Rents in New York City’s 1 million rent-regulated apartments may soon start to increase.
Starting next fall, building owners will be permitted to raise monthly payments by 2.75% for one-year leases and by 5.25% for two-year leases, according to a vote taken by the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) on Monday night. Only leases granted or renewed between October 2024 and September 2025 are subject to the increases.
Monday’s decision marks the third year in a row that rents for the Big Apple’s stabilized apartments have been raised to keep up with inflation and the cost of living, following last year’s determination to raise two-year leases by up to 6%, causing outrage among tenants and their advocates who cited the city’s housing crisis.
On Monday, dozens of people gathered outside Hunter College in Manhattan, the site of the vote, to protest against the increases. At least six of the rent-freezing demonstrators were taken into custody for unruly conduct, according to NYPD.
“We have to find a way that we don’t run out the landlords, particularly those small property owners, that are seeing this increase also,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference in City Hall on Monday afternoon.
“New York City remains in the throes of a severe housing shortage and affordability crisis, record-high homelessness, and rising evictions that continue to push working- and middle-class families into dire situations and out of our city,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams lamented in a separate statement.
