Rent-Hike Limit Won't Top 2%, Board Chief Sez
Daily News, May 5, 1999
By MICHAEL FINNEGAN

Tenants in 1 million rent-stabilized apartments are unlikely to face any rent hike above 2% this year, the city's top rent regulator said yesterday.

Edward Hochman, the influential Rent Guidelines Board chairman, said he expects the panel next week to propose a rent-hike cap of zero to 2% for one-year lease renewals.

The current limits, 2% for one year and 4% for two, are the lowest in the board's 30-year history.

"I would be shocked if it were above the current guidelines," Hochman said. "I don't know whether it would stay the same or go lower."

"Are there reasons to stay at two? Good arguments could be made. Are there reasons to go below two? Good arguments could be made," he said.

A rent freeze would be unprecedented for stabilized units in the city, but Westchester County's rent board last year mandated no increase for one-year lease renewals and a 1.5% cap for two.

Though Hochman didn't rule out a rent freeze, he rejected tenant calls for a mandatory decrease, saying that could happen only with deflation or another Depression.

The board yesterday released the latest of three reports reflecting good times for landlords, from low mortgage rates to a plunge in fuel prices. Hochman called the latest survey's finding of a .03% rise in landlord expenses "virtually negligible."

"They're making money hand over fist," said Michael McKee of the New York State Tenants & Neighbors Coalition. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. The market is at an all-time high." But landlords say they need a significant rent hike to make up for the years when inflation drives up maintenance costs faster than rent.

"This board needs to provide owners the rent increases they need to keep maintaining their properties," said landlord advocate Jack Freund, executive vice president of the Rent Stabilization Association.

Landlords and tenants will face off tomorrow at the board's last public hearing before it sets rent-hike limits May 13 for the year starting Oct. 1. The board will hold more public hearings before final adoption June 24.

Original Publication Date: 05/05/1999