Rent stabilized vs rent controlled vs income-restricted

Rent stabilized vs rent controlled, in New York City, comes down to who can rent one. Anyone can rent a rent stabilized apartment, with no income test. The law limits how much its rent can go up each year. Rent controlled apartments are older and much rarer. They are kept mostly by tenants who have lived in the same apartment since before July 1, 1971, so you generally can't rent one new.

Income-restricted apartments are a third kind: the lower-rent apartments offered through housing lotteries and waitlists. To rent one, you must earn under an income limit, the most a household can earn and still qualify.

What is rent stabilization?

Rent stabilization is New York City's main rent law. It limits how much the rent can go up and gives you the right to renew your lease. The city's Rent Guidelines Board, which sets the yearly increase, says it covers about one million apartments.

When your lease ends, the owner must offer you a new one, and you choose a one-year or two-year lease, as New York City's housing department explains. For leases that start from October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, the board set the increase at 0% for both one-year and two-year leases. For leases that started from October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, the increase was 3% for one year and 4.5% for two.

Rent stabilization generally covers:

• buildings with six or more apartments built from February 1, 1947 through December 31, 1973;
• apartments in older buildings with six or more apartments, for tenants who moved in after June 30, 1971;
• newer buildings that get certain tax breaks, such as 421-a, usually only while the tax break lasts.

Since June 14, 2019, an apartment stays stabilized no matter how high its rent or the tenant's income gets. The exception is an apartment that is stabilized only because of a tax break: it can leave the system when the tax break ends.

What is rent control?

Rent control is the older of the two rent laws, and it covers far fewer apartments. A rent controlled apartment is generally in a building built before February 1, 1947, with a tenant who has lived there without a break since before July 1, 1971. Family members can sometimes take over the apartment when that tenant leaves or dies.

A rent controlled tenant doesn't sign renewal leases, because the law itself lets them stay. The owner can raise the rent each year by the lower of two amounts: 7.5%, or the average of the board's last five one-year increases. The rent rises this way until it reaches a ceiling the state sets for that apartment.

When a rent controlled tenant moves out, the apartment usually becomes rent stabilized if the building has six or more apartments.

What are income-restricted apartments?

An income-restricted apartment has a lower rent, and only households that earn under its income limit can rent it. In New York City, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) is the city's housing department. It sets both the income limit and the rent as a share of the area median income, the middle income in the area: half of households earn more and half earn less. HPD's chart shows the dollar amounts.

Most of these apartments are offered through the city's Housing Connect lottery, where applications are put in a random order. Mitchell-Lama buildings, lower-rent buildings for middle-income households built under a state program, work differently. Each building keeps its own waitlist, a line you join now for an apartment that comes free later, and checks your income against its limits. If you want to buy, Housing Development Fund Corporation (HDFC) co-ops are lower-priced apartments you buy as a share of a building that its residents own together.

How do the three compare?

Which one is a lottery apartment?

A lottery apartment is income-restricted: you get in by earning under its income limit and being picked in the lottery. Some lottery apartments are also rent stabilized, and the listing may not say. Ask the building's leasing office before you accept an offer.

Can one apartment be both?

Yes, one apartment can be both income-restricted and rent stabilized. HPD says that a rental building that gets the 421-a property tax break is often rent stabilized, and the rules depend on when its construction started.

How long the income-restricted apartments must stay lower-rent and stabilized depends on the building:

• Construction started from July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2015: at least 35 years.
• Buildings under the newer version of the program, called 421-a(16): 35 years after the building is finished. In buildings with 300 or more apartments in certain parts of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, it is 40 years.

In both, a tenant who lives there when that time ends can stay stabilized for as long as they live in the apartment.

If your apartment is stabilized because of 421-a, your lease must come with a rider, an extra page that says so and gives the approximate date the tax break ends. Read it before you sign.

How do you find each one?

• Rent stabilized: There is no central list of open stabilized apartments. Look through brokers and online listings, and ask before you sign whether the apartment is stabilized. To check an apartment you live in, ask Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), the state agency that runs the rent laws, through its Ask HCR website. The Rent Guidelines Board says it is the only way to know for sure.
• Rent controlled: You generally can't rent one new. Most become stabilized when the tenant leaves.
• Income-restricted: See open lotteries in New York City and our New York City page, and use the qualify check to see which income limits you fit.

To find a stabilized apartment, read our guide to rent stabilized apartments in New York City. To apply for an income-restricted one, read our guide to the New York City housing lottery.