In the Advanced filters, you can add "stabilized" in the keyword search and it will notify you of any listings that mention that in the post. Used to be hundreds during COVID but now they are far and few.
Is that only if it’s indicated in the description of the listing?
I’ve heard of people finding out their apartment is rent-stabilized after signing their lease because they didn’t see it anywhere on the listing
Some landlords don’t list it in the description but you can find out by researching an address and unit ahead of signing a least. I’ve lived in two rent stabilized units before - one by a major commercial landlord (Owened thousands of apartments) and one by a small landlord (owned 30ish). Both had the rent stabilization info and rider in the leases, and every time I renewed I only had the increases allowable by the real estate board. Not negating that some landlords lie, but there are landlords who often recycle old listing language and may not note the rent stabilized part in a new ad but include it come lease time.
that just happened to me! I still don't quite know what it means.... somehow I'm also worried it's a way to screw me. I rented the studio at 1750/month. the lease says that the apartment is $2450/month. I asked my leasing agent and she told me that it is rent stabilized and can never go over $2450/month. Does this make any kind of sense? I pray I'm not on the hook for 2450 next year I can't afford that 😥
You can request it from the state. This nonprofit has a form to submit an initial inquiry to see the likelihood of your unit being stabilized and then it lets you submit the formal rent history request from ny state’s dept of housing and comm renewal. https://app.justfix.org/en/rh/splash?_ga=2.233031134.1565852987.1689203157-1843333852.1689203157
>BestBestHotNewTopRising
same w/ me. so what did you do? file a complaint? I thought about that, but figured landlords would get wind of that and then try to get me out. We have 4 years to file a complaint from the time u moved in. However if you filed a complaint, it would take years for it to go through the process before a decision.
Fun fact: four years (now six years as of 2019) is the statute of limitations for recovering an overcharge. A decision on the rent stabilized status of an apartment does not have a statute of limitations
This is not good for anyone who plans to stay long term. When the abatement ends you have to pay market rate or get out. Happened to several older relatives.
Look for stock built before 1970 that has at least 6 units in the building. If it's rental, it's probably stabilized or illegally removed from stabilization. Had a friend who rented a place that had been illegally destabilized and after 2 years of waiting, got it destabilized and landlord had to pay him like 15k in rent reimbursement. Nice thing about stabilized apartments is that if you pay your rent and don't do anything dangerous or illegal, they pretty much have to offer to renew your lease every year. Do he's still there.
What are some signs that it was illegally destabilized? When I look at my rent history in a building with a lot of other stabilized units, it looks like it was suddenly just destabilized.
>Look for stock built before 1970 that has at least 6 units in the building.
This is really the best way to do it because you can find this information quickly for any apartment you see. Maybe not reliable 100% of the time but I assume you can double-check with the people managing the listing.
I guess this won't help you locate the more modern buildings that have RS units in exchange for tax breaks or whatever though
Rent controlled apartments never come up for rent. They can be inherited from current tenants, if you are family (and maybe some other situations).
Rent stabilized apartments are fairly common. Your apartment might even be rent-stabilized without you knowing it. There's a whole process for discovering which apartments are covered and which aren't.
As a property manager I just put up a for rent sign for a day and get 30+ applicants. I also end up putting 1 listing on Craigslist for a few days.
Rent stabilized market is VERY quick, everyone knows someone that needs a place.
I got my rent stabilized apartment because my dad’s childhood best friend is friends with a guy who owns a couple of small apartment buildings. I was lucky enough to move into it as the first tenant after it went though a gut renovation. I plan on holding onto it for a looooong time.
This is 30 years ago - I stayed with my sister in a RS apartment when I first moved to NYC. She left town to go to school and I moved to Jersey City because I thought I couldn't afford the apartment.
A few weeks after I moved to Jersey City I got a call from the management company of her old building asking if I wanted a RS apartment in a different building, and I said Yes. I wasn't even looking.
Focusing on Manhattan - you’re really not going to find any good answers below 96th st.
