How to Request Your Apartment’s Rent History
Get your NYC apartment’s rent history (RAI) from HCR, then check each year against the rent guidelines with a worked example, status notes and red flags.
9 min read · Updated
Ask New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) for your apartment's rent history online, by phone at 833-499-0343, by email or at a borough rent office; it is mailed to the apartment. The history lists the rent your landlord registered each April 1, so you can check, year by year, whether the unit is registered as rent stabilized and whether the rent rose faster than the guidelines allow. This guide focuses on that check, with a worked example.
At a glance
- Official name
- RAI
- Registration Apartment Information
- Who can get it
- Tenant or owner
- Others must file a FOIL request
- Delivered
- By mail to the apartment
- Or printed at an office visit
- Not stabilized?
- Nothing arrives
- Per the City’s rent stabilization page
Step 1: Request it
- 1
Online
Use HCR's "Submit your Inquiry" form at portal.hcr.ny.gov. The City says to choose "Apartment rent history" or "Am I rent stabilized?" as the reason, and to enter your name, an email (or "N/A") and the full building address with apartment number and ZIP. - 2
By phone or email
Call 833-499-0343 and listen for the rent history option; you need the full address with apartment number but not your name. Or email [email protected] with the full address including the apartment number. - 3
In person
Visit a borough or district rent office, by appointment only, with photo ID and proof of tenancy (a lease, rent receipt or utility bill). HCR prints the history and gives it to you there. - 4
By mail (Form REC-1)
Send Form REC-1, “Request for Records Access,” with proof of identity and tenancy to the Records Access Officer, NYS DHCR Office of Rent Administration, 92-31 Union Hall Street, 6th floor, Jamaica, NY 11433.
Rent records are confidential: the tenant, the owner of record or their authorized representative can get them as of right, and anyone else must file a Freedom of Information Law request. For a longer comparison of the request methods, see how to request your rent history from NY HCR.
Step 2: Know what the document is
HCR's guide says the RAI shows "the rent and registration status of the apartment on April 1st as reported annually by the building owner." It is the owner's own filing, year by year, not a ruling by HCR that the rent is legal. Two timing details trip people up:
- Each line is a snapshot on April 1. A lease that starts on October 1 first shows up on the next April 1 registration.
- Guidelines follow the lease start date. The increase allowed depends on when the lease began and whether it is a one- or two-year lease, not on the registration year.
| Item | What it tells you | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Registration year | The rent and status as of April 1 that year | Every year should be there, with no gaps |
| Registration status | How the owner registered the unit that year | “Permanently Exempt” (PE) means it was registered as deregulated |
| Legal regulated rent | The maximum rent the owner says is legal | Rises should match the guideline for each lease, plus any lawful IAI or MCI |
| Preferential (actual) rent | A lower rent actually charged, if any | HCR says the guideline applies to it as well as to the legal rent |
| Lease term | One- or two-year lease | Two-year leases use the two-year rate |
| Increase notes | Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs) and Major Capital Improvements (MCIs) | IAIs need a filing with HCR and, if the unit is occupied, your written consent; MCIs need an HCR order |
Step 3: The guideline rates to check against
The Rent Guidelines Board sets the maximum increase for stabilized leases starting each October 1. These are the New York City rates HCR prints on page 2 of its RAI guide:
| Leases starting | 1-year lease | 2-year lease |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2020 – Sep 30, 2021 | 0% | 0% first year, 1% second year |
| Oct 1, 2021 – Sep 30, 2022 | 0% for 6 months, then 1.5% | 2.5% |
| Oct 1, 2022 – Sep 30, 2023 | 3.25% | 5.00% |
| Oct 1, 2023 – Sep 30, 2024 | 3.00% | 2.75% first year, 3.20% second year |
| Oct 1, 2024 – Sep 30, 2025 | 2.75% | 5.25% |
| Oct 1, 2025 – Sep 30, 2026 | 3.00% | 4.50% |
| Oct 1, 2026 – Sep 30, 2027 | 0% | 0% |
Since the 2019 rent law (HSTPA) there is no separate vacancy increase. HCR's Fact Sheet #26 says that, under amendments effective November 8, 2023, the one- or two-year guideline applies to both vacancy and renewal leases, and no more than one guideline adjustment can be added in a calendar year for a vacancy lease. So a large jump when a new tenant moved in after June 14, 2019 needs an explanation, such as a documented IAI. For older years, see the full RGB history.
