Is My Apartment Rent-Stabilized? Check Your NYC Building
Enter your address to see how many apartments in your building were billed as rent-stabilized on the city tax bill, then learn whether the 2026 rent freeze covers your lease and how to get the state’s rent history for your unit.
Counts cover 48,279 buildings and come from the rent-stabilization fee line on Department of Finance property tax bills, 2018 to 2024, compiled from the bills by the nycdb project. The bill counts units the owner was charged the fee for; it does not say which apartments.
The 2026 Rent Freeze and Who It Covers
On June 25, 2026 the New York City Rent Guidelines Board adopted Order 58: a 0% adjustment for one-year leases and 0% for two-year leases that commence between October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2027. The Board has frozen one-year leases before, in 2015, 2016 and 2020. This is the first order to freeze two-year leases as well.
| Your lease | One-year renewal | Two-year renewal | Order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starts Oct 1, 2026 to Sep 30, 2027 | 0% | 0% | Order 58, adopted June 25, 2026 |
| Started Oct 1, 2025 to Sep 30, 2026 | up to 3% | up to 4.5% | Order 57, adopted June 30, 2025 |
| Market-rate apartment | No RGB cap | No RGB cap | See Good Cause Eviction below |
Two things catch people out. The date that matters is the start date of the new lease, not the date you sign it, so a renewal that began in September 2026 still carries last year’s 3% or 4.5%. And the freeze does nothing for a market-rate apartment, which is why the first question is always whether your unit is stabilized at all. A landlord lawsuit challenging the order was pending in state court when the freeze took effect on October 1, 2026; the order stands unless a court sets it aside, so check the Rent Guidelines Board’s order page before you sign.
How to Check in Three Steps
- Start with the building’s age and size. The city’s own rule of thumb: stabilized apartments are most often in buildings with six or more units built before 1974. A building that fits is likely; one that does not can still be stabilized through a tax benefit.
- Check the tax-bill count above. If the bill shows stabilized units, the building is in the system and your apartment may be one of them. If it shows none, the odds are low but not zero. Your building report also lists 421-a and J-51 exemptions, which keep units stabilized while the benefit runs.
- Get the apartment’s rent history from HCR. This is the definitive record for your unit. Submit the request at portal.hcr.ny.gov/app/ask, email rentinfo@nyshcr.org, or call 833-499-0343 with the full address and apartment number. HCR mails the history to the apartment. Our guide on requesting your rent history walks through the form and what the printout shows.
Which Buildings Are Rent-Stabilized
Regulation follows the building and its history, not the tenant. The table summarizes the general rules from HCR’s Fact Sheet 1; a building’s individual record can differ.
| Building | Usual status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Six or more units, built before 1947 | Rent control for tenants in place since before July 1971, otherwise rent stabilization | Apartments that leave rent control become stabilized |
| Six or more units, built 1947 to 1973 | Rent-stabilized | The core of the Rent Stabilization Law |
| Any size, with a 421-a, J-51 or 421-g tax benefit | Rent-stabilized while the benefit runs | Stabilization is a condition of the tax break |
| Built 1974 or later, no tax benefit | Market-rate | Outside the law; Good Cause Eviction may apply instead |
| Co-op, condo, NYCHA, one or two family | Not stabilized | Different rules apply; NYCHA has its own rent system |
Since June 14, 2019 the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act has ended high-rent and high-income deregulation, so a stabilized apartment no longer leaves the system because the rent crossed a threshold. The difference between control and stabilization is covered in our guide on rent control versus rent stabilization.
Your Rights if the Apartment Is Stabilized
Capped increases
Renewal rent can rise only by the percentage the Rent Guidelines Board sets each year: 0% for stabilized leases starting October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027. The history of RGB increases shows every order.
A renewal lease
The owner must offer a renewal on the state form 90 to 150 days before the lease ends, and you get 60 days to pick a one-year or two-year term. HCR’s Fact Sheet 4 has the timeline and the form numbers.
Eviction only for cause
A stabilized tenant can be evicted only on grounds the law allows, such as nonpayment or the apartment not being a primary residence, and only through Housing Court.
Required services
Heat, hot water and the services in the lease must be maintained. Our building report shows the HPD complaints and violations on record, which is the evidence a rent-reduction application rests on.
