Rent Control and What the Evidence Shows

What Is Rent Control

Rent control is a law that limits how much a landlord can charge for a home or how much the rent can rise each year. Most U.S. rules today are rent stabilization: they let rent go up by a set percentage each year instead of freezing it at a fixed amount. Three states cap increases statewide, and a landlord trade group counts 32 states that forbid their cities from passing rent limits at all.

Rent limits keep covered tenants in their homes and push some landlords to take units off the rental market. Both effects show up in the strongest studies, which is why the argument over rent control is an argument over which effect matters more.

If Your Rent Is Rising

Whether a rent increase is legal depends on your state, your city, and the age and type of your building. Start with the situation closest to yours.

Find your situation

Rules differ by state and city, and many buildings are exempt. Confirm with your state attorney general's office or a local tenant group before you act.

My landlord raised my rent and I do not know if it is legal

1. Find your state rule first. California, Oregon, and Washington cap increases statewide for most older buildings. Some cities elsewhere, such as New York City and St. Paul, have their own limits. Most other states have no limit, and many ban cities from creating one.
2. Check whether your building is covered. Newer buildings are usually exempt: less than 15 years old in California and Oregon, and 12 years old or less in Washington. Many single-family homes and owner-occupied small buildings are also exempt.
3. Compare the increase with the cap. The table below shows the most a $2,000 rent can rise under each rule.
4. Find help in your state through HUD's tenant rights page, which lists state and local resources.

Coverage rules come from California Civil Code 1947.12, Oregon ORS 90.323, and Washington EHB 1217 (2025).

I live in a New York City rent-stabilized apartment

1. For a one- or two-year renewal lease that starts from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027, the board-approved increase is 0%.
2. Check the lease start date. Leases that started before Oct. 1, 2026, fall under the prior year's order.
3. Read the Rent Guidelines Board FAQs, which explain how to check whether your rent is legal and where to get legal help.

Rent Guidelines Board Order #58, June 25, 2026. A landlord lawsuit against the freeze was still pending in late September 2026.

I rent in California

1. Most units at least 15 years old are covered by the statewide cap of 5% plus inflation, up to 10% a year.
2. Some single-family homes and condos are exempt, but only if the owner is not a corporation or real estate trust and the lease says so.
3. Your city may have its own stricter ordinance. The California Attorney General's housing page and the courts' self-help center explain tenant rights.

California Civil Code 1947.12, which is set to expire January 1, 2030.

I rent in Washington State

1. Rent cannot rise at all in the first 12 months of a tenancy.
2. After that, it cannot rise more than 7% plus inflation, or 10%, whichever is lower, in any 12 months. Units whose certificate of occupancy is 12 years old or less are exempt.
3. Your landlord must give 90 days' written notice of an increase. The Washington Attorney General takes complaints.

Washington EHB 1217, signed May 7, 2025. The cap expires July 1, 2040.

Rent Control vs. Rent Stabilization vs. Rent Caps

The phrase “rent control” covers three different kinds of law, and they have different effects. Old-style controls set a fixed rent. Stabilization allows yearly increases. Statewide caps only block large spikes.

New York City shows the difference. Its rent-controlled apartments, generally in buildings built before 1947 with a tenant who moved in before July 1971, now number about 16,400, according to the Rent Guidelines Board. When one of those tenants leaves, the unit usually becomes rent-stabilized. Stabilized units outnumber controlled ones by about 61 to 1, derived from the board’s figures.

How Much Can a Landlord Raise Rent?

In most of the country, there is no legal limit on how much a landlord can raise the rent when a lease ends. Where a limit exists, it ranges from a freeze to 10% a year. The table shows the most a $2,000 monthly rent could rise in one year under each rule, calculated from each rule’s percentage.

The most a $2,000 monthly rent can rise in one year, by rule

Category	Value
New York City stabilized (2026-27)	$0
St. Paul, Minnesota	$60
Oregon (2026)	$190
California (maximum)	$200
Washington (maximum)	$200

Source: Rent Guidelines Board Order #58; St. Paul Rent Stabilization Ordinance; Oregon Office of Economic Analysis; California Civil Code 1947.12; Washington EHB 1217. Dollar amounts calculated from each rule on a $2,000 rent; California and Washington show the 10% ceiling.

