How much can a landlord raise rent in New York in 2026?

Say you own a Queens walk-up with a long-tenured rent-controlled tenant and a stabilized lease renewing this fall. You also own a market-rate building in Rochester. How much you can raise rent in New York depends on the category governing each unit, and rent control is the narrowest rulebook. Get the category wrong and you can freeze your own rent or trigger treble damages. You may also hand a tenant a defense to eviction. Charging above the legal regulated rent is one of the clearest things landlords cannot do in New York, and it carries the steepest penalties.

Rent control vs. rent stabilization in New York

Rent control and rent stabilization are separate systems, with separate governing rules and increase formulas. Rent stabilization covers NYC apartments and units in municipalities that have opted into the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) of 1974. ETPA § 5 covers buildings outside NYC with six or more units built before January 1, 1974. Before a locality can opt in, it must commission a vacancy study confirming that the local vacancy rate falls below 5%, the statutory marker of a housing shortage severe enough to warrant intervention. Only after a vacancy study documents that threshold can the locality declare a housing emergency and bring its rental housing under stabilization. HCR explains this requirement in HCR Fact Sheet #8.

• Category | Qualifying buildings | Who sets increases | Applies to
• Rent control | Pre-stabilization NYC buildings under one unbroken tenancy (tests below) | NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) via the Maximum Base Rent system | A shrinking pool of long-tenured NYC tenancies
• Rent stabilization | 6+ units built before January 1, 1974 in ETPA opt-in localities; NYC coverage set by the Rent Stabilization Law | NYC Rent Guidelines Board (NYC); local ETPA guidelines outside NYC | NYC's stabilized stock, plus opt-in localities in Nassau, Rockland, Westchester, and Ulster counties
• Market-rate | Privately owned units not subject to rent control, rent stabilization, or another affordability program | The lease, subject to Good Cause Eviction limits where applicable | Unregulated rentals statewide

The HSTPA bill text reflects the law's 2019 expansion of ETPA eligibility from three downstate counties to every county outside NYC. Kingston opted in during 2022, and the Court of Appeals upheld that adoption in June 2025 in the Kingston decision. A second round of litigation is pending as of August 2026. Courts struck down the Newburgh and Poughkeepsie ETPA adoptions, which are separate from those cities' Good Cause laws, so re-check opt-in status before setting a renewal rent outside NYC.

Which buildings qualify for rent control in NYC

HCR's rent control program reaches a unit only when construction of the building predates 1947 and the same tenant, or a lawful successor to that tenancy, has continuously occupied the apartment since before July 1, 1971.

Under HCR's eligibility rules, no unit can newly enter rent control because the July 1, 1971 cutoff is fixed and nothing in HSTPA sends a vacated unit back in; the pool only shrinks as tenants die or move out. What remains are tenancies where you or a lawful successor to your tenancy has kept the apartment as a primary residence continuously since before July 1, 1971, occupancies of 55-plus years. Buy a pre-1947 walk-up and you are likelier to inherit stabilized units than controlled ones; a single controlled line on the rent roll needs its own diligence, since HCR alone sets the increase for that controlled unit.

How the maximum base rent system caps rent increases

The Maximum Base Rent (MBR) is a calculated ceiling reflecting the building's operating costs. HCR updates it every two years. The Maximum Collectible Rent (MCR) is what you can charge the tenant, and it sits below the MBR, climbing toward it in capped annual steps.

HCR set the 2026/2027 Standard Adjustment Factor at 11.5%, applied to the prior MBR to establish the ceiling for both years. The prior cycle's factor was 7.4%, but the SAF still establishes only the MBR ceiling. HCR uses a separate calculation to cap the rent you can collect. Under DHCR Fact Sheet #22, HCR limits the annual MCR increase to the lower of 7.5% or the average of the previous five one-year RGB guideline increases. Since HSTPA, the five-year average has consistently been the binding number. For 2026, that averaging produces a 2.55% MCR increase effective January 1, 2026, up from 1.95% in 2025.

For an MBR order effective January 1, 2026, the owner had to file the Violation Certification (Form VC) by June 30, 2025 and the Operation and Maintenance and Essential Services Certification by October 3, 2025. HCR lists both deadlines on its MBR application page. When an owner fails to maintain required services, DHCR issues rent reduction orders that lower the collectible rent until the problem is resolved. If your property is subject to one of these orders, restore the lapsed service and then file an Owner's Application to Restore Rent through HCR's online portal. This lifts the rent reduction order and returns you to the full collectible rent.

