In a 128-page lawsuit<\/a>, filed in state court in Staten Island, the landlords claim the mayor \u201cwent to extraordinary lengths to pack the board with loyalists,\u201d who then ignored data about rising property operating costs to push ahead with the agenda.<\/p>\n \u201cTo do the mayor\u2019s 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,\u201d they claim. \u201cAnd this all comes amid unchecked inflation and rising costs that struggling landlords will have to bear to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, the board approved the city\u2019s first ever two-year halt on rent increases for stabilized units, voting in the freeze\u2019s favor 7-1. But the landlords claim this was all part of a \u201csham process with a predetermined outcome,\u201d pointing to the fact that Mamdani appointed six of the board\u2019s nine members, \u201cwhom he knew would be predisposed to fulfilling his campaign promise to freeze the rent.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s an affront to the independence of the board, the landlords say. They pointed to the sudden resignation of one of the board members, landlord attorney Christina Smith, who announced on the morning of the vote that she was stepping down because \u201cthis rebuilt board was required to deliver a rent freeze.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Rent Guidelines Board has stopped being a fact-finding body,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cIt has become a body that starts with an answer and vibe codes its way backward to justify it.\u201d<\/p>\n The landlords are pushing to stop the rent freeze and instead implement a rent increase, citing recent statistics that landlords\u2019 operating costs in the city rose 5.3% in the most recent year and are projected to rise another 4.1%. They claim the board \u201carbitrarily and capriciously\u201d manipulated this data to understate the rise in cost and \u201cthen rendered a decision that its own data did not support.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe mayor perverted what is supposed to be an independent regulatory process to deliver on his campaign promise,\u201d they said, claiming some similarly-situated landlords could \u201cstand to lose their properties.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019re seeking an order finding that the board\u2019s rent freeze is \u201carbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, made in violation of lawful procedure and affected by errors of law.\u201d They want the court to pause the decision from taking effect, thus \u201ccontinuing current rent increase guidelines in the interim.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement, Mamdani spokesperson Matt Rauschenbach said the city\u2019s law department will defend the board\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Rent Guidelines Board is an independent body,\u201d Rauschenbach said. \u201cWe are confident that the board evaluated all of the relevant data and considered the factors facing both tenants and landlords across New York City. The Law Department is prepared to defend the RGB\u2019s decisions. The Mamdani administration remains committed to the success of the rent stabilization system which has prevented displacement and provided stability to generations of New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n The group of plaintiffs is made up of seven limited liability companies that own rent stabilized buildings in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx. They\u2019re being represented, in part, by Randy Mastro, the former top deputy mayor to Mamdani\u2019s predecessor and top political opponent Eric Adams.<\/p>\n Mastro infamously resigned after Mamdani\u2019s election win in late 2025, telling the press, \u201cI will never work for a socialist” \u2014 though Mamdani\u2019s transition team indicated that Mastro would be replaced, regardless.<\/p>\n The 69-year old attorney, who once served as Rudy Giuliani\u2019s chief of staff, has since gotten himself involved in several lawsuits against the city since Mamdani\u2019s tenure began in 2026. He\u2019s on the legal team fighting to block an East Village intake shelter, and has also sued the mayor\u2019s office to compel Freedom of Information Law disclosure relating to Mamdani\u2019s rollback on Israel-related executive orders.<\/p>\n Adams tried to stack the Rent Guidelines Board with nominees of his own at the end of his mayoralty, in hopes of blocking an incoming Mamdani from doing the same and passing a rent freeze \u2014 he was ultimately unsuccessful.<\/p>\n Our weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing
\nFollow @Uebey<\/a>
\n![](\"\/wp-content\/themes\/cns\/img\/bluesky-white-icon.svg\"\/){kind=icon}
\nFollow @uebey.bsky.social<\/a>Subscribe to our free newsletters<\/p>\n
\ntrials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world,
\nwhile the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood,
\nsports, Big Tech and the arts.<\/p>\n