THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH!

Albany tenants are burdened by increasing rents, all while dealing with poor maintenance and unresponsive management. 35% of Albany renters are rent burdened, meaning they pay more than a third of their income to rent alone. It's time for change- it's time Albany tenants take back control!

Big Update

The City of Albany has started the vacancy study! Scroll to learn more about next steps for tenants.

ALBANY RENTERS NEED REAL PROTECTIONS, NOW.

HERE'S WHAT WE CAN WIN

The Emergency Tenant Protection Act is a New York State law that allows any municipality (city, town, village, etc.) to opt-in to rent stabilization. This would create a Rent Guidelines Board that would determine the maximum change in rent for the next year. By opting-in to ETPA, eligible tenants will also have Good Cause Eviction protections, meaning tenants will be protected from retaliatory or discriminatory evictions and be entitled to renew a lease.

ELIGIBLITY

You are eligible if your building...

Was built before 1974

Has 6 or more units

IT'S TIME FOR ALBANY TO JOIN THE WAVE OF RENT CONTROL

41 municipalities across New York State has already opted-in to ETPA- most recently including Kingston and Newburgh in upstate. Now, it is Albany's time to

According to UTA collected data, 44% of tenants in 2023 didn't have an active lease. By opting into ETPA, every eligible tenant would have the right to decide if they wanted a one-year or two-year lease. When you don't have a lease, your stability isn't protected.

At any moment, your landlord can give you an eviction notice, or increase your rent to something they know you can't afford. Holdover evictions have increased nearly 50% between 2022 and 2023, representing nearly 30% of eviction filings.

But if a tenant has ETPA, they have Good Cause Eviction protections, the right to a lease, and power over how much their rent will be increased in the foreseeable future.

Now that we have the funding for the vacancy study, we need to makes sure ETPA eligible tenants know about their upcoming rights! When other cities began conducting their vacancy studies, landlords used illegal and unjust tactics to take advantage of tenants- forcing early lease signings, creating false vacancies with unfair evictions, etc. If tenants know their rights, we can fight back. This is also an amazing time to form Tenant Unions to collectively negotiate a better lease for tenants. We have power in numbers!

We also need to put continual pressure on the city so the vacancy study gets done! Visit our "Get Involved" page to learn how you can help prepare tenants, including yourself, and build tenant power across Albany!

If the City conducts a study and finds a vacancy rate of below 5%, the next step is for the City's Common Council to declare a 'housing emergency'. There will be at least one public hearing, at which we need tenants to show up and speak out to ensure we secure the opt-in. At that moment, all eligible tenants’ rents will be frozen.

Landlords may attempt to frighten tenants into agreeing to a rent increase. This is illegal. No changes in rent or lease terms shall take effect during this interim period. That means there can be no reduction in services already provided. Additionally, all eligible tenants will have Good Cause Eviction protections.

Once the emergency is declared, the Council will begin the process of selecting members for the Rent Guidelines Board.

The RGB is the entity that will determine any changes in rent moving forward for eligible properties. It is composed of 9 people (2 tenant representatives, 2 landlord representatives, and 5 community members). It is important we get representatives on the RGB who understand the issues tenants are facing, because we know at least two will be in support of high rent increases.

Once members are appointed, the board will schedule public hearings to hear testimony from tenants and landlords, and then vote on any rent adjustments, if deemed necessary.

The RGB has many powers. Importantly, it will begin by determining a ‘lookback period’ that will allow for one-time Fair Market Rent Appeals, to which all future rent adjustments will be applied. This will be on the basis of any notable average rent increases since a previous date that was decided by the RGB.

The RGB will determine any annual changes in rent for the next one- and two-years. Any increase larger than what has been decided by the RGB would be considered an illegal overcharge.

Great, we opted-in and created a pro-tenant Rent Guidelines Board- but there's still more to do! To ensure that you get the most out of ETPA, you need to understand the Fair Market Rent Appeal process, which can be complicated and confusing.

The Rent Guidelines Board will create a Fair Market Rent Guideline, which will include the rent adjustments for the first year of opting-in and a lookback period for how far back your lease could be adjusted.

When the city opts-in, the current rent for each eligible apartment will be the benchmark for what is adjusted by the RGB. Tenants in these apartments will have the right to challenge this by filing a Fair Market Rent Appeal.

For example, let's say the RGB determines a 10% increase adjustment, and a 2 year lookback period. Now, let's say your rent increased 12% in the past two years. If you file a Fair Market Rent Appeal, you can challenge the excess 2% and get your money back. Your benchmark rent that will be adjusted by the RGB will be lower than your current rent because it will not include the excess 2% increases. If your rent did not increase more than 10% in those two years, your current rent will remain the benchmark that will be adjusted each year by the RGB.

Filing a Fair Market Rent Appeal is a complicated process, and you will only be able to file within 90 days of your landlord completing a Rent Registration form. You'll receive a notice of when that 90 -day period begins by certified mail, so keep an eye out for that! This is very important because once the 90-day period passes, you will never be able to file a Fair Market Rent Appeal again and get a reimbursement or lower benchmark rent.

If you have any questions or need help regarding the Fair Market Rent Appeal process, please reach out to United Tenants of Albany at 518-703-6066.

In order to opt-in to ETPA, the city must conduct a 'vacancy study' of eligible buildings to determine if there is a 'housing emergency.' This is defined as having less than 5% of eligible units vacant. Importantly, if 'substantial renovations' have been conducted on those properties since 1974, they are no longer eligible. This makes it difficult for us to know exactly how many properties would qualify under ETPA.

UTA estimates that approximately 391 properties in the city are eligible, representative of more than 4,400 units.

In October 2023, our volunteers knocked on over 1,000 doors to get money allocated for the vacancy study in the city's budget- and won!

Our First Win!

Our Roadmap to Win

Where are we now?
We have started to conduct the study! The City of Albany mailed out the vacancy survey on March 27th to landlords. Now, we must make sure tenants are prepared to turn out to the Common Council Public Hearing to ensure we opt in.

No! Right now, there are no legal protections stopping landlords from large rent increases. The law only states what the appropriate timeframe is to inform tenants of an increase larger than $50 (or 5% of rent, whichever is lower). If the landlord informs the tenant of the increase legally, that increase is valid- whether it is $50 or $200!
Unfortunately, no! In July 2021, Albany made history by passing a local Good Cause Eviction law. However, in March 2023, it was struck down by the highest New York State courts- siding with landlords and real estate over tenants!

The fight for Good Cause Eviction continues statewide. You can find out more and how to get involved here.

While we push for these protections statewide, opting-in to ETPA will bring Good Cause Eviction protections to roughly 12,000 Albany tenants.
Yes. If you are interested in working to make sure the City of Albany opts in, get in touch with UTA at the Get Involved tab.

If you are an eligible tenant, make sure you are talking to your neighbors about the upcoming possibilities. It would also be very helpful for you to keep in contact with your Common Council Member about the progress of the study. They need to hear from you to know they have your support. It is also helpful to attend Common Council public comment sessions, so that City officials are seeing and feeling public pressure to conduct the study.

UTA is canvassing eligible properties every two weeks on Saturday from 1-4. This is a great way to keep the public informed and collect contact information of eligible tenants.
The pre- 1974 requirement is just based on New York City's first passage of their rent stabilization laws. That, and the 6 or more unit requirement, are unnecessary and unhelpful for many tenants. There is a push to amend the statewide law to expand eligibility. To learn more and get involved with the push for expansion, please contact United Tenants of Albany.

Frequently Asked Questions