A judge threw out the fixed price rent hikes the Rent Guidelines Board imposed on New Yorkers who live in rent-stabilized apartments — meaning that some 300,000 rent-control tenants who have been overpaying for the past two years might be reimbursed. The far-reaching ruling is a big victory for tenants and tenants advocates, and it could turn out costing landlords tens of millions of dollars.
According to the Daily News, a Manhattan Supreme Court Judge deemed that the Board's minimum rent increases had penalized "tenants failing to move in a city that has virtually no affordable housing" by charging those who paid less than $1,000 in rent per month fixed amounts of money, not just percentage upticks as was usually the case. In 2008, the board ruled that landlords could increase rents on two-year leases by 8.5 percent or $85, whichever was more. Last year, despite protesters urging the group to keep rents flat, charges on two-year leases surged by six percent, or $60, whichever was more.
"The board, which had been exceeding its authority for years — it stops them in their tracks," said Ellen Davidson of the Legal Aid Society, who estimated that landlords might turn out paying between $36 million and $100 million to tenants in refunds. "It's a huge victory." She added: "It affects an immense amount of tenants," she said. "If they've been subject to the increase, they should get the money that they overpaid back." According to the Voice, the city is planning to appeal.
