How the legal-rent audit works — the orders, the steps and the findings
Each lease in a stabilized unit's history is checked against the Rent Guidelines Board order that governed it, in order, from the base date. The guideline compounds on the rent the previous step produced, preferential rents follow the 2019 rules, and every gap becomes a finding with its law.
One lease at a time
The first lease you record is the starting point — the rent before it is not on record here, and the audit says so. Each lease after it is checked against the order in force on the day it began: a renewal may rise by that order's guideline for its term, applied to the legal rent at the end of the lease before it. A stepped guideline (part of the term at one rate, the rest at another) compounds — the second step is applied to the rent the first step produced.
Where the recorded rent is higher than the law explains, the difference is a finding with the monthly amount. Where it is lower, that is not a finding: a legal rent below the ceiling is lawful.
The orders the audit applies
| Order | Leases starting | One-year lease | Two-year lease |
|---|---|---|---|
| #58 | October 1, 2026 – September 30, 2027 | 0% | 0% |
| #57 | October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2026 | 3% | 4.5% |
| #56 | October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025 | 2.75% | 5.25% |
| #55 | October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024 | 3% | 2.75% for 12 months, then 3.2% |
| #54 | October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023 | 3.25% | 5% |
| #53 | October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022 | 0% for 6 months, then 1.5% | 2.5% |
| #52 | October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021 | 0% | 0% for 12 months, then 1% |
| #51 | October 1, 2019 – September 30, 2020 | 1.5% | 2.5% |
| #50 | October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2019 | 1.5% | 2.5% |
| #49 | October 1, 2017 – September 30, 2018 | 1.25% | 2% |
| #48 | October 1, 2016 – September 30, 2017 | 0% | 2% |
| #47 | October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016 | 0% | 2% |
| #46 | October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015 | 1% | 2.75% |
| #45 | October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2014 | 4% | 7.75% |
| #44 | October 1, 2012 – September 30, 2013 | 2% or $20, whichever is greater | 4% or $40, whichever is greater |
From June 14, 2019 there is no vacancy allowance: a vacancy lease may rise only by the renewal guideline. Before that date a statutory vacancy allowance applied, which Seayora does not compute — the step says so rather than inventing one.
Preferential rents
A tenant who paid a preferential rent on or after June 14, 2019 keeps it for the tenancy, and increases apply to what they pay. On a vacancy the rent may return to the legal rent only if the legal rent was stated in every lease since the preference began — so each lease records whether it stated the legal rent, and an unknown answer is reported as unknown rather than assumed.
Findings
| Severity | What it means |
|---|---|
| Act now | Act now — a rent the law does not explain, a year with no registration, a renewal window that has closed. |
| Fix | Fix — a record that is missing something the audit needs, or a rider not recorded as provided. |
| Note | For information — a fact worth knowing that changes nothing yet. |
The exposure estimate
Where the rent charged was above the lawful rent, Seayora estimates what was collected above it since the base date: every full month of each lease counts as one payment, a part month is prorated, and the estimate assumes the base-date rent was lawful. It is before interest and before treble damages, and the worksheet says so. An owner who refunds an overcharge before DHCR rules can show it was not willful.
The worksheet
Issue the legal-rent worksheet from a unit for a PDF of the audit as it stands — every lease, the order and the increase it was allowed, and every finding. It is filed in Documents. It is the audit, not a DHCR document.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the audit say my rent is more than the law explains?
Because no order, improvement or rule on record accounts for the increase. Often the explanation is a record that is missing — an apartment improvement, an MCI, a lease that was not entered. Record what explains it and the audit runs again.
Does Seayora round increases up?
No. Each allowed rent is rounded down to the cent, so the ceiling is never overstated.
Is the exposure figure what I owe?
No — it is an estimate from the records here, before interest and before treble damages. Only DHCR or a court determines an overcharge.
Related guides
- NYC rent stabilization — the legal rent, audited step by step
- Apartment improvements (IAI) and major capital improvements (MCI)
- DHCR registration, renewal offers and the riders every lease needs
Related features and guides
- NYC rent stabilization — the legal rent, audited step by step — Documentation. Seayora keeps each rent-stabilized unit's rent history, works its legal regulated rent out lease by lease from the Rent Guidelines Board orders and the law, tracks DHCR registration and renewals, and flags what does not add up — with the citation beside every figure. It never files anything with DHCR.
- Apartment improvements (IAI) and major capital improvements (MCI) — Documentation. What work inside an apartment, and work on the building, can add to a stabilized rent — the caps, the divisors, the paperwork DHCR requires, and why an IAI with no RN-19N on file adds nothing.
- DHCR registration, renewal offers and the riders every lease needs — Documentation. The annual registration, the 150-to-90-day renewal window, the rents the next order allows, and the riders and notices a stabilized lease must carry — with each one's law.
- Contracts, Change Orders & Purchase Orders — Feature. Signed contracts, documented change orders, and purchase orders — so scope creep becomes a billable, agreed change instead of an argument at invoice time.
- QuickBooks Integration — Feature. Connect QuickBooks Online and bring the chart of accounts, customers, vendors, items, open balances and past transactions into Seayora — checked against QuickBooks’s own trial balance before anything is written.
- Compliance Alerts & Required Filings — Feature. Seayora watches your properties for new violations and works out which recurring filings each building owes, turns both into a dated checklist, and emails you when something new appears. Live violation data for New York City; rule-based filing obligations across the NYC metro.