ALBANY-It’s official: Albany lawmakers have reached a tentativedeal on New York’s long-standing rent regulation program. Expectedto move through the state Senate and Assembly later today,Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the state legislatorsagreed to extend the program, as well as implement a 2% tax cap onannual property tax increases for homeowners and increase tuitionrates at state universities by $300.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that therent laws would allow landlords to deregulate apartments whentenants’ rent reach certain thresholds, but the thresholds would beraised to $2,500 from $2,000 in monthly rent, and to $200,000 from$175,000 in annual household income.

But this doesn’t come as a surprise to the commercial realestate community. Steven Spinola, presidentof the Real Estate Board of NewYork, expectedthe extension to be granted after negotiations in thelegislative session took place. “There are some things we didn’tget, but overall, we got a number of things we wanted,” Spinolatells GlobeSt.com. “The rent deal itself is pretty close to what wethought it would end up being. I was hoping for $2,400 to be thenumber, but it ended up being $2,500. The other items were in theballpark of where we thought they would be.”