NYC 2026 rent freeze: does it apply to your lease?

Yes, if your apartment is rent stabilized and your new lease starts between October 1, 2026 and September 30, 2027: the Rent Guidelines Board’s Order #58 sets the increase at 0% for both one-year and two-year leases. It does not apply to market-rate apartments, and it does not change a lease that started before October 1, 2026.

The deciding fact is the start date of the new lease, not the date you sign it or the date the Board voted. Use the checker below, then read on for the details and edge cases.

What Order #58 says

The Rent Guidelines Board adopted its 2026-27 guidelines on June 25, 2026. Order #58 sets the maximum guideline increase for rent-stabilized apartments at 0% for a one-year lease and 0% for a two-year lease, for leases commencing on or after October 1, 2026 and through September 30, 2027. Lofts covered by the Loft Law get the same 0% on both terms.

A few rules in the order matter for real leases:

• Odd lease lengths. Any lease up to and including one year counts as a one-year lease. Anything over one year and up to two years counts as a two-year lease.
• 421-a and 423 buildings. The order says the same adjustments apply to stabilized units in buildings receiving the 421-a partial tax exemption or in Section 423 redevelopment projects. See 421-a apartments and rent stabilization.
• Overcharges are credited. If an owner collects more than the order allows, the order says the excess is credited against the next month’s rent.
• Vacancy leases. The 2019 rent law ended the separate vacancy increase. The RGB’s summary chart notes that the one- and two-year guidelines also apply to vacant apartments re-rented during the order’s term, and only one guideline adjustment can be added in a guideline year.

Which order applies: examples by lease start date

What the freeze does not change

Market-rate apartments

RGB orders cover only rent-stabilized units. The RGB says an owner of an unregulated apartment may charge what the market will bear. Some market-rate tenants have protection under the Good Cause Eviction law, where an increase above the local rent standard (inflation plus 5%, capped at 10%) can be challenged. See Good Cause Eviction explained and the Good Cause rent increase checker.

Other legal increases

Stabilized rents can also go up for reasons outside the guideline that the Rent Stabilization Code allows, such as a Major Capital Improvement (MCI) approved by HCR or an Individual Apartment Improvement (IAI). A 0% guideline does not cancel those. Check them with the MCI calculator and the IAI calculator.

Preferential rents

If you pay a preferential rent below the legal rent, the RGB says renewal increases are calculated by applying the guideline to the preferential rent. With a 0% guideline, your preferential rent stays the same at renewal. The preferential rent calculator walks through it.

Leases already running

If your two-year lease started in, say, March 2026 under Order #57, your rent stays at the Order #57 level until that lease ends. The freeze helps only at the next renewal, and only if that renewal starts by September 30, 2027.

Your renewal timeline

1. 150 to 90 days before your lease ends

   Owner sends the renewal offer

   It must offer a one- or two-year term at the lawful rent.

2. Within 60 days of the offer

   You choose and return it

   Pick one year or two years and sign. Keep a copy.

3. Offer later than 90 days

   You may choose the start date

   The RGB says that if the offer comes late, you can start the new lease on the original date or 90 days after the offer. Note that the start date decides the order.

4. Lease start date

   The order in effect that day sets the guideline

   Oct 1, 2026 to Sep 30, 2027 means Order #58 (0%).

Has the Board frozen rents before?

One-year leases were frozen at 0% under Order #47 (2015-16), Order #48 (2016-17) and Order #52 (2020-21). Under Order #53 (2021-22), one-year leases had 0% for the first six months and 1.5% for the rest. Two-year leases had never been fully frozen until Order #58: Order #52 set 0% for the first year and 1% for the second. The full list is in RGB increases by year.

If your landlord ignores the freeze

1. Compare the renewal rent with your current lease rent. Under Order #58 the guideline adds nothing.
2. Ask the owner in writing for a corrected renewal lease and keep a copy of everything.
3. If the owner refuses, file a complaint with HCR’s Office of Rent Administration, and see how to file a rent overcharge complaint.
4. Not sure the unit is stabilized? Request your rent history from HCR first.