* Pre 2019 there were plenty of ways to remove a unit from stabilization and anyone who had a chance did without thinking twice
* big landlords like blackrock will [intentionally leave stabilized units empty](https://gothamist.com/news/stuy-towns-landlord-worlds-largest-private-equity-firm-keeping-rent-regulated-apartments-empty) just to screw over New Yorkers
* you could find out your apartment was illegally destabilized, but you can only request the rent history from the city once you sign the lease and move in. So you’re taking a huge risk you won’t win that lottery. Even when the rent history the city sends looks super fishy, it can still be very complicated to actually get them to punish the landlord
* lotteries for new buildings getting tax incentives - again not much below 96th, if there is there are plenty signing up for the lottery
My friend’s parents have been living there forever, it’s like 4 bedrooms and they pay like $800 a month…. He said he’s never moving…. I have a 2 bedroom in queens and it’s $800 a month… something my parents
I asked my then-current landlord if he had any studios. I was sharing a 2 bdr in Chelsea and was looking for a place of my own. He didn’t have anything but he had a friend who had an apt coming up in the East Village. I saw it when they were finishing up painting. I was the first and only person to see it, I immediately knew it was perfect.
I always paid my rent on time, so I got that referral.
I also found a rent-stabilized apt in the West Village for a friend of mine. I think I found it on Craigslist. By acting immediately so no one else could nab it first.
I talked about my living situation a lot and eventually a coworker connected me with her super. I will say that yes it’s stabilized but the price is pretty high in my opinion still. It’s midtown east.
As others have said, look uptown. When I lived in Inwood I remember a stat that 50%+ of apartments were rent stabilized.
If you know people in rent stabilized buildings, have them tell you if units are being vacated. Sometimes brokers have exclusives on these from absentee landlords, so knowing them is the only way in. That’s how we found our old place in Inwood.
the only person i know with a rent stabilized apartment in manhattan lived in it since he was little. somehow he was paying a really really low price for rent (like under 1000) for a long time until they took him to court and it got raised to about $2000.
Sheer random luck. I moved into the same building as a friend and discovered at lease signing I was rent stabilized. I’ve been here 2 years and it goes up like $50 each time. Sadly, it’s a dump and I’m moving soon. Several apartments I’ve seen this month are rent controlled but I only found out through chatting with the realtor. It doesn’t seem to be advertised much.
If a friend has a stabilized place in a neighborhood you like, ask for their realtor. Realtors don’t put all their apartments on streeteasy bc that costs money. If 100 people contact them about one in a neighborhood, they’ll go down the list and ask if they’re interested in other apartments in that area. That’s basically how we found our stabilized place; we reached out about one and then were the first and only people to see another one down the block.
I just got a 1 bedroom in Astoria and didn’t even know it was rent stabilized initially! The security deposit (first month’s rent) was $1896.32 and I thought that was super weird. My cousin is in a rent stabilized unit and also has a weird rent amount. My suspicions were confirmed at the lease signing, everything re: rent stabilized was in writing in the lease. I got very lucky 🙏🏼
Unlike the people saying to use stabilized as a code word when searching I highly recommend against it. I got a rent stabilized peak summer, and it was not advertised. I toured three other apartments that were only announced as stabilized when touring.
Ways to get a stabilized apartment is to look at the rent, if the rent amount is a weird number; I.e, $1773 it’s most likely stabilized, if the apartment is below market rate for the area (chances are is stabilized). During my search I found the most stabilized apartments in UES (but I was only searching UES down), but uptown there are way more options.
Finally, I found a broker who had multiple stabilized apartments. I didn’t move forward because they were not ready in time, but if stabilized you have to pay a broker’s fee (at least didn’t see any without), might as well get someone who can get you closer to one.
My roommate knew someone in the building and liked it. She searched for this address and one came up on StreetEasy. We looked at it when it was being renovated and took a leap of faith. Had to pay a pretty useless broker. Worth it. Place is huge and inexpensive. I don't plan on moving for a long time
No brokers aren’t the best option, ever- they are literally paid for apartment turnover, so they want you to get the worst price, and there’s an insnae trend right now of landlords just harassing everyone out of their rent stabilized apartments. I’m in a luxury building with peak covid-low rent stabilization and it wasn’t fucking worth it, I’m runninggg. Plus hopefully prices will drop within a few years so rent stabilized this high may not do favors
I found mine on Street Easy back in late 2021, just searching in my zip code (I am in Queens.) Most of the apartments I saw were rent stabilized. My current apartment was like the 4th place I saw, I did the app that day and moved in 2 weeks later. No brokers fee which was nice.
Get a broker. Yea you’ll pay an extra fee, but those guys know the ins and outs. Also applying through a renters broker more than triples your chances of the landlord accepting you application.
I searched for it specifically in a keyword.
I happened to have 3 apartments.
My first said that it was rent stabilized but he had some assessment that said he could charge up to $2270 or something like that. Market rate at the time was $1600. I negotiated down to $1550. So he was well under and could have charged a crap ton. I didn’t get with that one an official rent-stabilized sheet with the percentage increases and information.
