Is your NYC apartment rent-stabilised? How to check and what it means

What rent stabilisation is

Rent stabilisation is New York City's main system of rent regulation, in place since 1969. It protects tenants from steep rent rises and gives them the right to renew their lease (NYC Rent Guidelines Board).

Two public bodies are involved. The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) votes each year on how much rents for stabilised apartments may rise when a lease starts or is renewed. HCR, the state housing agency, runs the system: owners register stabilised apartments and their rents with it, and tenants go to it to check their rent, get a rent history or complain about an overcharge.

A stabilised apartment has a legal regulated rent, the most the owner may lawfully charge. Some tenants pay less than that, a preferential rent.

How to check if your apartment is stabilised

Start with your lease. A stabilised lease must come with a rent stabilisation lease rider (form RA-LR1 in New York City), attached to both the first lease and every renewal (HCR). The rider should show the previous tenant's rent, as the owner reports it. If you think you're stabilised but got no rider, you can complain to HCR (RGB).

Then look up the building. The RGB publishes lists of buildings with at least one stabilised apartment, by borough and ZIP code, built from owners' registrations with HCR. The current lists use 2024 registrations, as of November 2025 (RGB). They have limits: a building that's missing may still have stabilised apartments if its owner didn't register, and a listed building may have unregulated apartments too. The lists don't say which apartments are covered.

The only definitive check is HCR's records. The RGB suggests asking HCR if you live in a building of six or more apartments that isn't a co-op or condo (RGB). If an apartment used to be stabilised, HCR can also tell you whether it was lawfully removed from regulation (RGB).

Before you sign. HCR generally won't give a prospective tenant an apartment's rent history until they've signed a lease. Ask the landlord in writing whether the apartment is stabilised, read the rider when you get it, and ask the previous tenant what they paid if you can (RGB).

Getting your rent history

Your apartment's rent history is HCR's record of the rents registered for it, year by year. It's confidential: only the legal tenant, the owner or someone they authorise can get it (HCR). There are three ways to ask:

• Online, through HCR's portal. The history is printed and mailed to the apartment's address.
• In person, by appointment at a borough or district rent office, with photo ID and proof that you live there, such as a lease, rent receipt or utility bill.
• By post, with form REC-1 (Request for Records Access) and proof of tenancy, to HCR's Records Access Officer.

Compare the registered rents with what you and earlier tenants were charged. If you think you've been overcharged, you can file a complaint with HCR's Office of Rent Administration on form RA-89 or online (HCR). HCR can look at the rent history going back at least six years from the date you complain (RGB). If it finds an overcharge was wilful, the owner can owe three times the overcharge (HCR).

This year's increase: 0% from 1 October 2026

On 25 June 2026 the Rent Guidelines Board adopted Order #58. For leases of stabilised apartments that start between 1 October 2026 and 30 September 2027, the increase is 0% for a one-year lease and 0% for a two-year lease. The same 0% applies to apartments in buildings under the 421-a tax exemption or Section 423 redevelopment programmes (RGB Order #58).

The guideline is also what an owner may add to the previous tenant's legal rent when a new tenant moves in, because the Board's orders since 2020 allow one guideline adjustment a year on a vacancy lease (RGB). Under Order #58 that's 0% as well. If an owner charges more than the order allows, the excess must be credited against the next month's rent (Order #58).

Other increases the law allows can still apply. An increase for a major capital improvement to the building needs an HCR order. An increase for improvements inside your apartment generally needs your agreement, unless the work was done while it was empty (HCR).

What it means for your renewal

In New York City the owner must offer you a renewal in writing, by post or by hand, between 150 and 90 days before your lease ends. You choose a one- or two-year term, and you have 60 days to sign and return it. The renewal generally keeps the same terms as your current lease (HCR).

If your new lease starts between 1 October 2026 and 30 September 2027, the guideline increase on it is 0%, whichever term you choose. A lease that starts before 1 October 2026 falls under the previous year's order. Check the start date on the renewal form, not the date you sign it.

With the same 0% on both terms this year, a two-year lease fixes the rent for longer. Next year's Board could set a different figure for leases starting from 1 October 2027.

Preferential rents

A preferential rent is a rent the owner agrees to charge that's lower than the legal regulated rent. Since the 2019 law, a tenant who was paying a preferential rent on or after 14 June 2019 keeps it for as long as they stay in the apartment. The owner can charge the higher legal rent only once the tenant permanently moves out, and can't use a lease clause to end the preferential rent because a payment was late (HCR Fact Sheet #40).

Lawful increases, such as the Board's guideline, apply to the preferential rent you pay (HCR). With a 0% guideline, a preferential rent on a lease starting in the year from 1 October 2026 stays the same. Some government-regulated affordable housing programmes follow different rules; check with the agency that supervises your building.

What changed in 2019

The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act took effect on 14 June 2019 and changed how stabilised rents can rise (HCR). The changes most tenants notice:

• No vacancy bonus. The automatic extra increase an owner could take when a tenant moved out was abolished, and the Board can't set a separate vacancy rate (RGB).
• Preferential rents last for the whole tenancy, as above.
• Building-wide improvement increases come off the rent after 30 years (RGB).
• Overcharges can be checked over at least six years of rent history.

The 2019 law also capped what any New York landlord can charge you to apply and as a deposit. Those rules apply whether or not the apartment is stabilised: see Renting in New York: what you can be charged and Applying for an apartment in NYC.

Where to get help

• HCR's Office of Rent Administration handles rent histories, overcharge complaints and complaints about renewals or missing riders. Use its online portal, or book a visit to a borough rent office (HCR contact page).
• New York City's Tenant Helpline: call 311 and ask for it. A tenant support specialist can help for free, including with free legal advice if you face eviction. Many tenants facing an eviction case have a right to a lawyer (NYC tenant support).
• Rent Freeze: eligible older New Yorkers and New Yorkers with disabilities can have their rent frozen; the city lists the programme on the same page (NYC).

If you're choosing between apartments, log them in the rental tracker to compare each one's true monthly cost.