Rent-stabilized tenants are praising Mayor Zohran Mamdani: Just as promised, tenants living in New York City’s 2.3 million rental units will not see a rent increase on any one- or two-year leases set to be renewed between October 1, 2026, and September 30, 2027.
On June 25, the New York City Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) approved a first-ever rent freeze for the city’s rent-stabilized leases. Tenants say the 7-1 vote for a 0% increase will help those who have seen their everyday living costs rise faster than their wages. However, landlords warn that a rent freeze will end up adding to their financial problems –– particularly for owners of older buildings.
Mamdani’s administration called the final vote a “historic victory” for tenants and said the RGB weighed tenants’ ability to pay, the cost of living, and building operating costs in their decision-making. In a statement released after the vote, Mamdani said: “This is a historic victory for New York City tenants. After reviewing the data and hearing from New Yorkers across the city, the independent RGB has delivered a freeze on one-year leases, and the first-ever freeze on two-year leases in our city’s history. This is the relief that working people across our city deserve.”
The RGB is a nine-member mayor-appointed panel that sets annual rent adjustments for rent-stabilized apartments, lofts, and single room occupancy (SRO) units. It includes two tenant representatives, two owner representatives, and five public members. Each year, it reviews housing data; holds hearings; and votes on rent guidelines for rent-stabilized homes, not market-rate apartments.
Earlier this year, Mamdani appointed six members to the board.
Nikita Salehi-Azhan, a tenant advocate and housing attorney with Mobilization for Justice, told the AmNews that several of her clients were happy with the RGB vote. “I know that they were struggling to kind of make ends meet with food, with gas, with all of their other household expenses, on top of the rent, and so at least knowing that their rent is not going up for the next one or two years, depending on how their leases are structured, is at least somewhat of a relief for them.”
Salehi-Azhan said that tenants have fewer cushions than landlords when their finances fall apart. “They have more safeguards and more ways to fulfill those obligations and fees than a tenant. If a tenant falls behind on one month’s rent, it’s like their life is a house of cards and everything just falls. I don’t think it’s the same for landlords.”
Landlord representatives say that rent-stabilized buildings are businesses with fixed and escalating costs, and that a rent freeze gives owners no new revenue to pay for repairs and maintenance.
“Remember [that Mamdani’s] agenda was to freeze the rents from the day he was running,” said Henry Lopes, founder and CEO of H.L. Dynasty and president of the Gotham Housing Alliance. Lopes thinks the RGB was set up to help Mamdani deliver on his campaign promise.
Lopes said the rent freeze doesn’t take into account how much it costs to keep apartments usable. He pointed to vacant rent-stabilized apartments that landlords say are too costly to renovate: they become “zombie apartments, vacant units that are just closed up,” he said. Lopes said that he recently spent money on a small apartment repair and received only a tiny rent increase in return. “I did one recently –– a light [repair], not even renovation. You know: outlets, painting, cleaning, changing the toilet. All this small stuff: It cost $8,000. I got an increase of $22. How long, with $22, would it take me to get back my $8,000?”
Kenny Burgos, chief executive officer of the New York Apartment Association (NYAA) and a former Bronx assemblymember, made a related argument. He said the RGB vote accelerates “the distress and deterioration” of the rent-stabilized housing stock, particularly for older (pre-1974) buildings.
“The only release for property owners on these cost increases is the Rent Guidelines Board, and for them to come to the conclusion that after two years, there would be a 0% increase, only … That means that these buildings will continue to decay, that the housing quality will continue to deteriorate, and we’re going to see an increase in violations as a result, and subpar housing for so many tenants across the city,” Burgos said.
Landlords say their options now are limited: Some will have to absorb the costs; others may delay repairs, sell, or refinance their properties. There is talk of pressuring city and state officials to change insurance, water, sewer, tax, or subsidy policies. Some are suggesting they might try to sue to stop the zero percent increase.
Lopes said Gotham Housing Alliance is not planning to join any lawsuit, even though he has heard that other landlord organizations may pursue one. “It’s not my philosophy. A lawsuit is a loss,” he said. “Why would I want to continue with a lawsuit? You’re going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorneys to fight a case that might not get resolved for two to three years. And then what –– is the judge going to make all those tenants go back and pay the other two years back? Let’s think about reality. What does that mean? You know no one’s going to do that, right?”
NYAA’s Burgos said litigation remains possible for landlord groups. He noted that the resignation of an RGB member on the day of the decision “really calls into question the validity of the board as an independent body.”
Lopes warned that if private owners cannot carry buildings, the burden does not disappear, “so, when the city starts taking these buildings over, just remember what I’m telling you today: They’ll start taking them over if the owner gives up the building,” he said. “Taxpayers, be ready to have your pocketbook open, because you’re going to pay the difference on that.”
Housing attorney Salehi-Azhan still says the rent freeze will help level the playing field. “I think this is really fair, given inflation,” she said. “It allows tenants a way to catch up with what’s going on, given that their salaries haven’t caught up yet. With everything else going up in price, this is an additional safeguard to keep them in New York City.”
