While rent-stabilized apartments will see no rent increases this year, another class of regulated units, those under rent control, will see rates climb as much as 9.6 percent over the next two years.

Owners of rent-controlled units – there are about 27,000 citywide, about 2 percent of rental stock – aren’t allowed to charge a rate higher than the Maximum Base Rent established by the state’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal.

That rate is recalculated every two years to adjust for changes in landlords’ costs, the New York Times reported.

Rent-stabilized units, in contrast, are regulated by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board, whose decisions can incorporate considerations such as affordability and tenants’ income. There are more than a million such units in the city. The board decided earlier this year that stabilized rents in the city wouldn’t increase at all in 2016 for one-year leases, and would increase by 2 percent for two-year leases.

Landlord groups defended the rent-controlled unit increase.

“What this illustrates is that when you stick to a formula that reflects the costs to owners, instead of playing politics, you come up with an increase,” the Rent Stabilization Association’s Jack Freund told the Times.

Tenants and their advocates, though decried it.

“Each and every day, my staff and I sit with seniors — 70-, 80-, 90-year-olds — who cannot afford to pay their rent,” Assembly member Linda Rosenthal told the Times. [NYT] – Ariel Stulberg

Source: Rent-controlled tenants to see 9.6% hike over next two years