Rent-stabilized tenants better get ready for rent hikes that will be even higher than last year’s.
The Rent Guidelines Board is scheduled to meet tonight in lower Manhattan to set new preliminary increases that are all but certain to be above the 2 percent and 4 percent handed down last year for one- and two-year lease renewals.
That’s because operating costs for landlords jumped 5.9 percent in the board’s annual survey, compared to 2.8 percent previously. Blame a cold winter that drove up heating-oil spending 20 percent.
The last time landlord costs were in this year’s vicinity was in 2011, when a 6.1 percent jump in operating expenses led to rent increases of 3.75 percent and 7.25 percent.
The nine-member board isn’t bound by any formula when it establishes the higher rents, but it generally comes up with figures that are in line with operating costs.
About 60 percent of the nearly one million rent-stabilized tenants renew their leases each year.
If it follows past practice, the board will recommend a range of increases tonight. Affected will be leases that expire on or after Oct. 1.
The final rent increases will be determined at a June 20 meeting.
According to the board, landlords collect $130 million for each one percent that rents go up.