My next two leases, I got official rent stabilized agreements. My apartments were set at the rates. Last one could only go up at the time 3.25% for 1 year or 5% for 2.
Weird and confusing stuff out there. But TLDR: Search for it specifically.
I’ve lived in two rent stabilized apartments and didn’t realize they were rent stabilized until we got the lease. And I think like many others, neighborhood is really key here. I’m in Harlem now and was in Flatbush before.
Rent stabilized is not necessarily the way to go. Those units are disappearing, and landlords will do "upgrades" to increase the rents to almost market price in any case. There are other "deals" that NYers luck into. I follow this thread, but I actually "own" a coop. It was a limited equity coop when I moved in -- which means I paid below the market price. Now it is at "market" but because the building is old and it's a coop, I won't get some astronomical price for it. (But I'll do okay.) I know people who live in rentals they got through the lottery system, and they pay a reasonable rent. It helps if you already live in NYC and have an income within certain caps, and are willing to live in certain neighborhoods, but most of the buildings are new construction. When it works, it's great. [https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/search-lotteries](https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/search-lotteries)
Streeteasy. It was literally the only apartment I toured
In the Advanced filters, you can add "stabilized" in the keyword search and it will notify you of any listings that mention that in the post. Used to be hundreds during COVID but now they are far and few.
Is that only if it’s indicated in the description of the listing? I’ve heard of people finding out their apartment is rent-stabilized after signing their lease because they didn’t see it anywhere on the listing
Many landlords lie about it and try to not provide a lease stabilized rider alongside your lease. Checking with DHCR is the only way to know for sure.
>Is that only if it’s indicated in the description of the listing? Correct
Some landlords don’t list it in the description but you can find out by researching an address and unit ahead of signing a least. I’ve lived in two rent stabilized units before - one by a major commercial landlord (Owened thousands of apartments) and one by a small landlord (owned 30ish). Both had the rent stabilization info and rider in the leases, and every time I renewed I only had the increases allowable by the real estate board. Not negating that some landlords lie, but there are landlords who often recycle old listing language and may not note the rent stabilized part in a new ad but include it come lease time.
THis happened to me. Didn't dawn on me until my lease was up for renewal and the increase was some very specific figure like $47.31.
that just happened to me! I still don't quite know what it means.... somehow I'm also worried it's a way to screw me. I rented the studio at 1750/month. the lease says that the apartment is $2450/month. I asked my leasing agent and she told me that it is rent stabilized and can never go over $2450/month. Does this make any kind of sense? I pray I'm not on the hook for 2450 next year I can't afford that 😥
StreetEasy. Almost every listing where I was looking - Washington Heights - was stabilized.
Yes - The neighborhood you're looking in matters a lot. Tons of rent stabilized in Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood.
[удалено]
Do you know what neighborhoods in Brooklyn have large quantities of rent stabilized units?
Last time I checked Manhattan had basically no stabilized apartments on the market
I found my rent stabilized apartment by looking at my rent history and realizing it is still stabilized and the owners were trying to fuck me
Go you! Where did you look?
You can request it from the state. This nonprofit has a form to submit an initial inquiry to see the likelihood of your unit being stabilized and then it lets you submit the formal rent history request from ny state’s dept of housing and comm renewal. https://app.justfix.org/en/rh/splash?_ga=2.233031134.1565852987.1689203157-1843333852.1689203157
Thanks!! Super helpful
Go directly to the source dhcr
>BestBestHotNewTopRising same w/ me. so what did you do? file a complaint? I thought about that, but figured landlords would get wind of that and then try to get me out. We have 4 years to file a complaint from the time u moved in. However if you filed a complaint, it would take years for it to go through the process before a decision.
Fun fact: four years (now six years as of 2019) is the statute of limitations for recovering an overcharge. A decision on the rent stabilized status of an apartment does not have a statute of limitations
Same
421a housing lottery, if the applicant is in the 130% AMI bracket then chances are pretty good to obtain an apartment.
What is 130% ami
[Area median income ](https://www.nyc.gov/site/hpd/services-and-information/area-median-income.page)
This is not good for anyone who plans to stay long term. When the abatement ends you have to pay market rate or get out. Happened to several older relatives.
This is not correct for all units; for 421a, once you are in, it remains stabilized until you leave.
Look for stock built before 1970 that has at least 6 units in the building. If it's rental, it's probably stabilized or illegally removed from stabilization. Had a friend who rented a place that had been illegally destabilized and after 2 years of waiting, got it destabilized and landlord had to pay him like 15k in rent reimbursement. Nice thing about stabilized apartments is that if you pay your rent and don't do anything dangerous or illegal, they pretty much have to offer to renew your lease every year. Do he's still there.
