Mamdani lays out 23 proposals to reshape renting in NYC

Those are among 23 proposals in a new roadmap released Thursday by the Mamdani administration, aimed at changing how New York City renters find apartments, report unsafe conditions, and confront landlords who fail to make repairs.

The 67-page “Rental Ripoff Recap” grew out of five boroughwide hearings Mayor Zohran Mamdani held between February and April that drew 2,419 participants, according to officials who conducted 852 one-on-one listening sessions and received 882 pieces of digital testimony.

Pests were the most commonly cited problem, appearing in 16% of testimony. Mold, kitchen problems and leaks each appeared in 13%, while tenants also raised complaints about heat, elevators, harassment and deceptive fees.

The recommendations laid out in Thursday’s report range from policies the city says it can begin administratively to more ambitious ideas that would require new laws, formal rulemaking or court action. Officials acknowledge they will take years to roll out, and many of the most consequential details remain unsettled.

Landlord groups criticized the Rental Ripoff Hearings from the outset, arguing that the process was tilted against property owners. Before the first hearing in February, Ann Korchak, board president of the Small Property Owners of New York, called the sessions “nothing more than City Hall-sponsored, anti-landlord events” and accused Mamdani of “demonizing owners and spreading divisiveness.”

Asked whether the industry had been consulted on the resulting proposals or whether the administration anticipated legal challenges, Cea Weaver, executive director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants (MOPT), said officials were briefing groups representing both owners and tenants but did not identify any objections raised by landlords. She called the report “completely legally solid and sound” and said faster inspections, stronger enforcement and easier dealings with city agencies would benefit all parties.

“I believe it’s good for everybody,” Weaver said.

Could the 40-times-rent rule change?

New York apartment seekers are frequently asked to submit to a credit check and prove that their annual income equals at least 40 times the monthly rent — two requirements the Mamdani administration says can shut lower-income renters and people with housing assistance out of apartments.

The report says the administration will work with the City Council on legislation reconsidering credit screening. One possible approach would require landlords to choose between checking an applicant’s credit — at the landlord or broker’s expense — and demanding proof that the applicant meets the 40-times-rent threshold, rather than requiring both. The report presents that as a potential change, not a finalized policy.

“A credit check can be prohibitive, especially for people who are very low-income New Yorkers,” Weaver told reporters, adding that the problem can also affect people with rental assistance who lack an established credit history.

“We do think it’s important that people are able to pay rent,” Weaver said. She said officials are exploring both the either-or approach and requiring the owner or broker to cover the cost of a credit check. The timeline for legislation remains undetermined.

The administration has not said whether it ultimately wants to restrict the 40-times-rent standard itself, which apartments would be covered or what exemptions might be included.

Tenant unions could get formal city recognition

The report’s most politically ambitious proposal is a plan to formally recognize tenant unions in New York City rental buildings.

Tenants already have a legal right to organize, but the city does not have a general framework establishing when a tenant organization formally represents a building or what obligations an owner has toward that group.

The Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development plan to pursue rules defining tenant organizations and their role in representing residents. The rulemaking would consider how much tenant support a group would need to qualify for recognition, what rights and responsibilities it would have, what issues tenants and owners could negotiate over and whether the city should help facilitate or enforce resulting “Community Benefit Agreements.” Those details have not yet been decided.

Weaver told reporters that HPD believes it has authority to issue rules defining tenant associations and the city’s role in recognizing them, although legislation could be pursued if necessary. She said officials are considering possible meeting requirements between owners and tenant groups, but questions including whether those discussions would cover maintenance, affordability or both remain unresolved.

When asked what recognition would allow tenant unions to do that they cannot do now, Weaver said the goal was to create more reliable communication between owners and organized residents, potentially through required meetings. But she acknowledged that “there’s still a lot that we have left to figure out” before the proposal becomes a functioning policy.

Weaver compared the proposal to workplace organizing. “Just as we know that a union in the workplace can improve people’s working conditions … we think the same thing is true in buildings,” she said.

