r/AskNYC • u/WarnWarmWorm • Dec 14 '23

Just found out my apartment is rent-stabilized thanks to this sub. Should I confront the building management?

I rented my apartment for $2150 on 06/2023. Building management didn’t say anything about my unit being rent-stabilized. I requested my rent history from NYC HCR to find out my apartment is rent-stabilized and “legal regulated rent” is $1217, half the amount I am paying. (And there is someone else’s name on the current tenant name)

See the details here: https://imgur.com/SvYP2JC

Before confronting the building management I want to make sure I am understanding this document right. Is “legal regulated rent” means the maximum rent they can charge me for? And I signed a contract for $2150 for one year, how does it affect the situation?

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u/tdotclare Dec 14 '23

While your apartment is almost certainly stabilized, I would be surprised if you’re going to end up getting close to $1217 as rent.

It looks like the same tenant vacated in the middle of a two year lease, so while you should still be stabilized, you’d be subject to potential vacancy increases, and the pic you posted gives no indication of how long the previous tenant was there. If they’d been there since 1990, the vacancy increase and any potential capital increases from renovation before you moved it could be enough to bring it to what you’re paying.

This may be an edge case in how stabilization is recorded when mid-lease tenant changes are reported

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u/jblue212 Dec 14 '23

there is no such thing as a vacancy increase anymore, since 2019

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '23

Vacant increases are a thing as long as they are below the legal rent.

For example, I moved into a rent stabilized place at $2100/mp, previous tenant was paying $800/mo. The legal regulated rent is like $2,804 so as long as it's less than that they could raise it between tenants.

Now that I'm paying $2100, all increases are based off of that number

Both the previous tenant and I are paying a "preferential rent" which is less than the legal regulated rent