The new rent laws that govern roughly 1 million New York City apartments go into effect immediately after Albany lawmakers gave it the green light last week.

The law included some changes aimed at strengthening the existing rules, but tenant advocates say the changes don't go far enough.

Originally, tenants groups wanted to end a rule that allows landlords to deregulate apartments once rents reach $2,000 a month. Instead, the legislature increased the threshold by $500 dollars.

City Councilman Brad Lander said the cost of inflation alone should have brought the threshold up to $3000.

"This is a token increase," said the Democrat from Brooklyn.

Landlords say raising the threshold does nothing more than protect wealthy tenants.

But housing advocates argue the threshold creates an incentive for landlords to raise rents on cheaper apartments by making renovations until the threshold is reached and the apartment can become deregulated.

The new law makes it more difficult to do that by lowering the amount landlords may charge after making improvements.

Tenant groups accuse landlords of inflating their costs, and had wanted the rule to go a step further by requiring owners to prove their expenses – but that didn’t happen.

"When you have a long term tenant in an apartment, the new tenant will want upgrades and there is no reason for an owner to do if it he can’t get a return on his investment," said Frank Ricci from the Rent Stabilization Association.

Overall, Ricci said he wasn't sure how landlords would react: "We'll just have to wait and see."

Tenant groups had hoped that strengthening the rent laws would drastically slow the pace at which regulated apartments become market rate.

According to state figures, more than 12,000 apartments were deregulated in 2010 after vacant apartments reached the deregulation threshold.

Maggie Russell-Ciardi, Executive Director of Tenants and Neighbors spent 10 days in Albany holding rallies and meeting with lawmakers and said it was the first time since the early 90s that laws weren’t weakened.

But, she said, "People are frustrated that the bill didn’t go far enough."

Media rent prices for rent stabilized apartments by neighborhood

*The number of rent stabilized units in Staten Island is too low to provide an accurate figure at the subboro level.

Information courtesy of the 2008 Housing and Vacancy Survey