How Senate Would
Change State LawsAbout 37%, or 400,000, of the city's 1.1 million rent-controlled and rent-stabilized apartments are in Manhattan.
In some neighborhoods — including the upper East Side and the upper West Side — more than 85% of rental apartments are governed by rent regulations, federal census data show. In Greenwich Village, 75% of the apartments are rent-regulated.
According to census data, about 188,000 units subject to rent regulations, or 17% of the city's total, are in the Bronx. Brooklyn has about 281,000, or 26%, while Queens has about 198,000, or 18%, and Staten Island has 10,000, or 1%.
The following are rent regulations and how the state Senate plan would change them:
Rent Control
Annual rent hikes now limited at 7.5%.
State Senate plan would abolish the law in June and let landlords impose market rents as leases expire after June 1999.
Rent Stabilization
Rent hikes restricted to 5% for one-year leases and 7% for two-year leases. New renters may be charged 14% more than previous tenants for one-year leases and 16% for two-year leases.
State Senate plan would end the law in June and let landlords charge market rates as leases expire after June 1999.
Vacancy Decontrol
Procedure that lets rent-controlled or rent-stabilized units revert to market rates once they're vacant.
State Senate plan would let landlords impose market rents on any unit vacant after June.
Luxury Decontrol
Law that cancels rent regulations on any unit where a family's taxable income tops $250,000 and monthly rent exceeds $2,000.
State Senate plan would lower the income ceiling by an undetermined amount.
Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption
Law that bars rent hikes for tenants in rent-stabilized and rent-controlled units where the household head is at least 62, earns less than $20,000 annually and spends at least a third of net monthly income on rent. City reimburses landlords via $92 million in tax credits.
State Senate plan would expand the program but does not say how it would be funded.
Original Story Date: 12/08/96
Original Story Section: News Fix