How the Rent Guidelines Board sets increases for stabilized units

Each June, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board votes on allowable increases for one-year and two-year lease renewals commencing in the twelve months starting October 1. Two orders govern 2026 renewals:

• Order | Lease commencement window | One-year increase | Two-year increase
• Order No. 57 | October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026 | 3% | 4.5%
• Order No. 58 | October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027 | 0% | 0%

The board adopted Order No. 58 on June 25, 2026 in a 7-1 vote. Gothamist reports that it is the first two-year rent freeze in the board's history. A stabilized renewal commencing September 1, 2026 can still take 3% or 4.5% under Order 57. The same renewal commencing November 1, 2026 takes nothing.

The RGB sets the annual percentage rent increases that apply directly to stabilized renewals. For rent-controlled units, those same one-year figures matter only as inputs to the five-year average used in MCR calculations. When the RGB adopts a 0% one-year guideline, that figure lowers the five-year average and reduces future MCR increases accordingly.

If you own stabilized units in an ETPA locality outside NYC, follow the guidelines adopted in that locality and check the local order before drafting renewals.

What happens when a rent-controlled tenant vacates

When the protected tenant permanently leaves, the tenancy either passes to a qualifying family member or ends. If the apartment and building otherwise qualify for stabilization, the unit generally becomes rent-stabilized after the rent-controlled tenancy ends. Verify building-level coverage and any exemption before setting the next rent. Since HSTPA, no vacancy on or after June 14, 2019 lifts a unit out of regulation. HCR explains this rule in HCR Fact Sheet #36.

Succession rights for family members

A family member can inherit the tenancy, and with it the rent-controlled status, if they kept the apartment as their primary residence alongside the tenant of record for at least two years immediately before the tenant's death or permanent departure. HCR applies a one-year period to family members who are senior citizens or disabled under HCR Fact Sheet #30. Someone who lived with the tenant from the start of the tenancy or the start of the relationship qualifies regardless of duration.

Under Braschi v. Stahl Associates, non-traditional family members qualify by showing a family-like relationship through factors such as emotional and financial commitment, along with how the parties held themselves out to society. The two-year clock runs to the date the tenant permanently stopped residing in the apartment, whether or not they kept signing leases or paying rent. You may request DHCR Form RA 23.5, listing resident family members, at any time for a rent-controlled unit and no more than once per 12 months for a stabilized one.

Fair market rent appeals

When a formerly rent-controlled unit becomes stabilized, the owner must file an Initial Apartment Registration with DHCR within 90 days, setting the first legal regulated rent. The first stabilized tenant can then petition DHCR on Form RA-93 to contest that initial registration if the rent appears improper. Hold on to the supporting leases and improvement records, including invoices and registration paperwork, behind that first rent.

How the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 changed the rules

HSTPA preserved regulation for most units that New York regulated on June 14, 2019 and repealed the former high-rent and high-income exit routes, subject to limited exceptions such as 421-a(16). HSTPA took effect June 14, 2019 and closed nearly every path out of regulation:

• High-rent vacancy deregulation ended. Units that owners lawfully deregulated before June 14, 2019 remain deregulated, as the RGB deregulation FAQ confirms. However, tax-benefit programs such as J-51 and 421-a can independently pull units into rent stabilization regardless of whether the deregulation itself was lawful. Owners of buildings that received J-51 benefits in particular should not assume a unit is unregulated without first confirming the building's tax-benefit history, because a J-51 enrollment can override an otherwise valid deregulation.
• High-income deregulation ended. The old test, household income over $200,000 in each of two preceding years plus rent at the threshold, is gone. HCR states in Fact Sheet #36 that HSTPA repealed all forms of deregulation except the rule for 421-a(16) apartments.
• HSTPA eliminated the vacancy bonus, which let owners add 20% to the legal rent on a two-year vacancy lease, along with the 0.6%-per-year longevity bonus. The HCR HSTPA presentation details both former bonuses.
• HSTPA's 2019 overhaul tightened Individual Apartment Improvement increases to preserve affordable housing, capped them at $15,000 over 15 years, and made them expire. The 2024 state budget later loosened those limits (see "Legal ways landlords can raise rent").
• RSL § 26-516(a) extended the overcharge lookback to six years and imposes treble damages for willful overcharges within that period. The Court of Appeals held in Regina Metropolitan that the expanded provisions cannot reach pre-June 2019 conduct.

