Landlord Atlas

Emergency Tenant Protection Act (opt-in rent stabilization) (New York)

Verified August 13, 2026 All New York topics →

Outside New York City, rent stabilization is opt-in: a city, town, or village that documents a rental vacancy rate below 5 percent can declare a housing emergency and adopt the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, and since 2019 any municipality in the state may do so.

Cited to Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 (McKinney's Unconsol. Laws § 8623) and 3 more sources · Verified August 13, 2026

Forty municipalities currently participate — mostly in Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester counties, plus the City of Kingston — with annual rent-increase limits set by county rent guidelines boards and administered by the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal. A separate 2024 law, Good Cause Eviction, is likewise opt-in outside New York City, and 19 localities have adopted it so far.

Current published figures

Figure Value Applies to Source
Nassau County — one-year / two-year lease increases 1.5% / 2.5% Leases commencing October 1, 2026 – September 30, 2027 Official source
Rockland County — one-year / two-year lease increases 5% / 6% Leases commencing October 1, 2026 – September 30, 2027 Official source
Westchester County — one-year / two-year lease increases 3.5% / 4.5% Leases commencing October 1, 2026 – September 30, 2027 Official source

These figures change on a published cycle; each row states the window it applies to and links the source that published it. Confirm the current figure at the source before acting on it.

What is in force

In force today as an opt-in framework. The Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 lets a municipality that documents a rental vacancy rate below 5% declare a housing emergency and adopt rent stabilization; the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act removed the old geographic restriction, so any municipality in the state may now adopt it. Forty municipalities currently participate: 16 in Nassau County, 2 in Rockland, 21 in Westchester, and the City of Kingston in Ulster County — the one post-2019 upstate adoption still in effect, upheld by the New York Court of Appeals in June 2025.

The rent increase limit

In participating municipalities, county rent guidelines boards (and Kingston's own board) set annual one- and two-year lease increase limits for October-through-September guideline years. For leases commencing October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027: Nassau 1.5%/2.5%, Rockland 5%/6%, Westchester 3.5%/4.5%; Kingston's rates for that year were not yet set as of the state housing agency's July 2026 publication.

What housing is covered

Generally buildings of six or more units built before January 1, 1974 in a municipality that has declared an emergency and adopted the act; a municipality may narrow coverage (some cover only larger buildings). The state Division of Housing and Community Renewal administers registration, overcharge, lease, and services enforcement, charging each municipality $20 per regulated unit per year, recoverable from owners.

What happens on vacancy

Stabilized units stay stabilized on turnover at board-set increases, under the same state administration as New York City's stabilized stock.

Eviction and termination rules

Stabilized tenants in participating municipalities have statutory renewal and eviction protections. Separately, New York's Good Cause Eviction law is opt-in outside New York City: 19 localities had adopted it as of the state's May 2026 notice, including Albany, Beacon, Binghamton, Hudson, Ithaca, Kingston, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, New Rochelle, and White Plains, some with locally adjusted thresholds.

Registration and filings

Owners of stabilized units register with the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which enforces the system in participating municipalities.

Other requirements

Three municipalities adopted the act after 2019 and then reversed or lost it: Newburgh (declared void in 2024), Nyack (opted out in 2024), and Poughkeepsie (declared void in 2024). Kingston's adoption survived court challenge, and its guidelines board once set a negative adjustment for its initial period.

Notes and caveats

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Emergency Tenant Protection Act (opt-in rent stabilization) (New York) (verified August 13, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/new-york/etpa-rent-stabilization/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified).

Citations

This page records local law. Statewide rules — deposits, notice periods, late fees, entry, evictions — live on the New York hub, and the state-level position on local rent regulation appears there with its own citations and verification date.