NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – New York City landlords are suing to stop the rent freeze promised on the campaign trail and delivered in June by the Rent Guidelines Board.
A group of landlords, all listed as LLCs and an Inc., filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging the nine-member board failed to meet its legal mandate to independently determine rent increases for New York City’s million stabilized apartments.
Landlords react to unprecedented NYC rent freeze
“To do the Mayor’s bidding, this Board then made a mockery of its statutory mandate, resorting to multiple manipulations of its own data to try to justify this irrational result,” the landlords claim. “
The board approved a rent freeze on one- and two-year rent-stabilized leases, the first freeze for rent-stabilized tenants since 2020. The lawsuit claims the board denied its own data showing operating costs rose 5.3% for landlords last year. The board also considered that many tenants’ inflation-adjusted incomes are decreasing, and reliance on cash assistance and unemployment have increased.
In the suit, the landlords quickly note the last-minute resignation of the only remaining Adams-appointed landlord representative, Christina Smyth, just hours before the board’s final vote.
In her resignation letter, Smyth also accused the board of being inappropriately swayed by the mayor, who selected six of the board’s nine members.
“To have a sitting Board member resign in protest, rather than be party to a sham
process with a predetermined outcome … is as remarkable as it is unprecedented,” the lawsuit reads.
The board’s chair, Chantella Mitchell, denied the accusations in a statement after Smyth’s resignation.
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“I want to take this opportunity to affirm the independence with which this year’s board members have served, along with the rigor and integrity demonstrated by the RGB staff in preparing and presenting data,” she said.
It’s not an entirely unexpected outcome for the board. There were lawsuits two years in a row after former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s board instituted a freeze. Both still went through.
The landlords are represented by Randy Mastro, first deputy mayor to then-Mayor Eric Adams. Met Council on Housing Executive Director Darius Khalil Gordon slammed the lawsuit and Mastro’s involvement.
“This lawsuit is an effort to manufacture uncertainty for millions of rent-stabilized tenants after a lawful public process delivered badly needed relief. It is especially cynical that the landlords are being represented by Randy Mastro, who was also involved in the Adams administration’s effort to stack the Rent Guidelines Board against tenants,” he said.
Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter who has covered New York City since 2023 after reporting in Los Angeles for years. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter here.
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