![\"tenants\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RentalRipoff1.jpg\")
Over 200 tenants from Queens and across New York City attended the second installment of the Rental Ripoff hearings, hosted by the Office of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, at the Academy of American Studies in Long Island City on March 5.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n
Rent freezes and rollbacks have long been advocated for by tenants\u2019 rights groups and legal teams that represent them, who cite dire increases in rent that are slowly pricing them out of the city they have lived in their entire lives.<\/p>\n
Renters make up nearly 70%<\/a> of NYC residents, roughly 44% of which are rent-stabilized.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rent at those stabilized units went up 6% over the past year, following increases of 12% and 10% in the previous two years. Overall, net operating income growth rose more than 30% over the past 3 years.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, wages have not risen in proportion to the cost of housing. A 2024 report by Zillow MediaRoom<\/a> showed that despite a 30% increase in rent, wages have only grown 20.2%.<\/p>\n Even with rising housing costs, many tenants said they live in deplorable conditions \u2014 mold, rats, defective appliances, broken elevators, lack of accessibility, malfunctioning intercom systems and more \u2014 all while getting harassed by their landlords who they said nickel and dime them for repairs that do not meet their needs or warrant such costs.<\/p>\n While many of the tenants said they were not surprised by the lawsuit, they emphasized that the RGB\u2019s decision reflected the needs of the tenants after years of ignoring their concerns and siding with the landlords.<\/p>\n Timothy Collins, former executive director of the RGB from 1987 to 1994, who later became a tenant attorney, stated back in 2016<\/a> that he believed \u201cthe RGB has been giving owners unwarranted increases for decades, in part because it uses a flawed methodology that overestimates their operating costs.\u201d<\/p>\n Maksim Wynn, the RGB\u2019s current landlord representative, also released a statement on June 25<\/a> stating that the rent freeze is actually in the interest of the landlords. While a rent increase sounds like it would boost short-term revenue, he explained, it would instead lead to a loss of revenue because it would price out tenants and lead to costly evictions and long-term vacancies.<\/p>\n Landlords argue rent freeze is \u2018illegal\u2019 According to a petition filed by the landlords, they allege the RGB \u201cfailed to consider current economic conditions of the residential real estate industry, including operating costs, real estate taxes, financing costs and vacancy rates, manipulated its own data and rendered a decision its own research did not support.\u201d<\/p>\n In the petition, Mastro argued that property owners were continuing to struggle with \u201cskyrocketing costs,\u201d and alleged the RGB\u2019s decision was \u201cirrational\u201d and \u201cillegal.\u201d<\/p>\n Mastro referenced the Rental Ripoff hearings conducted under the guidance of Mamdani in the months leading up to the decision, as well as a special briefing given by the Mayor\u2019s Office to the RGB about the \u201ctrue cost of living,\u201d arguing that it led the rent board to \u201cmanipulate its own data, intentionally underestimating operating costs and intentionally overstating income of landlords.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the plaintiffs \u2014 Violet Zharku, who reportedly owns and operates three fully rent-stabilized apartments in buildings in Woodside<\/a>, Astoria<\/a> and Flushing<\/a> with her family members \u2014 argued the RGB\u2019s decision left small property owners like her to absorb increasing costs.<\/p>\n \u201cFreezing the rent does not freeze my mortgage, property taxes, insurance, water and sewer bills, utility costs or the cost of repairs,\u201d Zharku said. \u201cThose expenses continue to rise every year while our rental income does not.\u201d<\/p>\n While she said her family is proud of the \u201csafe and affordable housing\u201d they provide for dozens of New York City families, they can no longer sustain their buildings under these conditions and said they have \u201cno choice\u201d but to sell their buildings.<\/p>\n Current court documents only include the landlord\u2019s arguments against the rent freeze and, as of Tuesday, the RGB\u2019s request to change the venue of the case from Staten Island to Manhattan.<\/p>\n Responsive papers from the RGB in support of the rent freeze are due on Aug. 14, and the first oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Aug. 2. If the court agrees to change venue on Aug. 21, then arguments will likely not go forward that same day.<\/p>\n There is the possibility of an appeal, the Urban Justice Center<\/a> noted, which would delay any final outcome. As of now, though, the rent freeze remains valid and must be adhered to by all landlords with rent stabilized tenants.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, the validity of the RBG rent freeze is up to the courts to determine,\u201d said Valerie Smosna, supervising attorney at the UJC. \u201cBut we know the RGB process involved many public hearings, that were accessible to both landlords and tenants, and considered substantial data before arriving at a decision, as they have done in prior years. And that includes prior years where a rent freeze was the outcome\u2026 Just because landlords are disappointed with the outcome, it doesn\u2019t mean the RBG\u2019s orders should be overturned.\u201d<\/p>\n The true consequences of rising rent Kasey McNaughton, the director of organizing for the Youth Alliance for Housing<\/a>, and a renter in Astoria<\/a> for nearly six years, said she was \u201cnot shocked\u201d by the lawsuit, noting that real estate lobbyists have utilized lawsuits as a public relations tactic for years.