A state judge pressed lawyers for New York City landlords on Wednesday about whether they could support their claim that the city’s rent board engaged in a “sham process” to push through Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign promise to freeze rents.
Landlords are seeking to overturn a decision by the Rent Guidelines Board to ban increases on rents on stabilized apartments. They claim Mamdani illegally influenced the voting process of the board, which is tasked with acting independently to weigh data about tenant affordability and landlord costs such as insurance, fuel and taxes.
The plaintiffs allege the board, heavily stacked with Mamdani’s appointees, instead cherry-picked data to deliver the mayor’s desired outcome…