NY’s rent rules lapse

ALBANY— City rent regulations expired at midnight as state legislators failed to reach an agreement on extending the protections— leaving 2million tenants at risk.

Lawmakers left the Capitol Monday night even before the deadline, passing on a chance to reconcile two competing versions of a bill that would have extended rent protections amid fears that some landlords would try to hike rents or evict tenants.

“I have 70,000 of these units in my district,” State Sen. Gustavo Rivera ( DBronx) told The Post. “People are going to wake up tomorrow morning not knowing what could happen to them. It’s a disgrace.”

Gov. Cuomo vowed to go after landlords who exploit the law’s expiration. The law also lapsed 2011, but a fouryear extension passed a few days later.

The governor said that he would call the Legislature back if a deal is not reached by the scheduled end of its session on Wednesday, and added that any deal would be retroactive.

Earlier in the day, the Democraticcontrolled Assembly voted 7831 to extend the rentstabilization law for two days to allow for further negotiations. But the Senate refused to even vote on that bill.

The regulations cover 1 million rentcontrolled and rentstabilized units in the city.

The longstanding rules dictate rent increases and eviction policies and are seen as a key protection for affordable housing.

Mayor de Blasio had warned earlier on Monday that all state lawmakers would face the wrath of voters if there is no pact.

“Everyone in Albany is certainly going to be held accountable by the people of this city,” he told WCBS radio.

De Blasio, who has been predicting a “nightmare” scenario for days if the regulations lapsed, kept up the doomsday drumbeat, noting that with the protections expired, any landlord could theoretically kick a tenant out when a lease expires, though it’s unlikely.

“This is a very troubling moment, where over 2 million New Yorkers are wondering literally as the clock clicks down to midnight, what’s going to happen to them,” the mayor said.

He noted there has been an 18 percent increase in calls to 311 from jittery tenants. The Mayor’s Office, as well as the office of Public Advocate Letitia James, set up separate hot lines for concerned tenants.