Rent guidelines board

It’s the largest proposed increase since 2013.

The board, which governs rent increases for 2.4 million stabilized tenants, has been mulling some of the biggest rent hikes in nearly a decade.

In an unusual move, the nine-member voted to freeze rents on stabilized apartments for the first six months of one-year leases while allowing landlords to increase rent by 1.5% for the next six months.

The panel kept the possibility of a modest increase on the table, while rejecting the landlord group's proposal for a steeper hike.

Tenant advocates didn't get everything.

"I don't think we anticipated that landlords would blatantly violate the law as quickly as they seem to have done," said Ellen Davidson, an attorney at the Legal Aid Society.

The board’s responsibility is to protect renters, said Sheila Garcia, an RGB member tasked with representing the interests of tenants: “Our mandate is not to make sure that profits continue to increase.”

The vote was 5-4 in favor of the rent increases, disappointing tenants.

For the first time in two years, the Rent Guidelines Board [RGB] voted Tuesday to raise the monthly payments for 1.6 million rent-stabilized tenants.

"The idea that we should feel bad for landlords who are reaping huge profits is just mind blowing to me."

Landlords claimed the city wrongly considered tenants' economic situations, and not theirs, when ordering the freeze.

"I'm not going to tell you that there are none, but..."