RGB proposes 2% to 4% hikes.

The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) has proposed rent increases of 2 percent for one-year leases and 4 percent for two-year leases beginning in October. The RGB must still hold public hearings on the proposals, which can still be modified up or down.

The vacancy allowance proposal is 5 percent. The low rent supplement has been changed to $15 for rents of $400 or less, however, it can only be charged if the resulting rent is $415 or less, including the guidelines increase.

'They didn't want someone paying $399 to end up with a bigger increase than someone paying $401," said Doug Hillstrom, executive director of the RGB, who will be speaking at the NYU Housing Conference on Wednesday, May 14th.

Loft-dwelling tenants would receive the same increase as those in stabilized apartments, including the low-rent supplement, but a vacancy increase is not proposed. Hotels would get no increase at all, except for rooming houses, where the proposal is for a 2 percent increase.

"It's very disappointing and we hope that the Board will reconsider when it comes out with its final numbers," said R. Ronnie Haber, president of the Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP), who also owns and manages units in Queens and Washington Heights. "The owners can't keep buildings running with such a low increase because the vendors don't give us 2 percent increases - they raise our costs regularly and we can't keep up."

David T. Diamond, president of Rosenberg Diamond, which owns thousands of apartments in The Bronx, said the proposal is an "insult."

"They've got to wake up," he said. "The water costs have gone up. Everything is going up. Painting prices have gone up, building supplies have gone up. It's harder to collect the rent and there is no relief in Housing Court."

Diamond said his company still has 1,000 units paying less than $400, and 50 percent of those have rents below $300. "These are not studios but big apartments," he said.

On the low-rent supplement, Diamond wondered, "How much more convoluted can they make it? They are making it impossible to calculate and if you do it wrong, the tenant files a rent overcharge, and if it doesn't come out right you're dead."

He said his partner, Robert C. Rosenberg, has always wanted a minimum rent.

Public hearings at which owners may testify will be held at One Police Plaza on Monday, June 16th from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. for the rent stabilized proposal, while a hotel hearing will take place on Thursday, June 19th from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will be no testimony at the time of the final vote on June 23rd at 5 p.m. Those owners that want to testify should call the RGB at [phone] to sign up.