The city’s Rent Guidelines Board voted Wednesday night to freeze rent on rent-stabilized apartments as tenants struggle amid the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent shutdown.
The rent-freeze applies to one-year leases on about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments housing over 2 million tenants.
The freeze also applies to the first year of two-year leases. In the second year, landlords can raise rent by 1 percent.
The freeze affects leases renewed between Oct. 1 of this year and Sept. 2021.
The board voted 6 to 3 to approve the freeze, which is the third rent freeze in seven years. Landlords wanted to raise rents on one-year leases by 2 percent and two-year leases by 5 percent.
The Rent Freeze just passed! 2 million New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments can breathe a little easier.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) June 18, 2020
“Renters have never faced hardship like this. They desperately need relief and that’s why we fought for this rent freeze,” the mayor said in a statement after the rent freeze was approved. “Now, more renters than ever before will get help keeping a roof over their heads. This is one step of many we have to take to get families through this crisis—but it’s a big one.”
Meanwhile, a state moratorium on evictions lasts until Aug. 20.
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