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RESOURCES FOR TENANTS

The Cooper Square Committee is committed to providing tenants in New York City with information about their rights, regardless of whether they be rent stabilized, rent controlled, loft tenants or tenants in unregulated apartments.

The vast majority of rent regulated tenants, about 1 million households, are rent stabilized. Less than 50,000 are rent controlled. About 1 million other tenants are not covered by rent regulations. In general, if you moved into an apartment building with 6 or more apartments after 1973, you are rent stabilized. There are many exceptions to this, and you should contact a housing rights organization near you to find out. (Tenant.net is an excellent resource for tenants.)

Since 1997, when the New York State legislature severely weakened the Rent Stabilization Law, many apartments are being deregulated upon vacancy, especially in Manhattan. This is even happening in historically low and moderate income communities like the Lower East Side. Landlords use many tactics, legal and illegal, to deregulate the housing stock.

The following is a series of fact sheets that apply mainly to rent stabilized and rent controlled tenants. Find out how to sublet your apartment legally so that you donÕt forfeit your lease. Find out how you can preserve the succession rights of your domestic partner. Learn how to check the rent history of your apartment and challenge illegal rent increases. Informed tenants can fight back and preserve affordable housing. Informed tenants are empowered tenants. Organized tenants have even more power to fight back.