{"id":362194,"date":"2026-10-01T21:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/362194\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T21:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:18:10","slug":"as-nyc-rent-freeze-takes-effect-a-legal-battle-continues-to-play-out-between-mamdani-and-mastro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/362194\/","title":{"rendered":"As NYC rent freeze takes effect, a legal battle continues to play out between Mamdani and Mastro"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a rent freeze<\/a> on stabilized units took effect Thursday to the delight of housing advocates and tenants of the city\u2019s one million rent-stabilized apartments, a legal mess that could challenge the freeze continued to unfold.<\/p>\n

A group of landlords suing the city over the rent freeze<\/a> on Thursday published pages of correspondence between city officials and members of the Rent Guidelines Board, claiming the communications proved Mayor Mamdani used the board to execute his political will.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contacts between City Hall and the RGB were not only substantial, but also shocking, in that they show coordination and collaboration throughout the RGB\u2019s process,\u201d attorney and frequent Mamdani antagonist Randy Mastro<\/a> wrote in a letter to the court.<\/p>\n

Mastro is a former first deputy mayor<\/a> under ex-Mayor Adams and an attorney who has filed at least five actions against the Mamdani administration.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, left, speaks alongside Mayor Eric Adams during a press conference at City Hall on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Mamdani made a rent freeze one of his signature issues on the campaign trail, but has backed away from making many public statements about it as mayor, under the threat of legal action. The RGB in a June vote declined to raise rents for both one- and two-year leases, citing the city\u2019s historic vacancy rate and a cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n

If the judge sided with the landlords, the freeze would be canceled and RBG would have to restart its process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am confident in the Rent Guidelines Board\u2019s decision, their independent decision, and the Law Department\u2019s continued defense of what they have done and the fact that they made that decision on the basis of all the information that they had in front of them,\u201d Mamdani said at a press conference in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

The communications were released after the judge, in a rare move last month, granted the plaintiff\u2019s request for the city to turn over any communications about the board\u2019s decision. The resulting 3,000 pages of texts, emails and screenshots appear to be largely logistical back-and-forths about public meeting schedules, announcements and data from the board\u2019s reports.<\/p>\n

Nothing in the papers uploaded to the court docket shows members of the administration pushing for a rent freeze.
Among the materials Mastro claimed proved coordination between City Hall and the board was a text message exchange between Mamdani and a newly selected RGB member, Brandon Mancilla, in February, shortly before Mancilla\u2019s appointment was announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi Brandon, this is my new work number \u2014 Mayor Mamdani,\u201d the mayor wrote. Mancilla responded, asking if the mayor wanted to call him back.<\/p>\n

Mamdani replied: \u201cNo need my man but thank you! Hope you\u2019re well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MayorNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a press conference at City Hall in New York City on Sept. 8, 2026. (Barry Williams \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Corporation Counsel Steve Banks wrote in a letter on Thursday that the communications showed the RGB acted with the \u201cutmost honesty, integrity, and independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout this invasive and extensive search on this expedited timeframe, nothing improper or untoward was uncovered,\u201d Banks wrote, adding that the discovery order, from Manhattan State Supreme Court Justice Brendan Lantry, amounted to a \u201cfishing expedition.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit had originally been filed on Staten Island, but the city successfully advocated for a venue change to a potentially more friendly, less politically conservative audience in Manhattan state court. However, the Manhattan judge assigned to the case is a former Staten Island GOP chairman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The freeze took effect on Thursday, meaning that any lease renewals through October 2027 must remain at the same rent price as last year: \u201cYou know, Fat Joe once said, \u2018Yesterday\u2019s price is not today\u2019s price.\u2019 This is one of the places where it\u2019s not correct,\u201d the mayor added.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s filings also come after Gothamist\/WNYC reported<\/a> that a former board chair claimed Mastro himself attempted to interfere with last year\u2019s RGB process.<\/p>\n

Former RGB Chair Doug Apple told the outlet the then-first deputy mayor contacted him and \u201cadvocated for a low vote\u201d ahead of the board\u2019s decision, when the panel chose to enact a rent increase.<\/p>\n

Mastro acknowledged in a statement that he had conversations with Apple during the RGB\u2019s process last year, but said that he had simply told Apple that Mayor Adams disagreed with what the board\u2019s anticipated decision. Board chairs serve at the pleasure of the mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI responded telling him why we disagreed with the Board,\u201d Mastro said. \u201cThere is a world of difference between conveying to the Board Chair that the Mayor disagreed with the Board\u2019s decision and orchestrating a sham process with a preordained outcome to do exactly what the Mayor dictated and promised in his campaign. That never happened in the Adams administration. That is exactly what has happened in the Mamdani administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani said that Mastro\u2019s potential attempt to influence the board was \u201cironic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a rent freeze on stabilized units took effect Thursday to the delight of housing advocates and tenants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[85,267,9,24,264,10,12,56,63,65,64],"class_list":["post-362194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}