The New York City Rent Guidelines Board met in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, where its nine members got an ear full from rents and landlords in a final plea before this summer’s vote.
In two weeks, the board will cast its preliminary vote on rates that impact about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments across the five boroughs.
Elisa Martinez is among the New Yorkers living in a stabilized units.
“My bathroom ceiling has collapsed about seven or eight times, each time with a band-aid repair,” said Martinez. “That’s why we’re out here demanding a rent freeze.”
Many tenants say with increasing prices for groceries and other living expenses soaring, it’s time to cap the rent.
“You go to Walgreens and you’re spending like $100 on basic things, and it all adds up,” tenant Sumathy Kumar said Thursday.
Jose Tur owns and runs two buildings in Washington Heights, picking up where his grandfather left off. There are 45 units between the two building and Tur says with increased costs, he’s scraping by. And at the end of the month, after he covers his expenses, he probably makes about $90 per unit.
“We were trying to build reserves, but that becomes even more difficult because of the rising costs,” Tur said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed six of the board’s nine members, but that is not a guarantee that the board will come through on his campaign pledge to freeze the rent.
In 2025, the board approved a 3% increase for a one-year lease and 4.5% increase for two-year leases.
Ann Korchak, board president of the Small Property Owners of NY, said building upkeep is ongoing possible through rent revenue.
“They are old buildings that need roofs, that need to be replaced, boilers upgraded and just the day to day maintenance of these old buildings. And the way we get revenue for these building is through rent, rent has to rise to cover those expenses,” Korchak said.
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