New York City's rent-controlled tenants face 9.6% increase in leases

New York

AT a time when rent-stabilised tenants in New York City are enjoying a freeze in their rents, another group of regulated tenants - the dwindling minority in rent-controlled apartments - is facing an increase of up to 9.6 per cent over the next two years.

The proposed increase has outraged advocates for the mostly older tenants in about 27,000 rent-controlled apartments in the city, but it is all but certain to take effect in January. In arriving at the increase, state officials said that they were bound by a state-mandated mathematical formula that considers landlord costs such as real estate taxes and operational expenses.