Local Law 86: the rent-stabilization notice in your lobby

Roughly a million New York City apartments are rent-stabilized, and a long-running problem is that many of the people living in them do not know it. Local Law 86 of 2025, in effect since January 26, 2026, attacks that directly: buildings containing stabilized units now have to say so where tenants can see it.

What the law requires

Any multiple dwelling with one or more rent-stabilized units must post a notice in a common area of the building, in English and Spanish, stating that the building contains units subject to the Rent Stabilization Law and explaining how to find out whether a given unit is one of them: by contacting the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the state agency that keeps the registration records. Leases signed after the effective date must also address whether the unit is stabilized.

The notice does not tell you your own unit's status. It tells you the question is worth asking, which for many tenants is the missing first step.

Why the status matters

A rent-stabilized tenant has rights a market tenant does not: limits on annual rent increases set each year by the Rent Guidelines Board, the right to a renewal lease, and stronger protection against eviction. Landlords have at times had reasons to be quiet about stabilization status, because a tenant who does not know they are stabilized will not contest an improper increase or a non-renewal. The notice requirement narrows that information gap at the cost of a piece of paper in the lobby.

How to check your own unit

Request your apartment's rent history from DHCR. It is free, it shows the registered rent and stabilization status going back years, and it is the primary document for spotting an improper increase. You can request it online through DHCR or by phone. If the history shows your unit registered as stabilized and your lease says otherwise, that discrepancy is worth professional advice; overcharge claims have real money attached.

Enforcement and the record

The posting requirement is enforced like other Housing Maintenance Code notice requirements: HPD can write violations against buildings that fail to post. Those violations appear in the public data this site indexes, filed under the section of the code the notice requirement lives in. As enforcement ramps up, the record will show which owners complied with a transparency law and which needed a violation to get there.

If you are an owner, the compliance step is small: post the required notice in the common area in both languages, and make sure new leases address stabilization status. If you are a tenant in a building with any chance of stabilized units, the lobby notice is your cue, and the DHCR rent history is your answer. This guide is general information, not legal advice.