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The rent control apartments are those
apartments in residential buildings (where the building contains at least
six units) constructed before February, 1947 in municipalities that have
not declared an end to the postwar rental housing emergency. In order for
an apartment to be under rent control the tenant must have been living
there continuously since before July 1, 1971. When a rent controlled apartment is
vacated in NYC or most ETPA localities, it becomes rent stabilized, or
completely removed from regulation.
Rent
control limits the rent an owner may charge for an apartment and
restricts the right of any owner to evict tenants.
Rents
charged in controlled apartments are set and adjusted on the basis of
registrations filed by owners when Federal rent control was imposed in
1943. The rent control law allows DHCR to determine how much rents can be
increased based on an assessment of what it costs owners to operate their
buildings plus a reasonable profit.
In
New York City,
rent control operates under the Maximum Base Rent (MBR) system. A maximum
base rent is established for each apartment and adjusted every two years
to reflect changes in operating costs. Owners, who certify that they are
providing essential services and have removed violations, are entitled to
raise rents up to 7.5 percent each year until they reach the MBR. Tenants
may challenge the proposed increase on the grounds that the building has
violations or that the owner’s expenses do not warrant an increase.
For
New York City
rent controlled apartments, rents can also be increased because of
increases in fuel costs (passalongs) and in some cases, to cover higher
labor costs.
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