Most other states set no limit at all. Each rule also has exemptions: unregulated apartments in New York City, St. Paul buildings first occupied in 2005 or later, units less than 15 years old in Oregon and California (and some single-family homes in California), and units 12 years old or less in Washington (and some owner-occupied homes).

Notice rules matter too. Washington and Oregon require 90 days’ written notice of an increase, and California requires written notice under its Civil Code.

A Rent Freeze for a Million Apartments

New York’s 2026 freeze shows how a rent board works, and how contested its choices are. Every year the city’s nine-member Rent Guidelines Board, which acts under the state’s Rent Stabilization Law of 1969, sets the allowed increase for stabilized leases (Order #58).

In May 2026 the board took a preliminary vote on a range of 0% to 2% for one-year leases and 0% to 4% for two-year leases (NY1). Six of its members had been appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned on a rent freeze. On the morning of the final vote, owner member Christina Smyth resigned, writing that “this year’s RGB order was decided last year on the campaign trail.”

That night, June 25, 2026, tenants packed El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem as the board voted 7-1 to freeze rents on one- and two-year leases, the first time in its history it froze both (ABC7). About 2.4 million New Yorkers live in stabilized apartments.

In July, a group of landlords sued, arguing that the board “ran a sham process with a predetermined outcome.” On September 24, a Manhattan judge said he would likely not rule before the freeze takes effect on October 1 (The City Reporter).

What Rent Control Studies Found

The best studies agree that rent limits help the tenants they cover, and that landlords respond by taking units off the rental market. A 2025 review of U.S. research by the D.C. Policy Center found that 25 of 31 studies it cited reported significant rent reductions for covered units, alongside losses in rental supply and quality (D.C. Policy Center).

The table lists what each major study measured. Each row comes from the study’s own summary.

The San Francisco study is the one most economists cite, because it had a natural comparison. In 1994, voters extended the city’s rent control to small multifamily buildings, but only those built before 1980. Otherwise similar buildings got different rules based on their construction date. Economist Rebecca Diamond and her coauthors tracked what happened to the people and the buildings on each side of that line (Brookings).

Landlords removed units by converting them to condominiums, rebuilding, or paying tenants to leave. Covered buildings were 8 percentage points more likely to become condos than similar buildings without rent control. The authors found that rent control “offered large benefits to covered tenants,” and that the losses from reduced supply “could be mitigated” if protection against rent increases came from government social insurance instead of a mandate on landlords (NBER).

Where Rent Control Is Legal

Most states forbid rent control, and the rest mostly leave it to a handful of cities. The National Apartment Association, a landlord trade group that opposes rent control in all forms, counts 33 states that ban local rent control, 9 with no law on it either way, and 2 states, Oregon and Washington, that cap rents statewide while barring cities from going further. It counts 6 more states plus Washington, D.C., with rent limits at the state or local level (National Apartment Association). Rent control bans are one form of state preemption, which our preemption explainer also tracks for local wages, sick leave and gun laws.

Two statutes show how the bans work:

• Illinois has barred cities since August 1, 1997. Under the Rent Control Preemption Act, a local government “shall not enact, maintain, or enforce an ordinance or resolution that would have the effect of controlling the amount of rent charged” (50 ILCS 825/5). Chicago cannot pass rent control unless the legislature repeals that law.
• Massachusetts voters ended rent control statewide in 1994, when Question 9 passed with 51.3% (Ballotpedia). Cambridge’s strict rent control ended as a result (Brookings).

Even where rent control is legal, states limit it. California’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act of 1995 bars cities from applying rent control to single-family homes and to housing completed after February 1, 1995 (Ballotpedia).

Voters have kept those limits when asked. California’s Proposition 33 would have repealed Costa-Hawkins and let cities decide. Similar measures in 2018 and 2020 were also defeated (Ballotpedia).

60%

40%

• No (60%)
• Yes (40%)

Source: Ballotpedia, certified results for California Proposition 33 (2024): 5,979,880 yes, 8,975,542 no. Shares derived from the vote counts.

