The rents tend to be lower than for rent stabilized tenants.

The apartment is neither rent controlled nor rent stabilized.

When vacant, the unit becomes rent stabilized, except in buildings with fewer than six units, where it is usually removed from the program.

If the stabilized rent is under $2,500, the residents' income does not affect the rent stabilized status of the apartment.

When a tenant moves from a rent-controlled apartment, the apartment usually becomes rent stabilized.

When rent-controlled apartments are vacated their rents rise to market level and they become rent stabilized.

The tenants' lawyer, George Locker, said on Thursday that they were paying below-market, stabilized rents of $500 to $900 a month.

There are seven apartments, some rent controlled and some rent stabilized.

The sublet space is filtering onto a market where rents have stabilized after rising an average of 35 percent in the last two years.

"I expect to see rents stabilize at current levels through 2001."