Property Management Glossary
New York City property management comes with its own language — rent stabilization, HPD, DHCR, IAI, cap rate, NOI, and dozens of other terms that owners and tenants run into constantly. This glossary breaks them down in plain English, with the local context that actually matters in NYC. Browse the terms below, and reach out any time if you'd like to talk through what they mean for your building.
421-a Tax Benefit
A NYC property tax exemption for new residential construction that, in exchange, usually places apartments under rent stabilization for the exemption period.
Cap Rate
The annual return a rental property produces relative to its price, before financing, expressed as a percentage.
Certificate of Occupancy (C of O)
A city-issued document confirming a building is legally approved for a specific use and number of units, and is safe to occupy.
CityFHEPS
A NYC rental subsidy that helps eligible low-income households and families leaving shelter pay their rent directly to the landlord.
DHCR (NYS Homes and Community Renewal)
New York State's housing agency that administers and enforces rent regulation, including rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments.
Escrow
Money or documents held by a neutral third party until agreed-upon conditions are met.
FHEPS (Family Homelessness & Eviction Prevention Supplement)
A New York State rental supplement that helps families with children avoid eviction or leave the shelter system, paid in part directly to the landlord.
Gross Rent Multiplier (GRM)
A quick valuation ratio equal to a property's price divided by its annual gross rental income.
Guarantor
A person or company who legally agrees to pay a tenant's rent and lease obligations if the tenant fails to.
HAP Contract (Housing Assistance Payment)
The contract between a landlord and a housing agency that sets the subsidy portion of a voucher tenant's rent.
HASA (HIV/AIDS Services Administration)
A NYC rental-assistance program for households living with HIV/AIDS, run through HRA.
HAVP (Housing Access Voucher Program)
A New York State rental voucher program that helps eligible households — including people at risk of homelessness — afford permanent housing.
Holdover Proceeding
An eviction case in NYC housing court based on something other than unpaid rent — such as an expired lease, lease violation, or a tenant staying past their term.
HPD (NYC Housing Preservation & Development)
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development — the agency that enforces the housing code, issues violations, and manages annual property registration.
HQS (Housing Quality Standards)
The physical condition and safety standards a rental unit must pass to receive Section 8 or other voucher payments.
HSTPA (Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019)
The 2019 New York State law that overhauled rent stabilization, ending vacancy deregulation and tightening owners' ability to raise rents.
Individual Apartment Improvement (IAI)
A permanent, in-unit renovation to a rent-stabilized apartment that can justify a limited, DHCR-regulated rent increase.
J-51 Tax Abatement
A NYC property tax break for owners who renovate residential buildings, which usually requires the units to become rent stabilized in exchange.
Lead-Based Paint (Local Law 1 of 2004)
NYC's law presuming lead-based paint exists in older buildings with young children, requiring annual inquiry, inspection, and lead-safe remediation.
Legal Regulated Rent
The official, DHCR-registered rent ceiling for a rent-stabilized apartment — the maximum an owner may lawfully charge before any preferential discount.
Major Capital Improvement (MCI)
A building-wide capital upgrade in a rent-stabilized NYC building that, once approved by DHCR, allows a landlord to raise regulated rents by a limited, phased amount.
Net Operating Income (NOI)
A property's total income minus its operating expenses, before mortgage payments and income taxes.
NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority)
The public agency that runs NYC public housing and administers the city's largest Section 8 voucher program.
Preferential Rent
A rent charged to a rent-stabilized tenant that is lower than the apartment's legal regulated rent.
Rent Control
A small, rare NYC program that caps rent for long-term tenants in pre-1947 apartments — not the same as rent stabilization.
Rent Guidelines Board (RGB)
The NYC board that votes each year on how much rent-stabilized rents can increase on lease renewals.
Rent Stabilization
A NYC program that caps how much rent can rise each year and gives tenants the right to renew their lease.
RFTA (Request for Tenancy Approval)
The form a landlord and voucher tenant file to start the approval process on a Section 8 unit.
Section 8 / Housing Choice Voucher (HCV)
A federal rental subsidy that pays part of a tenant's rent directly to the landlord, administered locally by NYCHA.
Security Deposit
Money a tenant pays a landlord at move-in to cover unpaid rent or damage beyond normal wear and tear.
Source of Income Discrimination
Refusing to rent to a tenant because of how they pay — including Section 8 or other rental assistance — which is illegal in NYC.
Use & Occupancy
The money owed for occupying a unit without a current lease — a substitute for rent when no valid lease governs the tenancy.
Vacancy Deregulation
A now-eliminated rule that once let landlords remove high-rent apartments from rent stabilization when a tenant moved out.
Vacancy Increase
The extra rent increase a landlord could once charge on a rent-stabilized unit when a tenant moved out — eliminated by HSTPA in 2019.
Warranty of Habitability
A legal guarantee that every residential rental in New York must be safe, sanitary, and fit to live in.
Window Guard Requirements
A NYC law requiring owners to install window guards in apartments where children 10 and under live, regardless of rent status.
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