Rent Limits Since 1969

Modern rent limits have moved in waves: city laws in the 1960s and 1970s, statewide bans in the 1990s, and statewide caps since 2019.

1. 1969 New York stabilization The Rent Stabilization Law sets up the system the city's board still runs.
2. 1994 Two ballot votes San Francisco expands rent control; Massachusetts voters end it statewide.
3. 1995 Costa-Hawkins California bars rent control on single-family homes and newer housing.
4. 1997 Illinois ban Illinois forbids every local government from limiting rent.
5. 2019 Statewide caps begin Oregon and California pass the first statewide caps on yearly increases.
6. 2021 St. Paul vote Voters pass a 3% cap covering nearly every unit, new buildings included.
7. 2025 Washington cap Washington caps increases at 7% plus inflation, up to 10%.
8. 2026 New York freeze The board freezes rent on one- and two-year stabilized leases.

Key moments for U.S. rent limits: 1969: New York stabilization (The Rent Stabilization Law sets up the system the city's board still runs.). 1994: Two ballot votes (San Francisco expands rent control; Massachusetts voters end it statewide.). 1995: Costa-Hawkins (California bars rent control on single-family homes and newer housing.). 1997: Illinois ban (Illinois forbids every local government from limiting rent.). 2019: Statewide caps begin (Oregon and California pass the first statewide caps on yearly increases.). 2021: St. Paul vote (Voters pass a 3% cap covering nearly every unit, new buildings included.). 2025: Washington cap (Washington caps increases at 7% plus inflation, up to 10%.). 2026: New York freeze (The board freezes rent on one- and two-year stabilized leases.).

1969: New York passed the Rent Stabilization Law, which gives the Rent Guidelines Board its authority to set yearly increases for stabilized apartments (Order #58).

1994: San Francisco voters extended rent control to small buildings built before 1980, the change the Diamond study measured. That November, Massachusetts voters ended rent control statewide.

1995: California’s Costa-Hawkins Act limited local rent control to older buildings and stopped cities from regulating what a landlord charges a new tenant.

1997: Illinois banned local rent control through the Rent Control Preemption Act (50 ILCS 825).

2019: Oregon passed SB 608, the first statewide cap, limiting yearly increases to 7% plus inflation on units at least 15 years old (Oregon Legislature). In 2023, SB 611 added a 10% ceiling (Oregon Legislature). California passed its own statewide cap, AB 1482, the same year.

2021: St. Paul voters passed a 3% annual cap with no exemption for new construction. The city council amended it in September 2022 to exempt new buildings, and again in May 2025 to exempt any building first occupied in 2005 or later (City of Saint Paul; FOX 9).

2025: Washington enacted EHB 1217 on May 7, capping yearly increases at 7% plus inflation, or 10%, and barring any increase in a tenancy’s first 12 months (Washington Legislature).

2026: New York’s board froze rents on one- and two-year stabilized leases starting October 1.

Where the Rent Control Fights Stand in 2026

Where Rent Control Laws and Fights Stand

As of September 25, 2026

• California statewide cap Law, expires 2030

  Caps increases at 5% plus inflation, up to 10%, until January 1, 2030, unless the legislature extends it. (source)

• Oregon statewide cap Law

  The published maximum is 9.5% for 2026, down from 10% in 2025. (source)

• Washington statewide cap (EHB 1217) Law, expires 2040

  Signed May 7, 2025, and in effect that day. It also caps manufactured home lot increases at 5%. (source)

• St. Paul rent stabilization Law, narrowed

  A May 2025 amendment, in effect June 13, 2025, exempts buildings first occupied in 2005 or later. (source)

• Massachusetts rent control initiative Blocked by a court, off the 2026 ballot

  The Supreme Judicial Court ruled June 24, 2026, that the measure could not go on the ballot because it exempted religious facilities. (source)

• New York City rent freeze (Order #58) In litigation, in effect Oct. 1

  On September 24, 2026, a judge did not commit to ruling on the landlords’ suit before the freeze reached leases starting October 1, and said he would decide before the end of the year. (source)

Source: Rent Guidelines Board; The City Reporter; California Legislative Information; Oregon Office of Economic Analysis; Washington Legislature; City of Saint Paul; Ballotpedia

The Massachusetts ruling turned on how the measure was written, not on rent control itself. The initiative would have capped yearly increases at inflation or 5%, whichever was lower. Justice Frank Gaziano wrote that by exempting facilities operated solely for religious purposes, the petition “impermissibly makes religion ‘a factor in [the petition’s] application,’” which the state constitution bars in citizen initiatives. The campaign, Keep Massachusetts Home, said it would keep going (Ballotpedia).

