An Introduction to the NYC Rent Guidelines Board and the Rent Stabilization System

By Timothy Collins

Updated & Revised by the Staff of the NYC Rent Guidelines Board in November 2025

This introduction to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board covers the structure, function and history of the Board and its role in the rent stabilization system. Some attention has also been given to the broader regulatory environment affecting all residential landlord/tenant relations within the City. This book is broken down into multiple sections and is entirely in PDF format.

The complete Introduction to the RGB is available for download, or individual sections can be accessed below.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Charts

List of Appendices

List of Other Noteworthy Materials

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Membership on the Board

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• Composition of the Board, terms of office, eligibility for appointment
• Vacancies and removal
• Conflicts of interest & financial disclosure
• Board member compensation
• Bylaws of the Board
• Rent Guidelines Board staff & use of consultants
• Rent Guidelines Board’s web site: nyc.gov/rgb
• Legal status of the Board

History of the Board and Rent Regulation

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• Rent regulation prior to the establishment of the Board
• Post-World War I controls
• Great Depression
• World War II Era Controls
• Rent Stabilization
• Chapter 576
• Omnibus Housing Act of 1983
• Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1993
• Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997
• Rent Law of 2003
• Rent Act of 2011
• Rent Act of 2015
• Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019
• 2024 Changes to Individual Apartment Improvements Regulations
• Noteworthy aspects of selected court cases
• Constitutionality of rent regulation
• U.S. Supreme Court’s treatment of rent control laws
• Challenges to rent control laws before the NY Court of Appeals

Main Features of Rent Stabilization

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• Landlord/tenant context – objectives, enforcement and primary provisions of the RSL, ETPA, RS Code and related laws
  • affordability
  • habitability
  • security of tenure
  • fair returns
  • the commensurate rent formula
  • protection against tenant abuses (subletting, lease assignment, succession rights, primary residence, roommates)

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Administration of rents under rent stabilization: the role of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR)

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• Major Capital Improvements (MCI’s) and individual apartment improvements
• Hardship rent increases
• Fair Market Rent appeals
• Overcharge proceedings
• Other adjustments in rent (air conditioners, failure to maintain services, failure to register)

Duties of the Rent Guidelines Board

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• Establishment of the basic rent adjustments for renewal leases in apartments, hotels and lofts
• Special orders
  • sublet allowances
  • supplemental rent adjustments
  • special guidelines & decontrolled units
  • electrical inclusion adjustment
  • buildings with J-51 or 421-a tax abatements
  • stabilizers
  • other – fractional terms, escalator clauses
• Exemptions to orders
  • warehousing exemptions
  • registration exemption/hotels
• Resolutions
• Research & mandated considerations
  • economic condition of the residential real estate industry
    Price Index of Operating Costs (PIOC)
    Price Index Projections
    RGB Rent Index
    Income & Expense Study
  • the cost and availability of financing:
     Mortgage Survey Report
  • overall supply of housing and overall vacancy rates:
    Housing Supply Report
    Changes to the Rent Stabilized Housing Stock report
  • data from the cost of living indices: 
    Income and Affordability Study
  • other data
• Meetings, hearings and administrative procedures
  • meetings 
  • hearings
  • administrative procedures
• Voting meetings – order of business
• Final orders and explanatory statements

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Tables and Charts

• Table I New York City’s Housing Emergency — Net Rental Vacancy Rates
• Table II History of the Board and the Rent Regulation System
• Chart I Rent Regulation and Construction of New Housing
• Chart II The Overcrowding Problem Today
• Table III Percent of Gross Income Paid in Rent for all Renters and Stabilized Renters in New York City, 1970-2023
• Table IV Commensurate Rent Increases as reported to the RGB, 1994-2025
• Table V Supplemental Rent Adjustments in RGB Orders, 1983-2020
• Chart III Ratio of O&M Costs to NOI for each Dollar of Income
• Chart IV Average Interest Rates for New and Refinanced Mortgages, 1981-2025
• Table VI NYC Median Stabilized Renter Household Income, 1974-2022
• Chart V Rent Stabilized Median Rent Burden, New York City 1970-2023

Appendices

• A. Rent Stabilization Law §26-510
• A1. Local Law 11
• B. Board members since 1969
• B.1 Executive Directors since 1980
• C. Public Officers Law §3, §10 and §30
• D. Oath of Office
• D1. Board Member written statement of eligibility
• D2. Sign-in sheet for Board Members
• D3. Per Diem requisition form
• E. NYC Charter §2604(b) & (c) Conflict of Interest
• F. Bylaws of the Board
• G. Payment History of the Price Index Contract
• H. Board Resolution Delegating Contracting Authority to the Chair
• I. RGB Employee Manual
• J. The Commensurate Rent Index formula
• K. History of Income/Expense issue (Table 14 memo)
• K1. Income & Expense review 1993
• L. Multiple Dwelling Law §286
• M. Chart of previous Apartment Orders, 1969-2026
• M1. Chart of previous Hotel Orders, 1971-2026
• N. Apartment Order #57
• N1. Explanatory Statement to Apartment Order #57
• N2. Hotel Order #50
• N3. Explanatory Statement to Hotel Order #50
• O. Rent Stabilization Law §26-513
• P. Excerpts from J-51 and 421-a regulations
• Q. Hotel Study 1991
• Q1. Hotel Study update 1992
• R. ‘What to do with the Price Index,’ Dr. Blackburn, February 2000
• S. “Calculating the Price Index of Operating Costs (PIOC) Using Component Weights from the RPIE data presented in the Income and Expense Study,” Andrew McLaughlin, April 2014 RGB Staff price projections 1975-2014
• T. RGB Staff price projections 1975-2026
• U. Price Index changes and stabilized rent increases 1969-2025
• V. The RGB Rent Index
• W. Consumer Price Index and stabilized rent increases 1969-2025
• W1. Consumer Price Index (March-March) and PIOC Increases 1969-2025
• X. Open Meeting Law (selected sections)
• Y. NYC Charter §§1041-45 (from City Administrative Procedure Act)
• Z. Selected Initial Findings of the 2023 New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey

Other Noteworthy Materials

1. Triennial Housing and Vacancy Survey (all years)
2. Housing NYC: Rents Markets and Trends 1989-2025
3. Price Index of Operating Costs 1969-2025 Apartments, Hotels, Lofts
4. Rent Stabilization Code
5. Rent Stabilization Law of 1969
6. Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974, as amended.
7. Rent Guidelines Board Orders and Explanatory Statements 1969-2025
8. HCR ‘Fact Sheets’ for Rent Stabilized Housing

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