Achieving rent regulatory reform.

Beginning on that fateful day in December when Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno made his now-famous speech at our annual breakfast meeting, the Rent Stabilization Association (RSA) led a united real estate industry in the fight to change a failed policy of rent regulation.

Working with the Real Estate Board of New York, Community Housing Improvement Program, Small Property Owners of New York, Bronx Realty Advisory Board, Black and Latino Property Owners, the New York Building Congress and other industry groups, we forced New York's legislators, business leaders and residents to reassess the impact of over 50 years of regulation. With the signing of the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997, we achieved the most significant and sweeping reforms in the recent history of rent law negotiations.

For the first time, property owners will see mandatory deposit of disputed rent in court, and for the first time, succession rights are limited. The new vacancy allowance will help property owners achieve market rents on their units. In addition to the vacancy allowance, rents of less than $300 will receive a $100 supplement on vacancy, and rents of $300 to $500 will get at least $100 or the vacancy allowance, whichever is greater.

The luxury decontrol income limit has been lowered by $75,000, from $250,000 to $175,000. The Legislature has guaranteed future housing development cannot be regulated without voluntary agreement by the owner. A four-year statute of limitation is in place for contesting rent, and demolition of buildings to allow for new construction has been simplified. The overlapping jurisdiction of the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and the courts on service reductions has been clarified so that any DHCR-ordered rent decrease will be offset by any court-ordered abatements.

I am proud of our leadership role in the battle to bring about this reform. RSA commissioned studies that proved our arguments. held press conferences to highlight our issues, mounted a public relations effort to alert the media to our needs, and conducted an advertising campaign to correct misinformation about the effects a phase-out of regulations would have on the vast majority of New Yorkers.

The New York Times, Daily News, Newsday and the New York Post wrote numerous editorials recognizing the negative impact of rent regulation on New York City's housing stock and on the overall economy. All called for a phase-out of regulation. The Wall Street Journal and Crain's New York Business, too, called for an end to rent regulation. The Economist, Barron's and Newsweek all suggested the rent laws were a failure and should be changed. The Manhattan Institute, the Citizens Budget Committee and the New York City Housing Partnership also advised change.

Anyone who thought their way beyond the numbing mindset of three generations of rent control came to the same conclusion. Unfortunately, in their coverage of events, the media - fueled by tenant agitators and elected officials who blindly support regulations - played to emotions rather than reason. They exaggerated unfounded fears and anxieties, and smothered any full-fledged debate on the issues.

When you consider the power of a subsidy that has existed for over half a century, you begin to realize how much we really did gain. The united actions of the industry have moved us closer to a fair market than we have come in over two decades. We changed the nature of the debate over the rent laws. Before, no one really questioned rent control and rent stabilization. Now, more than half of New York's residents agree that the rent laws are in need of major reforms.

But the process of change is long and grinding. It began in 1993, when we brought a measure of relief to property owners through luxury decontrol, and it must continue until New York has a market system of housing. Undoubtedly, tenant organizers will try to force legislation to counter the reforms we've achieved. They will try to convert our gains into political losses for those who supported our cause.

The real estate industry must remain united in order to protect and advance the reforms we won this year. We must continue to lobby, to educate the public and to support those who helped us gain significant reform. RSA will continue to lead efforts on other fronts, such as resolving lead paint abatement and securing a top-to-bottom review of DHCR and the Housing Courts, but our goal, and the goal of a cohesive industry, will be reached only when New York has a totally free and fair market.

(Joseph Strasburg is president of the Rent Stabilization Association, the largest industry trade group representing owners and agents responsible for over one million units of rental housing.)