Here is what it was like when New York allowed voluntarily vacated apartment rents to be increased by only 20% plus an allowance for renovation costs:

“At Thursday’s hearing, tenants described devoting hundreds of hours to finding apartments for their families only to be stymied by excessive upfront costs. In one example on the extreme end of the spectrum, a tenant who was renting a Manhattan apartment for $2,650/month who decided to go through with the lease said they paid $12,570 in fees before moving in—including a $4,770 brokers’ fee, a security deposit equal to one month’s rent, and a litany of other processing and application fees.”

Soon it will be virtually impossible to find a rent stabilized apartment in New York after the legislature revoked the landlord’s ability to raise rents when a tenant moves. In Los Angeles, you can find plenty of one bedrooms and even two bedroom rent stabilized apartments (and in some areas 3 bedrooms) for $2,650 by just looking in Craiglist, Zillow or any many other websites and Landlords compete for the tenant’s business.