Statement by State Senator Daniel Squadron on the Rent Guidelines Board preliminary vote:

For immediate release
May 3, 2011

"The preliminary vote by the Rent Guidelines Board to increase rents by up to nine percent is nearly unprecedented and will make a tough time tougher for millions of tenants.  It's another reminder that we need to renew and improve our rent laws now.  We must end vacancy decontrol, fight fraud and abuse in so-called '1/40th' individual apartment increases and close loopholes that allow landlords to evict entire buildings for 'personal use.'  We can’t risk tenant protections by letting them linger until the frenzied end of the legislation session, when they are on the verge of expiration. It is time to extend and improve the rent laws now, to avoid the devastation and chaos that would result if the laws expired."

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