Click on "read more" below for the explanation and how you can use DHCR's Form RA 90 to protect yourself.

Why? Because:

As you know, the Rent Guidelines Board voted that for leases starting from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009, increases will be

• 4.5% for a 1-year lease

• 8.5% for a 2-year lease

EXCEPT THAT where there has been no "vacancy lease" for 6 years or longer -- that is, where the tenant has lived in that rent stabilized apartment for 6 years or more -- and the rent is under $1000, the landlord is entitled to a larger increase of $45 for a 1-year lease and $85 for a 2-year lease.

There is a legal question about whether the term "vacancy lease" can even apply to apartments while they were in Mitchell-Lama since "vacancy lease" is a term of art referring to rent stabilization.

If your building left Mitchell-Lama and entered rent stabilization less than 6 years ago, no one in your building has lived in a rent stabilized apartment for 6 years.

The Real Rent Reform Campaign and the P.I.E. Campaign will be challenging the applicability of the "6 year" clause to buildings that weren't even in rent stabilization 6 years ago.

BUT: You do have to make sure to set the process of lease renewal in motion. (If you don't file any response, you could lose your apartment!). So Michael McKee of Tenants PAC suggests that you print out a copy of DHCR's form RA 90, which you can find at http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/ora/forms/pdf/ra90.pdf .