A coalition of New York City landlords has filed a lawsuit challenging Mayor Zohran Mamdani's rent freeze, alleging that the decision by the city's Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) was unlawful and based on manipulated data. The suit, filed in Staten Island Supreme Court, claims the board's June 25 decision to freeze rents on approximately 1 million stabilized units for two years was a predetermined outcome designed to serve a political agenda.
Landlords involved in the suit, who collectively own over 100 rent-stabilized units, assert that the nine-member RGB ignored crucial economic factors to justify an "irrational result." They contend that the process was compromised, with the board acting as a captive agency and its outcome wired from the start. The lawsuit aims to block the rent freeze before it takes effect in October, arguing that its implementation would cause severe and irreparable harm to landlords and set a dangerous precedent for the independence of such boards.
According to the filing, Mayor Mamdani appointed six of the current RGB members and spent over $5 million in taxpayer funds through his Office of Mass Engagement, with the alleged goal of promoting the rent freeze rather than facilitating neutral civic engagement. Mamdani has maintained that the board operates independently.
One landlord, Violet Zharku, who owns 50 units across three buildings, stated that the rent freeze would not cover rising costs for mortgages, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and repairs. She claimed her properties are losing $172,000 annually, forcing her family to seek other income streams and potentially sell the buildings. Zharku added that the freeze prevents necessary capital improvements beyond critical repairs.
The landlords are also seeking an expedited discovery request for communications between the mayor's offices and tenant activist Cea Weaver's organization regarding the RGB vote. Their attorney, Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor, called the lawsuit a "check on the mayor's abuse of power" and stated there is no factual basis for an across-the-board rent freeze, urging for the board's decision to be overturned.
City Hall had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.