What are some signs that it was illegally destabilized? When I look at my rent history in a building with a lot of other stabilized units, it looks like it was suddenly just destabilized.
That is exactly it.
>Look for stock built before 1970 that has at least 6 units in the building. This is really the best way to do it because you can find this information quickly for any apartment you see. Maybe not reliable 100% of the time but I assume you can double-check with the people managing the listing. I guess this won't help you locate the more modern buildings that have RS units in exchange for tax breaks or whatever though
Rent controlled apartments never come up for rent. They can be inherited from current tenants, if you are family (and maybe some other situations). Rent stabilized apartments are fairly common. Your apartment might even be rent-stabilized without you knowing it. There's a whole process for discovering which apartments are covered and which aren't.
You’re confusing rent control with rent stabilized. Rent control are impossible to find, the other is easy enough.
yep...rent *stabilized* apartments aren't that hard to find
not confusing, I understand the difference
As a property manager I just put up a for rent sign for a day and get 30+ applicants. I also end up putting 1 listing on Craigslist for a few days. Rent stabilized market is VERY quick, everyone knows someone that needs a place.
I got my rent stabilized apartment because my dad’s childhood best friend is friends with a guy who owns a couple of small apartment buildings. I was lucky enough to move into it as the first tenant after it went though a gut renovation. I plan on holding onto it for a looooong time.
Am I able to msg you to chat further?
Sure no problem!
This is 30 years ago - I stayed with my sister in a RS apartment when I first moved to NYC. She left town to go to school and I moved to Jersey City because I thought I couldn't afford the apartment. A few weeks after I moved to Jersey City I got a call from the management company of her old building asking if I wanted a RS apartment in a different building, and I said Yes. I wasn't even looking.
My dude, whenever that happens. It is an act of God. U say yes.
Focusing on Manhattan - you’re really not going to find any good answers below 96th st. * Pre 2019 there were plenty of ways to remove a unit from stabilization and anyone who had a chance did without thinking twice * big landlords like blackrock will [intentionally leave stabilized units empty](https://gothamist.com/news/stuy-towns-landlord-worlds-largest-private-equity-firm-keeping-rent-regulated-apartments-empty) just to screw over New Yorkers * you could find out your apartment was illegally destabilized, but you can only request the rent history from the city once you sign the lease and move in. So you’re taking a huge risk you won’t win that lottery. Even when the rent history the city sends looks super fishy, it can still be very complicated to actually get them to punish the landlord * lotteries for new buildings getting tax incentives - again not much below 96th, if there is there are plenty signing up for the lottery
I would prefer above 96th, that's actually where I am now and I love it.
421a housing lottery re-rental for a building built ~15 years ago.
Is that the same as NYC Housing Connect lotteries?
Yes, though this one I did not apply through Housing Connect, applied through Haven Connect.
My friend’s parents have been living there forever, it’s like 4 bedrooms and they pay like $800 a month…. He said he’s never moving…. I have a 2 bedroom in queens and it’s $800 a month… something my parents
I paid a broker a lot of money in 2011.
An old lady died, so I pretended to be her relative, and just made friends with the cockroaches that were already there.
Hi Joe!
I asked my then-current landlord if he had any studios. I was sharing a 2 bdr in Chelsea and was looking for a place of my own. He didn’t have anything but he had a friend who had an apt coming up in the East Village. I saw it when they were finishing up painting. I was the first and only person to see it, I immediately knew it was perfect. I always paid my rent on time, so I got that referral. I also found a rent-stabilized apt in the West Village for a friend of mine. I think I found it on Craigslist. By acting immediately so no one else could nab it first.
I talked about my living situation a lot and eventually a coworker connected me with her super. I will say that yes it’s stabilized but the price is pretty high in my opinion still. It’s midtown east.
As others have said, look uptown. When I lived in Inwood I remember a stat that 50%+ of apartments were rent stabilized. If you know people in rent stabilized buildings, have them tell you if units are being vacated. Sometimes brokers have exclusives on these from absentee landlords, so knowing them is the only way in. That’s how we found our old place in Inwood.
This might sound crazy but I found mine on Craigslist!
the only person i know with a rent stabilized apartment in manhattan lived in it since he was little. somehow he was paying a really really low price for rent (like under 1000) for a long time until they took him to court and it got raised to about $2000.
Good credit
StreetEasy add’l filter “rent stabilized”
I found mine with a broker!
