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On June 23, the Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze existing rents for six months before increasing rates by 1.5 percent for the remaining half of the year for one-year leases. The RGB also voted to raise rents on two-year leases by 2.5 percent. The new rates take effect for leases commencing between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022.

Here’s how to avoid processing delays.

The application portal for New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) has finally opened. As of June 1, eligible tenants and landlords can apply for rental assistance to help them get back on their feet. Many tenants have been unable to pay rent because of the coronavirus pandemic, and many owners have been unable to collect rent. Renters and owners can apply online at https://nysrenthelp.otda.ny.gov/.

Enforcement is strict, and penalties for violations are steep.

The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) recently started its annual process for examining and considering lease renewal guidelines in the coming year. This is the one decision of the RGB that has the greatest impact on owners since the board’s decision with regard to rent renewal increases affects roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments across the city.

A recent lawsuit filed by the Housing Rights Initiative (HRI) against 88 brokerage firms and landlords brought attention to source-of-income discrimination. This discrimination is the illegal practice by landlords, owners, and brokers of refusing to rent to current or prospective tenants seeking to pay for a rental unit with housing vouchers, subsidies, or other forms of public assistance.

State lawmakers recently introduced a newly amended bill that’s intended to meet the federal requirements of the COVID-19 rent-relief measure enacted in December 2020. The federal rent relief package included $25 billion in emergency rental assistance. New York State is expected to receive at least about $1.3 billion.

The latest application window for COVID rent relief ends Feb. 1.

When the New York State Legislature passed the Emergency Rent Relief Act of 2020 last May, the DHCR was charged with administering the program by disbursing $100 million from the state’s CARES Act money to eligible renters.

The DHCR recently updated its fact sheet related to demolitions. Demolitions have garnered more attention in recent years due to the sweeping changes made to rent regulations as a result of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA). Passed in June 2019, HSTPA severely limited rent increases and the ability for owners to deregulate apartments after their rents had passed a certain threshold. A demolition remains as one of the few grounds upon which an owner may end a rent-regulated tenancy.

Here’s how to keep track of who’s living in an apartment.

The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) of 2019, which went into effect on June 14, 2019, made dramatic changes to how rents can be raised. It changed formulas for vacancy leases, major capital improvements (MCI), and individual apartment improvements (IAI). Before HSTPA, rent increases eventually allowed an owner to deregulate rent-stabilized apartments after their rents had passed a certain threshold ($2,774.76). Once an apartment was deregulated owners could charge market rents and the tenant would no longer be protected by rent stabilization.