Finding 200,000 Apartments in Registered Rent Stabilized Buildings and
Buildings Receiving Tax Incentives for Rental Buildings that Should Be Registered.

Background:
The official estimate of the number of rent stabilized apartments in New York City is approximatedly 1.0 million*. That number has remained the same for at least the last 20 years. At the same time, there are now and have only been about 800,000 apartments registered as stabilized. The difference is 200,000.
Why is there a difference? Because the official estimate includes apartments that are registered as stabilized as well as those that should be registered. Among those that 'should be registered' are 1) all the apartments in a building that is not registered but should be, and 2) some, or many, of the apartments in a registered building but where not all the apartments are registered. In the first category are thousands of buildings receiving 421a or J51 tax incentives for rental units. In the second category are apartments that are not longer registered because of, for example, un-audited claims of exemption status filed by building owners for individual apartments.
Why aren't they registered? The primary reasons is that over the years, starting in 1984, the laws, rules and regulations regarding registration have changed to lessen penalties for not registering. For another, the registration data comes solely from the building owners. And until recently when the State established a "Tenant Protection Unit", there has been ineffective monitoring and enforcement of the regulations at both the State and City levels.
Purpose:
This site is intended to help renter households who are entitled to a lease for a rent stabilized apartment find out that they are entitled to such a lease even though their ability to do so has been obscured. The site allows users to check on whether the building they are in is registered with the State or it should be registered even if it is not. The site integrates the State registration data with data on buildings receiving 421a or J51 tax incentives for rental apartments. For registered buildings, the site provides not only the number of apartments registered as stabilized but also the number of residential units on the tax lot, whether the lot is receiving tax incentives or not.
Method:
On the Home page, enter an address. Over the web, the address will be checked against all known addresses in New York City. For a valid address, the site will return a unique building and tax lot code, and other data including the NY City Council and State Assembly District codes for the area. Next the program will access the NY State records of registered buildings. For a registered building, the program will return 1) the State Registration ID for the building and the number of apartments registered as stabilized, 2) the number of buildings on the tax lot, 3) the number of residential units on the lot, and 4) the year the building was built. For any builing on a lot receiving 421a or J51 tax exemptions, the program will return the name of the owner of the lot, the number of residential units on the lot, the number of buildings on the lot, the total dollar amount of taxes assessed, and the total dollar amount of dollars exempt from taxes.
Sources and Notes:
* The source of the estimate of rent stabilized apartments is the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (HVS). As explained in the appendix to the most recent HVS report, the estimate is based on 1) a complete listing of the administrative records on rent stabilized apartments supplied by the State and 2) data from other sources, including City J51 and 421a tax records. Click here to see the appendix to the 2011 report.