- Glossary
- /SCRIE / DRIE
NYC rental glossary
SCRIE / DRIE
NYC rent-freeze programs for low-income senior (SCRIE) and disabled (DRIE) tenants, reimbursing the landlord via a tax credit.
SCRIE (the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption) and DRIE (the Disability Rent Increase Exemption) are New York City programs that freeze the rent for eligible low-income senior and disabled tenants in rent-regulated and certain other apartments. The tenant’s share of the rent is frozen at the level when they qualified; the landlord is made whole through a property-tax credit for the difference.
Together administered as the NYC Rent Freeze Program, SCRIE and DRIE do not change the unit’s legal regulated rent — that keeps rising with RGB orders — but they cap what the covered tenant actually pays, with the city covering the gap.
For a brokerage, a SCRIE/DRIE tenant means the rent charged and the legal rent diverge by design, and the difference is reconciled through the tax system rather than the lease.
Related terms
- Rent StabilizationA NYC regulatory system that caps annual rent increases and grants tenants a near-automatic right to renew their lease.
- Legal Regulated RentThe maximum lawful rent for a rent-regulated unit, registered with the state and built up from a base plus permitted increases.
- Rent Guidelines Board (RGB)The nine-member NYC board that sets, once a year, the maximum percentage a rent-stabilized rent may be raised on a one- or two-year lease.
- Preferential RentA rent a landlord charges below a stabilized unit’s legal regulated rent — which, post-HSTPA, generally becomes the base for renewals.
- Rent ControlThe older, smaller of NYC’s two rent-regulation systems, covering a shrinking set of long-occupied pre-1947 apartments.
This definition is general information about a New York City rental or rent-regulation concept, not legal advice. The rules change and often turn on facts specific to a building, unit, and tenancy — confirm the current rule and consult a qualified attorney before acting on any individual matter.