<\/p>\n However, she emphasized that despite landlords\u2019 accusations that the appointees were politically motivated, they are all required to abide by the same rules and consider the same data \u2014 all of which point to the same thing. \u201cTenants are in crisis and real estate profits are continuing to rise,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The more rent rises, she continued, the more pressure there is on tenants to make \u201cimpossible\u201d decisions at the end of each month, choosing between paying for rent, groceries or medications.<\/p>\n \u201cIt causes mental health crises and physical crises in the body,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople work themselves to death in this city, all to make rent at the beginning of the month. It\u2019s like sitting between a rock and a hard place every single month, being told to pick up another job and work harder, all to siphon money from your employer into the hands of your landlord.\u201d<\/p>\n According to data from the 2024 American Community Survey<\/a>, 51.6% of NYC renter households pay 30% or more of their income toward rent, including 28.8% that pay 50% or more.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time rent increases, more tenants are evicted,\u201d McNaughton said. \u201cIt causes a more violent system to erupt, which doesn\u2019t help anyone in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n Many evicted tenants end up \u201ccouch-surfing\u201d to retain shelter, although there\u2019s constant uncertainty where their next move will take them. Others end up sleeping in their cars. Some end up in shelters, although many of them are already at capacity and cannot sustain a long-term population increase.<\/p>\n Coalition for the Homeless reported<\/a> that more than 350,000 people were without homes in NYC in June 2026. Over 154,000 NYC school children experienced homelessness in the 2024-25 school year \u2014 that\u2019s one in eight of them.<\/p>\n Queens tenants are on the brink of crisis Doug Ostling, a rent-stabilized tenant at a building owned by Zara Realty<\/a> in Flushing<\/a>, said as a senior living on a fixed income, affordability has become his primary concern. He has lived in the building for over 50 years, he explained, and has watched his rent climb from around $400 per month to nearly $1,400 per month. With the addition of a recent Major Capital Improvement (MCI) rental hike for building-wide upgrades, he said it will soon be closer to $1,700.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve lived here all my life, but it\u2019s getting to a point where it\u2019s impossible to continue living here,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how long I can hold on.\u201d<\/p>\n He explained that factors such as inflation have driven up costs for basic necessities, such as groceries. And, he continued, as he gets older and more frequently needs to see doctors, medical and pharmaceutical costs place even more pressure on his fixed budget.<\/p>\n Regardless of Ostling\u2019s financial situation at his current building \u2014 more than 40% of his income goes toward rent \u2014 he said there was no way he could find a \u201cremotely comparable\u201d price for another apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no real backup plan,\u201d Ostling stressed. \u201cI\u2019m close to being priced out.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Zara Realty has recently been under fire for charging illegal fees, with Ostling even claiming that the landlord has charged $400 for a key to the building the tenants already pay rent at.<\/p>\n Attorney General Letitia James and RuthAnne Visnauskas, commissioner of New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), even filed a lawsuit against Zara Realty<\/a> for \u201crepeatedly violating rent stabilization laws and overcharging rent-stabilized tenants\u201d in Jamaica<\/a> and Elmhurst<\/a>.<\/p>\n The intercom system doesn\u2019t work, Ostling also claimed, meaning deliveries from Uber or DoorDash can\u2019t make it into the building and forces tenants, including seniors and disabled renters, to find a way down the 6-story building to collect their deliveries in the lobby.<\/p>\n Ostling\u2019s son, who died four years ago of multiple sclerosis, could not enter the building due to a lack of wheelchair accessibility. Ostling stated that multiple times, he requested access to a separate entrance on the side of the building that had a ramp used by maintenance workers, but the landlords never approved it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the kind of mentality tenants are dealing with in New York,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re just so callous and, frankly, they don\u2019t care. They just care about profit.\u201d<\/p>\n As of press time, Zara Realty did not respond to QNS\u2019s request for comment.\n<\/p>\n Fear among the next generation of renters
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/court-house.jpg\")
New York City Supreme Court in Manhattan.Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n
\n![\"parkash\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_3776.jpeg\")
Parkash tenants of 89-20 161st St. in Jamaica rallied on May 14 to demand ownership of the building be stripped from negligent landlord Ved Parkash and be given to a city-approved buyer after decades of suffering inhumane and dangerous living conditions.Photo by Renee DeLorenzo<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RentalRipoff4.jpg\")
Protesters gathered in the lobby of the Academy of American Studies in Long Island City for the Queens Rental Ripoff hearing on March 5 before security forced them outside.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n
\n![\"Residents](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DSC_6507.jpg\")
Residents protested to freeze the rent outside LaGuardia Community College.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RentalRipoff3.jpg\")
Attendees of the March 5 Queens Rental Ripoff hearing had an opportunity to share thoughts, ideas, concerns and suggestions on large boards set up throughout the gymnasium.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n