Tenant advocacy groups and elected officials are challenging a proposal that they say would provide landlords greater leverage to evict tenants living in the city’s rent-stabilized apartments.

At a hearing today, the state’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal will reconsider a provision within the Rent Stabilization Law that allows landlords to deregulate apartments and evict tenants by promising to demolish the building.

At issue is the how the term “demolition” is defined within the provision.

Council Member Gale Brewer said that too often, landlords try to come up with novel ways to evict tenants who reside in the city’s rent-stabilized apartments, which number about 1 million.

“The owner has the right to demolish, but they have to do what they say they are going to do and not use it as a phony way to get rid of everybody,” she said.

Ms. Brewer, along with Council Member Rosie Mendez, Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, and tenant advocacy groups, are holding a rally outside the hearing today. They say the proposal could lead to a looser interpretation of the term “demolition” and allow landlords to evict tenants under the guise of phony demolitions. They want the Division of Housing and Community Renewal to alter the provision to ensure that when demolition occurs, it includes the complete razing of the building.

A spokesman for the department did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

Today’s hearing comes amid a push by the City Council to wrest more control and oversight of the Rent Guidelines Board, which oversees the city’s rent-stabilized apartments. It follows a series of reports on elected officials, including Governor Paterson, Rep. Charles Rangel, and the speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, among others, who have rent-stabilized apartments.

Ms. Brewer said she supported a bill that Ms. Quinn is backing in the state Legislature that would restructure the Rent Guidelines Board. If passed, the legislation would require council approval of board members, deny rent increases for one year for any apartment with serious violations, and require the use of a landlord’s income and expense information in determining whether a rent increase is warranted.

“There does need to be more oversight of the Rent Guidelines Board by the council. I do think that to have the résumés of the board members discussed publicly is a good thing,” Ms. Brewer said.

At a press conference yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg was asked if he thought it appropriate that those elected officials — Messrs. Paterson and Rangel and Ms. Quinn — resided in rent-stabilized apartments while also owning second homes.

“I’ve never been in Charlie Rangel, Christine Quinn, or David Paterson’s homes. I don’t know where they live, so I can’t comment on their lifestyles,” Mr. Bloomberg said.