Overcharges and How to Get Money Back
The rent history lists every rent the owner registered for the apartment. The registered figures are owner-reported, which is exactly why you check the math against the Board’s percentages. If an increase does not add up, you can file an overcharge complaint with HCR’s Office of Rent Administration online through Rent Connect. Under the 2019 law the review period and the collectible period both run six years, and a willful overcharge can carry treble damages, three times the overcharge, payable to the tenant. The owner has the chance to show the overcharge was not willful.
Not Stabilized? Good Cause Eviction May Still Limit Increases
New York’s Good Cause Eviction law took effect on April 20, 2024 and covers many market-rate apartments in the city. It does not cap rent outright; it lets a tenant challenge an increase above the local rent standard, inflation plus 5% with a 10% ceiling, as a defense in Housing Court. For New York City the standard was 8.38% as of May 4, 2026. The main exemptions are landlords with ten or fewer units statewide, owner-occupied buildings of ten or fewer units, buildings with a certificate of occupancy from 2009 onward for their first 30 years, co-ops and condos, and apartments renting above 245% of Fair Market Rent. Stabilized and rent-controlled apartments are excluded because they already have their own rules. Details are in our guide to Good Cause Eviction in NYC and on HPD’s Good Cause page.
Where the Building Counts Come From
Every owner of a stabilized building is billed an annual rent-stabilization fee per unit on the Department of Finance property tax bill, and the bill prints the number of units charged. The nycdb project reads that line from the bills each year and publishes the counts by lot, which is what the checker above returns for 2018 through 2024. Three caveats. A count can lag a year behind reality. A bill can miss units the owner failed to register. And the count is per building, so a falling number tells you units have left the system but not which ones. The same counts appear on our neighborhood pages, which list the buildings in each area that shed the most stabilized units since 2018.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if my apartment is rent-stabilized in NYC?
Two checks. First, look up the building above: we show how many apartments were billed the rent-stabilization fee on the Department of Finance tax bill, which tells you whether the building has stabilized units at all. Second, request your apartment's rent history from New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR). The rent history is the official answer for your specific unit; the building count only tells you the odds.
Does the 2026 NYC rent freeze apply to me?
Only if your apartment is rent-stabilized and your new lease starts between October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2027. Rent Guidelines Board Order 58 set a 0% adjustment for both one-year and two-year leases in that window. Leases that started before October 1, 2026 fall under the previous order, which allowed 3% for one year and 4.5% for two. Market-rate apartments are not covered by either order.
How much can my landlord raise my rent in NYC?
For a rent-stabilized lease starting October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027, the answer is 0%. For a stabilized lease that started between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, up to 3% on a one-year renewal or 4.5% on a two-year renewal. For a market-rate apartment covered by Good Cause Eviction, an increase above the local rent standard (8.38% in New York City as of May 2026) can be challenged in Housing Court, and exempt apartments have no cap.
How do I request my rent history from DHCR?
Submit the request through HCR's portal at portal.hcr.ny.gov/app/ask, email rentinfo@nyshcr.org, or call 833-499-0343. Give the full address including the apartment number. HCR mails the history to the apartment, so it reaches the current tenant. It can only be released to the apartment's legal tenant, the owner, or an authorized representative.
Is a building with six or more units built before 1974 always rent-stabilized?
Not always, but that is the usual pattern. Stabilization generally covers buildings of six or more units built between 1947 and 1973, apartments that left rent control, and buildings receiving 421-a, J-51 or 421-g tax benefits for the life of the benefit. Co-ops, condos, public housing and buildings that never fell under the law are the common exceptions, and individual apartments can have left stabilization before 2019.
Can an apartment lose rent stabilization?
It used to happen routinely through high-rent and high-income deregulation. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act repealed both as of June 14, 2019, so apartments that are stabilized today generally stay stabilized. Units can still leave when a tax benefit such as 421-a expires and the lease carried the required notice, or when the owner takes a legitimate exemption, which is why the counts on some tax bills keep falling.
Sources
- NYC Rent Guidelines Board, Apartment and Loft Order 58 (2026-27)
- NYC Rent Guidelines Board, adopted guidelines 2025-26 (Order 57)
- NYC.gov, Rent Stabilization: how to request a rent history
- NYS HCR Fact Sheet 1, Rent Stabilization and Rent Control
- NYS HCR Fact Sheet 4, Lease Renewal in Rent Stabilized Apartments
- NYC HPD, Good Cause Eviction
- nycdb, rentstab_v2: stabilized unit counts from DOF tax bills
Information from public sources, not legal advice. Whether a specific apartment is regulated depends on its own history; confirm with HCR before relying on it. Published October 8, 2026.