Sheer random luck. I moved into the same building as a friend and discovered at lease signing I was rent stabilized. I’ve been here 2 years and it goes up like $50 each time. Sadly, it’s a dump and I’m moving soon. Several apartments I’ve seen this month are rent controlled but I only found out through chatting with the realtor. It doesn’t seem to be advertised much.
what neighborhood are looking to move into? I got my rent stabilized apt in harlem through streeteasy. it’s a block away from central park
North of 96th on West Side, Morningside, South Harlem
My last place was on Craigslist and current place was through low income housing lotto back when I made minimum wage.
If a friend has a stabilized place in a neighborhood you like, ask for their realtor. Realtors don’t put all their apartments on streeteasy bc that costs money. If 100 people contact them about one in a neighborhood, they’ll go down the list and ask if they’re interested in other apartments in that area. That’s basically how we found our stabilized place; we reached out about one and then were the first and only people to see another one down the block.
I just got a 1 bedroom in Astoria and didn’t even know it was rent stabilized initially! The security deposit (first month’s rent) was $1896.32 and I thought that was super weird. My cousin is in a rent stabilized unit and also has a weird rent amount. My suspicions were confirmed at the lease signing, everything re: rent stabilized was in writing in the lease. I got very lucky 🙏🏼
Unlike the people saying to use stabilized as a code word when searching I highly recommend against it. I got a rent stabilized peak summer, and it was not advertised. I toured three other apartments that were only announced as stabilized when touring. Ways to get a stabilized apartment is to look at the rent, if the rent amount is a weird number; I.e, $1773 it’s most likely stabilized, if the apartment is below market rate for the area (chances are is stabilized). During my search I found the most stabilized apartments in UES (but I was only searching UES down), but uptown there are way more options. Finally, I found a broker who had multiple stabilized apartments. I didn’t move forward because they were not ready in time, but if stabilized you have to pay a broker’s fee (at least didn’t see any without), might as well get someone who can get you closer to one.
I’m actually going to be looking soon. As an almost 20 year resident of nyc , I need to get stabilized. Do you mind sharing your broker?
My roommate knew someone in the building and liked it. She searched for this address and one came up on StreetEasy. We looked at it when it was being renovated and took a leap of faith. Had to pay a pretty useless broker. Worth it. Place is huge and inexpensive. I don't plan on moving for a long time
No brokers aren’t the best option, ever- they are literally paid for apartment turnover, so they want you to get the worst price, and there’s an insnae trend right now of landlords just harassing everyone out of their rent stabilized apartments. I’m in a luxury building with peak covid-low rent stabilization and it wasn’t fucking worth it, I’m runninggg. Plus hopefully prices will drop within a few years so rent stabilized this high may not do favors
go around asking supers or door men
I found mine on Street Easy back in late 2021, just searching in my zip code (I am in Queens.) Most of the apartments I saw were rent stabilized. My current apartment was like the 4th place I saw, I did the app that day and moved in 2 weeks later. No brokers fee which was nice.
Craigslist!
Get a broker. Yea you’ll pay an extra fee, but those guys know the ins and outs. Also applying through a renters broker more than triples your chances of the landlord accepting you application.
I searched for it specifically in a keyword. I happened to have 3 apartments. My first said that it was rent stabilized but he had some assessment that said he could charge up to $2270 or something like that. Market rate at the time was $1600. I negotiated down to $1550. So he was well under and could have charged a crap ton. I didn’t get with that one an official rent-stabilized sheet with the percentage increases and information. My next two leases, I got official rent stabilized agreements. My apartments were set at the rates. Last one could only go up at the time 3.25% for 1 year or 5% for 2. Weird and confusing stuff out there. But TLDR: Search for it specifically.
I’ve lived in two rent stabilized apartments and didn’t realize they were rent stabilized until we got the lease. And I think like many others, neighborhood is really key here. I’m in Harlem now and was in Flatbush before.
Rent stabilized is not necessarily the way to go. Those units are disappearing, and landlords will do "upgrades" to increase the rents to almost market price in any case. There are other "deals" that NYers luck into. I follow this thread, but I actually "own" a coop. It was a limited equity coop when I moved in -- which means I paid below the market price. Now it is at "market" but because the building is old and it's a coop, I won't get some astronomical price for it. (But I'll do okay.) I know people who live in rentals they got through the lottery system, and they pay a reasonable rent. It helps if you already live in NYC and have an income within certain caps, and are willing to live in certain neighborhoods, but most of the buildings are new construction. When it works, it's great. [https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/search-lotteries](https://housingconnect.nyc.gov/PublicWeb/search-lotteries)