Rent Guidelines Board revotes on rent hikes for NYC’s stabilized apartments, lowers range for two-year leases

The Rent Guidelines Board on Tuesday voted to lower the range of potential rent hikes for New York City’s one million stabilized apartments. In a rare redo, the board revised its preliminary range of increases for two-year leases to between 3.75 percent and 7.75 percent, down from the 4.75 percent and 7.75 percent range approved on April 30. All other proposed guidelines, including for one-year leases, remain the same.

During Tuesday’s meeting, RGB Chair Doug Apple said the revote was prompted by testimony from New Yorkers and a need for greater flexibility in two-year lease guidelines.

“Additional review of evidence received by the board indicates that a reconsideration of preliminary guidelines for two-year leases is warranted,” Apple said. “In particular, we received testimony on the impact of potential rent increases on tenants whose incomes are not keeping pace with the rising cost of living.”

“As we hear public testimony in the coming weeks, I believe that greater flexibility within the preliminary guidelines for two-year leases is important,” Apple said.

RGB tenant member Adán Soltren said the revote was prompted not only by public testimony but also because some board members felt the initial rent increase should have been closer to 3.75 percent before the preliminary vote.

“I believe that the public members prior to the preliminary vote felt as though the number should have been lower, at a 3.75,” Soltren said. “I say that not only to clear part of the record, but I hope that it influences my fellow board members to do the right thing and come down on a number at the final vote that’s more in line with the bottom end of the range that you’re putting forth today.”

He added: “I also think this was a missed opportunity to not only correct what happened previously, but to have gone lower on this revote because I think tenants in New York are really struggling right now and the data is reflecting that.”

Earlier this month, the board voted 5–4 to support rent increases of 1.75 to 4.75 percent for one-year leases and 4.75 to 7.75 percent for two-year leases starting on or after October 1, 2025. The vote marked the fourth such approval under Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.

In response to the proposed hike, Adams called increases of up to 7.75 percent “far too unreasonable” and a burden for tenants, especially given the city’s 1.4 percent housing vacancy rate and the decades-long affordability crisis.

Tenant advocacy groups have been rallying for a rent freeze, similar to those enacted multiple times under former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, during which the highest approved increase for one-year leases was 1.5 percent.

Several mayoral candidates have pledged to freeze rents if elected, including Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, State Senator Jessica Ramos, and former Assembly Member Michael Blake. City Comptroller Brad Lander has said he would support a freeze “if data supports it,” as 6sqft previously reported.

Following Tuesday’s revote, tenant advocates renewed calls for a rent freeze, arguing that even the reduced two-year lease increases remain too high.

“Landlords are making unprecedented profits while New Yorkers are getting priced out of the city we love,” Cea Weaver, director of the NYS Tenant Block, said in a statement.

“The Mayor’s Rent Guidelines Board had one clear choice: to freeze the rent. But tenants are the majority in New York City. If Adams won’t freeze the rent, we have the power to elect a mayor who will.”

Last year, the RGB approved rent hikes of 2.75 percent for one-year leases and 5.25 percent for two-year leases, affecting roughly two million New Yorkers. In 2023, the board voted to increase rents by 3 percent on one-year leases and by 2.75 percent in the first year and 3.2 percent in the second year for two-year leases, as 6sqft previously reported.

In 2022, the board approved hikes of 3.25 percent on one-year leases and 5 percent on two-year leases.

Public hearings are scheduled for June 5 in Jamaica, June 9 in Downtown Brooklyn, June 12 in the South Bronx, and June 17 on the Upper West Side.

The final vote is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25, at 7 p.m. and will be held at El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem. More information about the vote can be found here.

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