NEW YORK CITY — With Albany legislators still at an impasse over the laws regulating the city's roughly 1 million rent stabilized apartments, the annual vote on increases for new leases has been postponed until next Monday.
The Rent Guidelines Board was concerned about casting its vote Wednesday when there was still uncertainty about the status of the rent laws.
The rent laws expired on June 15 with an extension given while negotiations are ongoing — but the extension ends on Tuesday.
“We thought it prudent to postpone briefly in the hope that issues in Albany will have been clarified,” Rachel Godsil, the chairwoman of the board, told the New York Times.
The board's nine members will be voting on a proposal to raise one-year leases by 0 to 2 percent and two-year leases by 0.5 to 3.5 percent.
It was expected that this year's rent increases could be the smallest ever since the ranges they are considering are lower than last year's historically low increases of 1 percent increase for one-year leases and 2.75 for two-year leases.
This is also the first year all nine members serving on the board are appointees of Mayor Bill De Blasio, who campaigned for rent freezes and pushed unsuccessfully for such a freeze last year.
The board's vote will take place on June 29 at Cooper Union's Great Hall.
The new rates are for leases renewed on or after Oct. 1.
