Rent for an estimated 3 million New Yorkers could change for the better this June, when the New York City rent laws are set to expire.
About 1 million apartments citywide are rent-stabilized, meaning landlords can only raise the rent by a certain percent each year. According to state law, apartments lose coveted rent-stabilized status and convert to market rate once they are either vacated and renovated, or reach $2,000 a month.
That $2,000 threshold was set in 1993 and expires on June 15.
And now, for the first time in more than a decade, a powerful real estate lobbying group said they would consider raising the cap higher.
“If someone has an argument to make, we’ll take a look,” said Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. “We believe the laws work.”
Prospect Heights resident Mariel Villere, 24, is one of the lucky New Yorkers who found a rent-stabilized apartment.
Villere, a freelance architecture consultant, pays $1,725 for her stabilized 2-bedroom apartment.
“Being my age, it’s a really nice perk,” she said.
Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter at @EmilyatMetro.
