New York state lawmakers have reached an agreement intended to strengthen New York’s rent laws and tenant protections. The New York Times [1]reports that the deal may be a “significant blow to the real estate industry,” who have noted that these measures can lead to to the deterioration of the condition of New York City’s housing.
NYT reports that the regulation would abolish rules that let building owners deregulate apartments, close a series of loopholes that permit them to raise rents and allow some tenant protections to expand.
Trade groups have stated that the proposed regulations could harm smaller landlords, stating that they may not be able to raise rents due to escalating costs without going out of business.
“This legislation fails to address the city’s housing crisis and will lead to disinvestment in the city’s private sector rental stock consigning hundreds of thousands of rent-regulated tenants to living in buildings that are likely to fall into disrepair,” Taxpayers for an Affordable New York, a coalition of four real estate groups said in a statement.
“This legislation will not create a single new affordable housing unit, improve the vacancy rate or improve enforcement against the few dishonest landlords who tend to dominate the headlines,” the statement added. “It is now up to the governor to reject this deal in favor of responsible rent reform that protects tenants, property owners, building contractors and our communities.”
Nationwide, the rental market price and demand increases, and with the additional demand, landlords are beginning to cut back on many “perks” [2] originally intended to entice potential renters. According to Zillow, just 1 in 100 rental listings currently show any kind of move-in special, CNBC’s Diana Olick reports.
Additionally, rent prices are up 3.1% year over year, to a median rent of $1,530 nationally, the highest level since August 2017.
“This potentially signals more rent growth is to come, as landlords not only reduce incentives to move but also increase prices,” said Joshua Clark, economist at Zillow’s HotPads on CNBC. “Of course, all real estate is local and deals are becoming more common in some places.”