What it means for you
The Rent Guidelines Board voted 7–1 to set a 0% guideline increase on one- and two-year leases in about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, for leases starting Oct. 1, 2026 through Sept. 30, 2027. It's the first freeze ever on two-year leases.
Who benefits: Tenants in about 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, home to roughly 2.4 million New Yorkers, whose leases start between Oct. 1, 2026 and Sept. 30, 2027.
If you live in a rent-stabilized apartment and your lease starts between October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2027, your landlord can’t add the annual guideline increase when you renew. That’s true whether you pick a one-year or a two-year lease, so a two-year renewal carries a 0% guideline increase for both years. You don’t have to apply. If you’ve already paid more than the order allows, the extra must be credited against your next month’s rent.
The Rent Guidelines Board sets the maximum guideline increase for the city’s roughly 1 million stabilized apartments every year. Last year it allowed 3% on one-year leases and 4.5% on two-year leases. The board froze one-year leases three times under Mayor Bill de Blasio, but it had never frozen two-year leases before.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaigned on freezing the rent and appointed a majority of the board’s members. On June 25, 2026, the board voted 7–1 for the freeze. One owner representative voted yes; a public member reappointed by former Mayor Eric Adams voted no.
A group of landlords has sued to overturn the decision. A Manhattan judge said he lacked authority to halt the freeze or impose last year’s increases while the case was pending, and said he would rule before the end of 2026.
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Where it stands, and how we know
Source for this status, checked November 5, 2026.
Sources
- Order #58 – Apartment and loft guidelines for leases commencing between October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2027NYC Rent Guidelines Board, June 25, 2026
- Rent Guidelines Board public meeting transcript, June 25, 2026NYC Rent Guidelines Board, June 25, 2026
- Rent Guidelines Board votes to freeze the rent, fulfilling Mamdani campaign promiseamNY, June 25, 2026
- Rent Freeze to Stay in Place For Now as Judge Holds Off on DecisionThe City Reporter, September 24, 2026
- NYC's rent freeze is still in place, at least for nowBrick Underground, October 1, 2026
How we checked this
Drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) on November 5, 2026. Checked against its sources by GPT-5.6-sol (OpenAI) on November 5, 2026, which corrected it. Confirmed Order #58’s terms and date, the 7–1 vote, the approximately one million apartments, Mamdani’s appointments, prior rates, and the pending lawsuit. Narrowed the rent-freeze language to the 0% guideline adjustment and corrected two source metadata errors.
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