Published on 3/14/2026
A rent-stabilized apartment in New York City requires a specific kind of lease. The DHCR rider and the eight required disclosures all need to be in the document before anyone signs — and none of them appear in a standard residential lease template.
Definitions: HPD (Department of Housing Preservation & Development), DOHMH (Department of Health & Mental Hygiene), DHCR (Division of Housing & Community Renewal)
What Rent Stabilization Actually Means
Rent stabilization is a form of housing regulation that applies to a large share of New York City's rental units, particularly in buildings with six or more apartments built before 1974. Under rent stabilization, landlords can only raise the rent by percentages set each year by the Rent Guidelines Board, and tenants generally have the right to renew their lease.
That last part is important. A rent-stabilized lease isn't just a one-time agreement. It creates an ongoing landlord-tenant relationship with legal continuity built into it. When a lease term ends, the landlord is required to offer a renewal under regulated terms. The lease itself has to reflect that.