The Debate Over Rent Control

Both sides now cite the same studies, and they weigh the results differently.

The case against rent control rests on supply. Economists broadly agree with it. In a 2012 poll of the University of Chicago’s panel of leading economists, 33 of the 38 who answered disagreed that rent limits in New York and San Francisco had improved “the amount and quality of broadly affordable rental housing,” and 1 agreed, counted from the published responses (Clark Center). MIT economist David Autor explained his vote: “Rent control discourages supply of rental units. Incumbent renters benefit from capped prices. New renters face reduced rental options.” The National Apartment Association argues that rent limits “worsen shortages, cause existing buildings to deteriorate and disproportionately benefit higher-income households,” and it favors housing vouchers and more construction instead (National Apartment Association).

The case for rent limits rests on stability and on design. Supporters point to the San Francisco finding that covered tenants were far more likely to stay in their homes. The D.C. Policy Center review found the longer-tenure effect was particularly strong among older households and racial minorities. They argue that modern caps, which exempt new buildings and allow inflation-based increases, avoid the problems studied in older, stricter systems. Diamond and her coauthors concluded that the protection had large value to covered tenants, and that its supply costs could be reduced by delivering it as government insurance.

The two sides narrow on newer designs. The D.C. Policy Center review found that looser stabilization laws, like New Jersey’s, showed weaker links to declining housing quality than strict controls did. St. Paul’s experience cuts the other way: its original law covered new buildings, and the city council twice rolled that back.

What Rent Control Studies Leave Out

Most of the research studies strict or older laws in a few expensive cities. Keep these limits in mind:

• Statewide caps are new. Oregon’s began in 2019 and Washington’s in 2025. They allow increases up to 10% and exempt new buildings, so findings from San Francisco or Cambridge may not apply to them.
• Studies measure different things. The St. Paul paper measured property values, not rents or whether tenants stayed. The Cambridge paper measured what happened when controls ended, not when they began.
• Displacement is hard to count. A tenant who stays because of a rent limit is easy to see. A renter who never found an apartment because a unit became a condo is not.
• Alternatives have costs too. Housing vouchers and new construction, the alternatives landlord groups favor, depend on public funding and years of building. Our Section 8 explainer shows the gap: only 1 in 4 households that need rental help get it.
• Local context drives results. A rent limit in a city that also restricts new construction behaves differently from one in a city that builds freely.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does rent control work?

A rent control or stabilization law sets how much a landlord can raise the rent, usually a percentage each year for an ongoing tenant. Many laws exempt newer buildings and let rent reset when a tenant leaves.

Is rent control banned in Illinois?

Yes. Since 1997, the Rent Control Preemption Act has barred every Illinois city and county from passing an ordinance that limits rent on private housing.

Is rent control a good idea?

It depends on what you are measuring. The strongest studies find that it keeps covered tenants in their homes and also leads landlords to remove rental units, which can raise rents for everyone else. In a 2012 survey, most of the leading economists who answered disagreed that rent limits in New York and San Francisco had improved the supply of affordable housing.

Does rent control still exist?

Yes. New York City has about 16,400 rent-controlled apartments and about 1 million stabilized ones, and California, Oregon, and Washington cap yearly increases statewide.

What You Can Do

1. Know the rule where you live. Check your state’s attorney general or housing agency, and use HUD’s tenant rights page to find local help.
2. Keep your lease and every rent notice. If an increase breaks a cap, the written notice is your evidence.
3. Join or contact a local tenant group. Tenant groups know which buildings are covered and often help renters answer an illegal increase.
4. Show up when your state or city debates rent rules. Ask what a proposal exempts, whether it allows inflation increases, and what it does to build more housing. Then write your state lawmakers. Find your representatives.