The following is a summary of the major changes to various rent laws, passed by the NYS Legislature and signed by the Governor on June 24, 2011:
• Frequency of vacancy increases: Effective June 24, 2011, rent increases legally permitted upon vacancy may not be taken more than once in any calendar year (January 1 – December 31).
• Individual Apartment Improvements: Effective Sept. 24, 2011, individual apartment improvements completed in buildings with more than 35 apartments allow the landlord to permanently increase the legal regulated rent by 1/60th of the cost of the improvements (was 1/40th under the prior Rent Law). For improvements done in apartments located in buildings containing 35 or fewer units, passing along 1/40th of the cost of improvements remains unchanged.
• High-Rent/Vacancy Deregulation: Effective June 24, 2011, this provision allows for the deregulation of an apartment upon vacancy if the legal regulated rent reaches $2,500 (up from $2,000 under the prior Rent Law);
• High-Rent/High-Income Deregulation: Effective July 1, 2011, this provision permits, by order of DHCR, upon application by the building owner, the deregulation of an apartment with a monthly legal regulated rent of $2,500 or more (up from $2,000 under the prior Rent Law) if household income is in excess of $200,000 in each of the two preceding calendar years (up from $175,000 under the prior Rent Law). These new thresholds apply to proceedings commenced in the 2012 cycle, not to proceedings filed prior to July 1, 2011.
The Rent Act of 2011 is contained within Chapter 97 of the Laws of 2011. Please read the full text of the Rent Act of 2011 for complete details. In this pdf, only the pages of Chapter 97 of the Laws of 2011 that contain the Rent Act of 2011 are included. On page one of our pdf, the Rent Act begins on line 18 and is labeled Part B. In the document, the passages added to the law are underlined, and the passages removed from law are crossed out.
Effective June 15, 2015, it has been superseded by the Rent Act of 2015.