Legal ways landlords can raise rent

Beyond the annual percentage rent increases set by the RGB or the MBR/MCR system, regulated-unit owners have two additional improvement-based mechanisms: Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs) and Major Capital Improvements (MCIs). The 2024 state budget reshaped both mechanisms, effective October 17, 2024.

Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs) now come in two tiers. HCR's FY24 budget changes allow any owner under the generally available tier to recover up to $30,000 of eligible work over a 15-year period, and the old three-IAI limit is gone. The second tier reaches $50,000 for qualifying vacant apartments: units that owners timely registered as vacant with DHCR in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 registration cycles, or units vacated after at least 25 years of continuous occupancy. Under Operational Bulletin 2024-2, HCR requires DHCR certification for Tier 2 before work begins. The tiers use different caps and amortization rules, and only Tier 2 requires prior certification:

• Feature | Tier 1 (any owner) | Tier 2 (qualifying vacant units)
• Cap over 15 years | $30,000 | $50,000 (vacancy-registration route)
• Monthly amortization | 1/168th of cost for buildings of 35 or fewer units, 1/180th for larger buildings | 1/144th or 1/156th on the same size split
• Prior DHCR certification | Not required | Required before work begins
• Documentation | 1% fee on claimed costs plus photos and financial records, including itemized receipts and proof of payment | Same

Owners may use the vacancy-registration route into Tier 2 only once; the 25-year continuous-occupancy route carries no limit on the number of IAIs.

Major Capital Improvements (MCIs) cover work essential to the entire building's preservation or infrastructure, including its energy efficiency and functionality. In Fact Sheet #24, DHCR caps MCI increases at 2% per year, down from the pre-HSTPA 6% or 15%, and allows owners to collect them only after DHCR issues a written order. Owners must remove them from the rent 30 years after they take effect, and costs amortize over 144 months for buildings of 35 or fewer units and 150 months for larger ones. DHCR will approve an MCI application only if it meets these conditions:

• The work has to be building-wide and depreciable. It must also benefit all tenants and involve a new installation.
• You must file the application within two years of physical completion, and buildings where 35% or fewer of the units are rent-regulated cannot take MCI increases at all.

HSTPA eliminated fuel pass along charges for rent-controlled tenants, meaning owners can no longer increase their rent through this mechanism. HCR states in the 2026-27 MBR application: "Pursuant to the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) of 2019, the annual Fuel Cost Adjustment is no longer in effect." Fuel costs still count within the MBR formula's operating expenses, but there is no separate surcharge to bill tenants.

Good Cause Eviction law and rent increases

Good Cause laws now constrain market-rate rent increases in covered jurisdictions. Under RPL § 211 and RPL § 231-C, a rent increase on a covered unregulated unit is presumptively unreasonable if it exceeds the lower of 5% plus the regional CPI change or 10%. HCR's Good Cause fact sheet sets the 2026 local rent standard at 8.38% for the New York metro area and 8.15% for the Northeast region index used by other opt-in municipalities. Charge more than the standard and the tenant gains a potential defense grounded in their rights as a New York tenant, but it becomes contestable once the landlord serves a Notice of Eviction (or petition). Under Good Cause, the tenant can raise an above-standard increase as a defense at that point, and a court will weigh whether the increase was unreasonable.

Several categories of housing sit outside Good Cause entirely:

• Homes owned by a landlord with 10 or fewer total units in New York State; for LLC-owned buildings, each individual owner must clear that test. Outside NYC most opt-ins set the exemption at one unit, making the 10-unit version effectively an NYC rule.
• Owner-occupied buildings with 10 or fewer apartments.
• Condominiums and cooperatives.
• Separate regulatory programs already govern rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments, NYCHA, and federally subsidized affordable housing, so these units sit outside Good Cause.
• Buildings whose local authority issued a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2009, for 30 years after issuance.
• High-rent units above 245% of Fair Market Rent, which in NYC for 2026 runs from $6,196 for an efficiency to $9,700 for a four-bedroom.

