Virginia K. Smith

Q: I just received a new, two-year lease with a rent increase of seven percent. (My apartment has preferential rent.) Is this relatively high or low, and is there any kind of standard for how much market-rate rents go up every year? Does that change if you've got preferential rent?

As with most things in the world of New York City real estate, as long as landlords can find someone willing to pay new, higher prices, the sky's the limit, say our experts.

Leasing is officially open for those micro apartments in Kips Bay (NYT, previously)

Queens affordable housing residents are in hot water for renting out their subsidized apartments on Airbnb (Gothamist)

It should come as no surprise that in our weekly Ask an Expert column—in which we field New Yorkers' most pressing real estate questions with the wisdom of a team of experts—a lot of the questions we receive have to do with neighbor-vs-neighbor disputes. From misbehaving pets to a disruptive renovation, we're rounding up some of the trickiest neighbor-related queries we've tackled over the past year:

Why people are so obsessed with the Toto Toilet (NYT)

How some New Yorkers manage to live here without paying rent  (NYP)

Get your home ready for the holiday onslaught (BuzzBuzzHome)