Rent board OKs smaller-than-usual hikes

The Rent Guidelines Board voted 7-2 last night for the lowest rent increases since 2002 for the city’s one million rent-stabilized apartments. For one-year lease renewals, a 2.25 percent rent hike was approved; for two-year lease renewals, the increase is 4.5 percent. Predictably, reactions were split. Many landlords, whose two representatives on the board voted against the minimal increases, said they felt shortchanged, while some tenants lamented the fact that there would be a rent hike at all. [Post]