my views on rent control regulation

 The ETPA also expanded the amount of stabilized rental units by including buildings constructed prior to January 1, 1974.

With this followed a slew of both deregulation and subsequent emergency protection, as bureaucrats attempted to set a balance between spiraling rent costs and access to affordable housing in the biggest city in the country.

Currently, there are a number of exceptions to the rent control and rent stabilization regulations that also take into account the tenancy deposit return. The Rent Act of 2011 details the most recent developments in New York City’s ongoing attempts to balance the affairs of landlords and tenants, by allowing a “High-Rent Vacancy Deregulation”, which states that. “If an apartment is vacated with a legal regulated rent (Rent Stabilization) or maximum rent (Rent Control) of $2,500 or more per month, such apartment qualifies for permanent deregulation, and therefore for removal from all rent regulation.”

In an effort to curb the abuse of rent controlled apartments by wealthier tenants, a “High Rent/High-Income Deregulation” provision was also added, which states that apartments, “… which are occupied by persons whose total annual federal adjusted gross incomes, as reported on their New York State Income Tax returns, have been in excess of $200,000 for each of the two preceding calendar years, may be permanently deregulated under the procedures set forth below. “

http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/dhcr/dhcr36.html

Through the years, rent control regulation in New York City has been overseen by federal, municipal and state control. It has ranged from absolute control (no increases) to negotiable increases to no regulation at all. It has at any given time incensed either the liberal or conservative members of the public and punditry and has been subject to ever-swaying shifts in public policy and economic health of both the city and the country itself. It continues to be a topic of concern for policy wonks, bean counters and housing activists alike.

We’ll continue the look at the history and impact of rent controls in North America next month, with a look at the history of regulation in California and Canada.