Rent stabilization could be strengthened today

Legislative negotiators have the framework to put a new rent stabilization agreement in place, and a law could be enacted as soon as today, according to the New York Post. The pending current agreement raises the threshold at which rents can be decontrolled to $2,500 per month, from the $2,000 threshold in place for the last eight years. Moreover, the maximum annual income for tenants in regulated units will rise to $200,000 from $175,000. As has been previously reported, significant progress was made in negotiations over the weekend. The framework came together after Governor Andrew Cuomo met with the Rent Stabilization Association, an organization of mid-size landowners and a heavy contributor to the Republican Party, and “told them that there will be a stronger new rent law or else,” a source told the paper. The “or else,” according to the source, was Cuomo’s threat that he would use his power to transfer the authority on rent regulations to the City Council, which is notoriously favorable to strict rent regulation laws. [Post]