Two different Rent Guidelines Board orders matter right now. If your rent-stabilized lease renews before October 1, 2026, the board's Order 57 applies: 3% for a one-year lease, 4.5% for a two-year lease. If your lease renews on or after October 1, 2026, Order 58 applies instead, and it is a full freeze: 0% for both one-year and two-year renewals.
Not sure your unit is even rent stabilized in the first place? Search your address on Building Health X to check registration and violation history before you rely on any rent figure.
The Increase in Effect for Leases Renewing Now
Order 57 governs any rent-stabilized lease that commences on or after October 1, 2025 and on or before September 30, 2026. The board adopted it on June 30, 2025, after an earlier preliminary vote in April 2025 was withdrawn and restarted. Under Order 57, a landlord can raise a one-year renewal by 3% and a two-year renewal by 4.5%. Those percentages apply to the tenant's current legal rent, or to the preferential rent if the tenant has one, not to some separate market figure.
On a $1,800 monthly rent, a 3% one-year renewal adds $54 a month. A 4.5% two-year renewal on the same rent adds $81 a month for both years of the lease. The Rent Guidelines Board is a nine-member panel appointed by the mayor: two members represent tenants, two represent owners, and five public members bring at least five years of experience in finance, economics or housing. Every summer the board works through public hearings, a preliminary vote on a range, and a final vote before the numbers above take effect on October 1, weighing research on operating costs and the citywide vacancy rate alongside testimony from tenants and owners.
The Rent Freeze Starting October 1, 2026
Order 58 covers leases commencing on or after October 1, 2026 and on or before September 30, 2027, and the board adopted it on June 25, 2026. Both the one-year and two-year renewal rates are set at 0%. New York City has frozen one-year leases before, in 2015, 2016 and 2020.
The board that voted for the freeze looked different from the one that set Order 57 the year before. On February 18, 2026, Mayor Mamdani announced six new appointees to the nine-member board, with Chantella Mitchell as chair, citing the appointees' backgrounds in housing, financing, budgeting and public policy. A largely new board taking office ahead of the 2026 cycle is part of why the two orders landed so differently a year apart, even though the underlying mix of factors the board is required to weigh, like operating costs and the vacancy rate, did not change.
A 0% order does not mean your bill stays frozen too if you are carrying a Major Capital Improvement or Individual Apartment Improvement surcharge from an earlier increase, since those run on their own separate timelines. It means the guideline portion of your renewal, the part the board controls, adds nothing new for that lease term.
If your renewal offer already arrived showing a percentage above zero for a lease starting after October 1, 2026, that offer was calculated under the wrong order, whether by mistake or otherwise. Landlords typically have to send stabilized renewal offers 90 to 150 days before the current lease expires, well before some of them will have updated their paperwork for a mid-cycle order like this one, so double check the math against the dates above rather than assuming the printed number is correct.
Recent Rent Guidelines Board Orders
| Order | Lease period | One-year increase | Two-year increase |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | Oct 1, 2023 to Sep 30, 2024 | 3% | 2.75% (year 1), 3.2% (year 2) |
| 56 | Oct 1, 2024 to Sep 30, 2025 | 2.75% | 5.25% |
| 57 | Oct 1, 2025 to Sep 30, 2026 | 3% | 4.5% |
| 58 | Oct 1, 2026 to Sep 30, 2027 | 0% | 0% |
The two-year rate is not automatically double the one-year rate. Order 55's two-year lease, for example, split into two different annual steps rather than one flat percentage, so read the order's own text rather than assuming a shortcut.
Which Order Applies to Your Lease
The order that governs your renewal is set by your lease's start date, not by when you sign the paperwork or when the board happened to vote. A lease that starts September 28, 2026 falls under Order 57, even if you sign the renewal form in October. A lease that starts October 3, 2026 falls under Order 58, even if your landlord sent the offer back in August. Check the start date printed on your renewal lease against the date ranges above before you assume which percentage applies.
These orders only govern rent-stabilized apartments, so the first question is whether your unit is covered at all. If you have never confirmed it, work out whether your apartment is actually rent stabilized before you take a landlord's percentage on faith. A stabilized unit in a building with six or more apartments built before 1974 is the classic case, but tax-benefit buildings and buildings that converted to stabilization more recently can be covered too, even when nothing about the building's age would suggest it.
If your landlord is charging more than the order allows for your lease's start date, that is an overcharge you can challenge, and the notice your landlord owes you before any increase takes effect is a separate right worth checking at the same time.
Preferential Rent and Vacancy Leases
Rules changed in 2019 for how these guideline increases interact with preferential rent, the discounted rent some tenants pay below the unit's legal regulated rent.
Preferential Rent on Renewal
Since the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, a landlord has to apply the Rent Guidelines Board increase to your preferential rent, not the higher legal rent, and the preferential rent stays in place for as long as you stay in the apartment. A landlord can no longer jump you up to the full legal rent just because your lease is renewing.
Legal Rent on Vacancy
The protection is tied to the tenancy, not the apartment. Once you move out, the next tenant can be charged the full legal regulated rent from day one, and that new lease then becomes the starting point for future Rent Guidelines Board increases. The same 2019 law also did away with the separate vacancy bonus landlords used to be able to add on top of the guideline increase when a unit turned over.
According to Housing Court Answers, every apartment has its own regulatory history, so the only reliable way to confirm your status, and which increase applies to you, is to pull your unit's rent history rather than go by the building's age alone. The board's own apartment and loft orders are the definitive record of every rate it has ever set, in case you need to check a renewal from an earlier year.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Current NYC Rent Guidelines Board Increase?
For leases renewing before October 1, 2026, Order 57 sets a 3% increase for a one-year renewal and 4.5% for a two-year renewal. For leases starting on or after October 1, 2026, Order 58 sets both rates at 0% through September 30, 2027.
Is There a Rent Freeze in NYC Starting in 2026?
Yes. The board voted on June 25, 2026 to freeze both one-year and two-year renewals at 0% for leases commencing between October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2027.
Do These Increases Apply to My Preferential Rent or My Legal Rent?
They apply to whichever one you pay. If you have a preferential rent, the guideline increase is calculated on that lower figure, and that preferential rent carries forward for as long as you remain in the apartment.
Does the Rent Guidelines Board Set Rent for Market-Rate Apartments?
No. These orders apply only to rent-stabilized apartments, lofts, hotels and single-room-occupancy units. A market-rate lease is negotiated directly between tenant and landlord, though a separate law, Good Cause Eviction, limits what counts as a reasonable increase for many unregulated units.
What Happens to Rent When a Rent-Stabilized Apartment Becomes Vacant?
The incoming tenant can be charged the full legal regulated rent rather than any preferential rent the previous tenant had. There is no separate vacancy bonus anymore. That new legal rent then becomes the base for future Rent Guidelines Board increases.
Can My Landlord Charge More Than the Rent Guidelines Board Allows?
Not for a standard renewal. A landlord can seek additional increases only through specific, separately regulated channels, such as a Major Capital Improvement or an Individual Apartment Improvement, each with its own filing and disclosure rules.
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