an immediate family member, requires written notice inside that same window; failing to serve it entitles the tenant to a renewal lease anyway. Electronic signing needs the tenant’s voluntary written consent under Chapter 74 of the Laws of 2022. MGNY files initial and annual DHCR registrations for owners and developers.

What does it cost to ask MGNY?

Nothing. A real person answers at (212) 343-1111, right away, and the consultation is free. You engage us only if you want the filing handled for you. MGNY has worked NYC property tax since 2008, with $50M+ in tax refunds secured for owners, 900+ developments with tax abatements secured and $30B+ represented in appeals.

Sources: NYC Rent Guidelines Board, Orders #58 and #57, the Apartment Orders #1 to #58 chart, the Rent Stabilization, Rent Control, Leases and Tax Abatements FAQs, the Rent Stabilized Building Lists page and the Explanation of the Rent Guidelines Process; NYS Homes and Community Renewal Fact Sheet #1 (FS-01, 01/2024) and Fact Sheet #4 (FS-04, 04/2023), the rent registration page, the Ask HCR portal, and HCR’s February 19, 2020 presentation on the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act. All read September 2026. Apartment counts are from the 2023 NYC Housing and Vacancy Survey. MGNY Consulting is a private consulting firm and is not affiliated with New York State Homes and Community Renewal or the NYC Rent Guidelines Board.

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