The rental market in this bottomless money pit of a city is a villainous deathtrap, with seemingly no end in sight to annual, obscene rent increases. Still, there's a chance you've been paying TOO MUCH—a chunk of apartments constructed before 1974 are rent-stabilized, provided the building has six or more units, the apartments have not been gut-renovated, and do not have legal rents above $2,700—and some newer buildings have rent-stabilized apartments thanks to certain tax incentives. Memories!
WNYC is helping renters find out if they're being overcharged, which you can do through a form on their website. But there's an easy way to go about doing this yourself—you can request your rental history from the New York State Homes and Community Renewal to see what kinds of rents your landlord was charging before you hopped on the scene.
This is a pretty simple process. You can email ORAFoil@nyshcr.org and provide your name/the leaseholder's name, your address and your apartment number; you can call the Rent Infoline at 718-739-6400, or you can show up at one of the agency's Borough/District offices and they'll print you a copy. If it turns out that your apartment may be rent-stabilized (which takes a little legwork, and might be easier to do with the help of an attorney or tenancy advocacy group) and you're being overcharged illegally, you can fill out a tenant complaint form online (though, again, you might want to consult with a tenants rights group before taking any legal action).
Ascertaining whether or not you live in a rent-stabilized apartment is the best reason to request your rental history, but it can be helpful for other reasons. You might be able to leverage it against your landlord while arguing against a rent spike—on the flipside, it's sometimes a good way to gauge how much your rent will go up in the future, so you can prepare for the worst.