Step 4: Check it line by line (worked example)
Here is a made-up history for a one-bedroom, to show the arithmetic. The tenant signed a one-year lease starting October 1, 2023 at a legal rent of $2,000, renewed for one year from October 1, 2024, then for two years from October 1, 2025.
| April 1 registration | Lease in effect | Most it could be | Registered | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1-year from Oct 1, 2023 | $2,000.00 | $2,000.00 | Starting point |
| 2025 | 1-year from Oct 1, 2024 (+2.75%) | $2,055.00 | $2,055.00 | Matches |
| 2026 | 2-year from Oct 1, 2025 (+4.50%) | $2,147.48 | $2,240.00 | $92.52 a month above the guideline: ask why |
The 2026 line is the one to question. Unless the owner has a lawful reason, such as an IAI or MCI increase that appears on the history, the registered rent should not exceed $2,055 × 1.045 = $2,147.48. Over the 24-month lease that gap would be about $2,220. That is not proof of an overcharge, because the history may be incomplete, but it is exactly what to raise with the owner or HCR.
Do the same math for your own lease with the rent-stabilized renewal calculator or, for a preferential rent, the preferential rent calculator.
Step 5: Read the gaps and status changes
| What you see | What it may mean | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Nothing arrives in the mail | The City says this happens when the apartment is not rent stabilized; it can also mean it was never registered | Check the lease and building; call 311 and ask for the Tenant Helpline |
| Missing years | The owner did not register that year. HPD notes HCR registrations are due by July 31 | Note them for any overcharge complaint |
| Status changes to PE (permanently exempt) | Registered as deregulated. Before June 14, 2019 a vacant unit whose legal rent lawfully reached the threshold could be deregulated; the 2019 law repealed that | Check the year of the change and the rent at that time |
| Your current lease is not shown | The latest April 1 registration may predate it | Request it again after the next registration cycle |
Step 6: If the rent looks wrong
- Collect your leases, renewal offers, rent receipts and the rent history.
- Estimate the legal rent with the rent overcharge estimator.
- Call 311 and ask for the Tenant Helpline; the City's Tenant Support Unit says it can help determine stabilization status and check for overcharges.
- File an overcharge complaint with HCR (Form RA-89). See how to file a rent overcharge complaint.
- Talk to a tenant lawyer if the amounts are large or the unit was deregulated; see Right to Counsel if you are facing an eviction case.
Not sure the apartment is covered in the first place? Start with is my apartment rent stabilized? and the rent-stabilized checker.
Fact-checker re-verified 2026-10-12. Request channels: NYC PEU rent stabilization page (portal.hcr.ny.gov/app/ask with reason "Apartment rent history" or "Am I rent stabilized?"; name, email or N/A, full address with apt and ZIP; [email protected]; 833-499-0343 menu option, no name needed; only for your own address and mailed only to you; nothing mailed if not stabilized; 311 Tenant Helpline / Tenant Support Unit helps read histories). In-person by appointment with photo ID and proof of tenancy (lease, rent receipt or utility bill), printed at the office: HCR Most Common Rent Regulation Issues page. REC-1 address, as-of-right access for tenant/owner/representative, FOIL for others, 25 cents/page paper copies: HCR Records Access. No official source states a fee or "free" for tenant rent history requests, so the writer's "free" claim was removed. RAI wording, April 1 rents, IAI notification plus tenant written consent, MCI order, PE status, NYC guideline table 10/1/20-9/30/27 and footnotes 2, 3 and 5: HCR RAI guide (07/2026), re-read line by line. Preferential rent rule after June 14 2019, vacancy and renewal guideline rule (Nov 8 2023 amendments), six-year lookback: FS-26 (07/2026). Treble damages for willful overcharge: FS-1 (01/2024). HCR registration due July 31 and $500 per unit per month delinquency fine: HPD Register Your Property. Worked-example figures are hypothetical and computed by hand.
Sources
- Guide to Understanding Registration Apartment Information (RAI), 07/2026 · NYS Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Rent Stabilization: Requesting Rent History · NYC Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Most Common Rent Regulation Issues for Tenants · NYS Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Records Access · NYS Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Fact Sheet #1: Rent Stabilization and Rent Control (FS-01, 01/2024) · NYS Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Fact Sheet #26: Guide to Rent Increases for Rent Stabilized Apartments (07/2026) · NYS Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR) (accessed October 12, 2026)
- Register Your Property · NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (accessed October 12, 2026)
General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change; confirm with the agency or a professional before you act.