Rent-stabilized working in the lease

If you sign an agreement and the lease is on a standard Rent Stabilized Agreement or a Rent Stabilized Rider is attached then you should be safe. You can always contact DHCR and check up on that unit.

As for the renewal increases - It is impossible for the Landlord to predict the Rent Guidelines. The new figures come out each year and go in place as of every September.

You should get renewals 150 days before your lease expires. As a rent stabilized lease, you will always be allowed to choose either a one-year or a two-year renewal. The increases for your renewal will be provided on the renewal with two different precentage increases; one for a one-year and one for a two-year.

To make sure they are correct, again you can either call DHCR or just search on the internet "Rent Stabilized Rent Guidelines" and I am sure you will find it.

Currently for this year the increases for renewals are 4.25% for a one-year and 7.25% for a two-year.

thanks for all this info!
the ap I found is by a private owner that offers rent-stabilized as a perk. Would this private ap. still be listed with DHCR?

If the building has six or more units it must be registered. If you are renting an apartment from him with less than 6 units I'm not sure why he'd make it rent stabilized.

thnks so much for your time!

#2's advice is all good. I'd like to add a few things. First, DHCR is extremely hostile to rent regulations, so you can check basic factual things with them, but don't rely on their advice or evaluation of your situation. Second, rent-control is not the same as rent-stabilization, so keep the terms separate when you gather information. Third, both rent regulations are mandated by the State where certain criteria exist; if you mean that your landlord has voluntarily emulated rent stabilization in choosing increase percentages, you should know that you would be getting what is known legally as a "preferential rent", and courts have determined that it exists at the ongoing whim of the landlord.

Lastly (for now), whether an apartment is rent-regulated by mandate is not as simple as how many units are in the building. The following tool will show if the BUILDING has rent-regulated units -- but many things make a particular unit market-rate (removal from regulations, creation of the unit from commercial or common space after regs went into effect, unit ownership in a condo or coop by an individual owner):
http://tenant.net/DHCR/dhcraddr/rent.html