Was thinking about the new rent laws, and while I understand the rationale for most of them, at least one area seems likely to create some unintended consequences: the preferential rent restrictions.
A significant part of the rationale for eliminating the vacancy increase for rent-stabilized apartments was to eliminate the incentive for landlords to push out a tenant to get a big rent step-up, and to prefer tenants who are likely to be short-term.
Eliminating the ability of landlords to raise preferential rents to legal rents until the current tenant departs seems to create that incentive all over again, however.
Also, I would think the new preferential rent rules create at least some incentive to warehouse apartments if rents are weak, rather than potentially get locked into a low rent for a long-term tenant. A similar problem exists in commercial leasing, particularly in areas where real estate values are rising rapidly, given the length of commercial leases, and it leads to vacant storefronts.