RENT LAWS $2,001: A Legal Odyssey

The deregulation of vacant apartments renting for over $2,000 was imposed by Speaker Vallone when the Council renewed the laws in 1994. In March 1997, Vallone sponsored a measure that such decontrol would only occur if the last tenant who moved out was already paying a lawful rent of at least $2,000, but the state legislature overruled this provision in June 1997.

About 10,000 to 20,000 units have been deregulated completely—both decontrolling rents and giving landlords the right to refuse to renew tenants’ leases without cause—since 1994, according to Tim Collins, former executive director of the Rent Guidelines Board. This number is steadily rising, due to the minimum 18% vacancy increases on all apartments also imposed by Albany in 1997.

This $2,000 vacancy deregulation is an open invitation for fraud. Owners can easily claim rents of $2,000 based on nonexistent “improvements,” knowing that there is almost no risk of being challenged by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the district attorney, the state attorney general, or Housing Court.