If you pay a preferential rent on your New York City rent-stabilized apartment — meaning your landlord charges you less than the legal maximum — you have some of the strongest protections in modern NYC tenant law. But many tenants do not know what those protections are, how to enforce them, or what landlords can still legally do. Here is what you need to know right now.
What Is a Preferential Rent?
A preferential rent is any rent below the apartment’s legal regulated rent — the maximum amount your landlord is authorized to charge under the Rent Stabilization Code. For example, if your apartment’s legal rent is $2,400 but your landlord charges you $1,900, you are paying a $500 preferential rent. Both figures must be disclosed in your lease and on your lease rider.
Before June 14, 2019, landlords could revoke a preferential rent at lease renewal and spike your rent up to the legal maximum in one move — sometimes a jump of hundreds of dollars overnight. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) of 2019 ended that practice entirely for qualifying tenants.
The HSTPA 2019 Rule: Your Preferential Rent Is Now Locked In
Under the HSTPA of 2019, if you entered or renewed your preferential rent lease on or after June 14, 2019, your landlord cannot raise your rent to the higher legal regulated rent at renewal. According to the NYC Rent Guidelines Board, the rent increase at a lease renewal must be calculated by applying the applicable guideline adjustment to the preferential rent — not the legal rent.
In plain terms: your base rent for annual RGB increases is the preferential amount you actually pay, not the higher number buried in your lease. The bait-and-switch that once trapped thousands of NYC tenants is now illegal as long as you remain in the apartment. Your landlord may advertise and charge the full legal regulated rent only when the apartment becomes vacant — once you move out.
How Much Can Your Rent Go Up at Renewal in 2025–26?
For leases commencing between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, NYC Rent Guidelines Board Order #57 (signed June 30, 2025) sets the following maximums:
- One-year lease renewal: 3%
- Two-year lease renewal: 4.5%
These percentages apply to your preferential rent, not the legal regulated rent. If you pay $1,900/month and renew for one year, the maximum your landlord can charge is $1,957. If your landlord applies the increase to the legal rent instead, that is a rent overcharge — and you can file a complaint.
You Have a Right to Renew — And to Timely Notice
Rent-stabilized tenants in good standing have an automatic right to lease renewal. Your landlord must send you a written renewal offer between 90 and 150 days before your current lease expires. Once you receive it, you have 60 days to sign and return it.
If your landlord sends the renewal late — inside 90 days of expiration — they cannot charge the new rent immediately at the old lease’s end date. Under NYS law, you have the right to choose a commencement date: either when the lease would have started had it been timely offered, or 90 days after the late offer was made. If the landlord never sends a renewal at all, file a lease violation complaint with NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR).
How to Check Your Legal Rent and Spot an Overcharge
You cannot know whether you are being overcharged without seeing your apartment’s official rent history. Here is how to get it:
- Ask HCR directly: Use the Ask HCR web portal to request your apartment’s rent history. HCR can mail you a record going back at least six years.
- Use JustFix.nyc: The JustFix rent history tool is free and available in English and Spanish. It submits an official HCR request on your behalf.
- Check your lease rider: Your Rent Stabilization Lease Rider must list both your legal regulated rent and your preferential rent.
If you believe you are being overcharged, file a complaint with HCR at rent.hcr.ny.gov/RentConnect. HCR can investigate rent history going back six years from the date you file.
Market-Rate Tenants: Good Cause Eviction Offers New Protections Too
If you are in an unregulated (market-rate) apartment, the Good Cause Eviction Law — enacted April 20, 2024 — provides newer protections. While it does not lock in a specific rent figure, it establishes a local rent standard: the rate of inflation plus 5%, capped at a 10% total annual maximum. If your landlord raises the rent above that threshold and tries to evict you for nonpayment, you can use Good Cause Eviction as a legal defense in Housing Court. Learn more at NYC HPD’s Good Cause page.
Under HSTPA 2019, all NYC landlords must also give written notice before raising your rent by 5% or more, or before choosing not to renew your lease: 30 days for tenancies under one year, 60 days for one to two years, and 90 days for over two years. If they skip this notice, you have the right to remain at your current rent until the proper notice period expires.
Exceptions to Know
- Regulatory agreements: Apartments in certain affordable housing programs (such as 421-a buildings) may have preferential rent terms governed by a specific regulatory agreement in addition to HSTPA. Review your lease rider carefully.
- Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs): If your landlord completed qualifying improvements, they may be permitted to increase the legal regulated rent — not the preferential rent itself, but the gap between them can widen.
- Major Capital Improvements (MCIs): Building-wide improvements can add a limited increase on top of the RGB guideline. Under HSTPA 2019, MCI increases expire 30 years after taking effect.
Action Steps: What to Do Right Now
- Request your rent history at portal.hcr.ny.gov/app/ask — know both your legal rent and your preferential rent on record.
- Calculate your allowed renewal increase: Multiply your current preferential rent by 1.03 (one-year) or 1.045 (two-year). If your renewal offer is higher, challenge it immediately.
- File an overcharge complaint at rent.hcr.ny.gov/RentConnect if your increase was calculated on the legal rent instead of the preferential rent.
- Get free legal help: Contact Legal Services NYC or Met Council on Housing at (212) 979-0611 for tenant counseling and representation.
- Explore HCR resources at hcr.ny.gov for fact sheets, complaint forms, and free workshops.
NYC’s rent stabilization system is complex, but the 2019 HSTPA reforms fundamentally shifted power toward tenants who hold preferential rents. Knowing the rules — and the exact figures from Order #57 — is the first step to making sure your landlord follows them.
Sources: NYC Rent Guidelines Board Order #57 (June 30, 2025); RGB Rent Increases FAQ; NYS HCR Leases page; HCR Fact Sheet #40: Preferential Rents.