Good Cause applies automatically in NYC. Outside the city, 17 municipalities plus the Village of Croton-on-Hudson had opted in as of May 4, 2026, several with modified thresholds:

• Municipality | High-rent threshold (% of FMR) | Small-landlord exemption
• Rochester and Middletown | 245% | 1 unit
• Kingston | 300% | 1 unit
• Catskill | 275% | 1 unit
• White Plains | 345% | 4 units
• Remaining opt-ins (including Albany, Ithaca, Binghamton, New Rochelle) | 345% | 1 unit

Troy passed its own law in early 2026 but did not appear on DHCR's May list, so verify its status with DHCR directly.

How to verify your apartment's regulatory status and stay compliant

Start with HCR's Rent Regulated Building Search, which accepts an address or ZIP code and shows whether an owner has registered the building. HCR expressly warns that inclusion in the search is not determinative of current regulatory status, so treat it as a first pass and confirm from the rent history. Tenants and building owners or their authorized representatives can request that history through HCR's inquiry portal.

You can collect the increases only if you meet these obligations:

• Register every stabilized unit annually through the Annual Rent Registration Online (ARRO) system by July 31; the 2026 window ran April 1 to July 31. The HCR rent registration page lists the filing window. HCR imposes a $500 fine per unregistered unit per month for late filings under Operational Bulletin 2024-1, and RSL § 26-517(e) freezes the rent at the last registered amount when an owner fails to register. Filing late cures the freeze going forward only; increases lost during the gap are gone, and filing after an overcharge complaint adds a surcharge of 50% of the registration fee.
• File the Form VC and Operation and Maintenance certifications for rent-controlled units by the deadlines in the current MBR application cycle, and file initial registrations within 90 days of a unit becoming stabilized. Because the overcharge lookback runs six years, keep rent records covering at least that period. Willful overcharges within the lookback carry treble damages, and the owner bears the burden of proving an overcharge was not willful. HCR explains that burden in HCR Policy Statement 2020-1.

Leases commencing October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027 carry a 0% increase on both one- and two-year renewals. A liability claim, or a covered fire that empties units for months, hits rental income you cannot raise to cover it. Landlord insurance in New York can cover liability, while loss-of-rent coverage can replace fair rental value while the property is uninhabitable after a covered loss. Get a landlord insurance quote in minutes at quote.steadily.com. For the notice mechanics and statutory citations behind a market-rate increase, see our guide to New York's rent-increase laws.

FAQ

How is a rent-controlled increase calculated in 2026?

The Maximum Collectible Rent rose by at most 2.55% on January 1, 2026, the lower of 7.5% or the five-year average of one-year RGB guidelines. The 11.5% Standard Adjustment Factor sets only the MBR ceiling for 2026 and 2027.

What does the Rent Guidelines Board do?

The RGB votes each June on allowable renewal increases for NYC's stabilized apartments. Its Order 57 allows 3% (one-year) and 4.5% (two-year) for leases starting October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026; Order 58 freezes both at 0% for leases starting in the following twelve months.

What happens when a rent-controlled tenant vacates or dies?

A qualifying family member who co-resided for the required period can succeed to the tenancy. The period is generally two years and drops to one for seniors and disabled persons. Without a qualifying successor, the controlled tenancy ends. If the apartment and building otherwise qualify for stabilization, the unit generally becomes rent-stabilized, and no vacancy since June 14, 2019 removes a unit from regulation under HSTPA.

Can I still deregulate a stabilized apartment at high rent or high tenant income?

No. HSTPA repealed high-rent vacancy deregulation and high-income deregulation as of June 14, 2019, subject to limited exceptions such as 421-a(16). Units that owners lawfully deregulated before that date remain deregulated.

How do I confirm whether my unit is regulated?

Search the address in HCR's Rent Regulated Building Search, then request the unit's rent history through HCR's portal, since the building search alone does not confirm current status.

What is the difference between an IAI and an MCI increase?

An IAI covers work inside one apartment, capped at $30,000 (or $50,000 for qualifying vacant units) over 15 years, with permanent increases amortized at 1/168th or 1/180th of cost per month under the $30,000 tier, 1/144th or 1/156th for qualifying vacant units. An MCI covers building-wide improvements benefiting all tenants and requires a DHCR order; DHCR caps annual MCI collections at 2%, and owners must remove the increase from the rent after 30 years.