A Manhattan Supreme Court judge on Thursday ordered more than two dozen top city officials and Rent Guidelines Board members to turn over their phone and email communications as part of an ongoing legal challenge that could upend a first-ever freeze on two-year leases for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments.<\/p>\n
The freeze takes effect on Oct. 1, and Judge Brendan Lantry said it will stay in place even if he cannot rule on the legal challenge before that deadline.<\/p>\n
Attorneys representing a group of aggrieved landlords had asked Lantry to revert to last year\u2019s 3% increase on new leases until he issues a ruling.<\/p>\n
Lantry said he does not have the authority to halt the rent freeze pending the outcome of the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working as expeditiously as we can to resolve this case,\u201d Lantry said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to operate with a shotgun to my head.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he did order 13 officials from the Mayor\u2019s Office and 13 staff and appointees to the Rent Guidelines Board to turn over their emails and personal and work cellphones so that their texts and other communications can be copied, a process that could take up to eight hours. The city\u2019s top attorney, Steve Banks, criticized the decision in court.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people on this list are running New York City,\u201d Banks said. \u201cGiving up their phone for four to eight hours is not an insignificant thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lantry responded that the review was essential for assessing the credibility of a board decision with broad implications for \u201cmillions of New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copying cell phone data, he said, will \u201cdetermine whether or not those staffers were inappropriately communicating with the Rent Guidelines Board after the mayor guaranteed a rent freeze, and then the board did grant a rent freeze.\u201d<\/p>\n