Small elevators for old walk-ups

Another proposal would test whether smaller, European-style elevators can be installed in some of New York City’s existing walk-up apartment buildings.

The city’s construction codes regulate elevator dimensions and, according to the report, effectively prevent smaller models from being installed in most older walk-ups. Currently, elevators can generally be added only when a walk-up undergoes a full gut renovation. 

The size rules are intended in part to ensure elevators can accommodate stretchers during medical emergencies, but the report says they also limit accessibility for older adults, people with mobility disabilities and residents hoping to age in place.

The Department of Buildings plans to launch a pilot with the Fire Department, the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, accessibility advocates and the elevator industry. Weaver told reporters that officials hope to identify an HPD-financed preservation project for the pilot this year.

She emphasized that the elevators would be added to buildings that do not currently have them, rather than replacing existing elevators.

The administration has not identified a participating building, specified how many elevators the pilot would include or provided a cost estimate.

Weaver said officials were still working to identify an appropriate HPD preservation project and determine the funding arrangement.

The proposal comes as the city acknowledges broader problems responding to elevator outages. DOB’s average response time for elevator complaints was 45 business days during the first four months of 2026, which the report attributes to complaint volume and limited resources.

Every apartment with a named heat complaint would get an inspection attempt

One of the more immediate changes is scheduled to begin when the next heat season starts in October.

HPD currently treats additional heat or hot-water complaints from the same building as duplicates of the first complaint. Inspectors generally begin with the apartment tied to the primary complaint. If the tenant there says the heat is adequate, the agency can close the related complaints from other apartments with the same result.

Under the new policy, complaints from different apartments will no longer be treated as duplicates. Inspectors will be required to attempt an inspection at each apartment associated with a non-anonymous complaint. Multiple complaints from the same apartment will still be considered duplicates until the initial complaint is closed, and anonymous complaints may also remain subject to the duplicate system. The city says the change reflects the growing use of individual heating systems, which can leave one apartment warm while another remains cold.

HPD received more than 300,000 heat and hot-water complaints in 2025. The report does not estimate how many additional inspection attempts the policy will generate, but says HPD will monitor response times as the workload increases.

The agency also intends to make it easier to arrange another inspection after an inspector cannot gain access. Beginning this fall, tenants who provided a phone number to 311 are expected to receive a text telling them whom to contact to schedule an appointment. In a later phase, planned over the next several years, that text could include a link allowing tenants to choose an available time online.

More violations could support tenants who withhold rent

The administration also wants to update the list of serious, uncorrected apartment violations that tenants can raise as a defense in Housing Court if they have withheld rent.

The city’s 75 “rent-impairing violations” have not been updated since 1992, even as knowledge of hazards including mold, lead paint and other toxins has evolved. The report says roughly 160,000 rent-impairing violations were open citywide as of June 2026.

Weaver told reporters that lead is one significant hazard missing from the current list and said the administration wants the rules brought into line with contemporary health and safety standards.

The report does not provide a complete list of violations the administration wants to add. It also cautions that the defense can be risky: tenants must follow strict and complicated requirements, and using it incorrectly may mean it does not protect them in an eviction case. HPD plans to hold a public hearing on the proposed expansion, while MOPT says it will conduct an education campaign explaining how tenants can use the defense.

AI apartment photos could come with warning labels

The city is also targeting rental listings that give apartment hunters a misleading picture of what they will see in person.

The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection plans to use its rulemaking authority under the city’s Consumer Protection Law to require a “clear and conspicuous” disclosure on rental listings containing digitally altered photographs, including images modified using artificial intelligence. 

The report says such photos may not accurately represent an apartment and can cost renters time and money during their housing searches.

The report separately says DCWP has encountered numerous advertisements for nonexistent rentals that brokers allegedly use to attract prospective tenants before demanding an illegal broker fee to show them apartments that actually exist.

After the disclosure rule is finalized and takes effect, DCWP says it will work with StreetEasy, Zillow and other listing companies to support enforcement, as it has during implementation of the FARE Act – which prohibits landlord-hired brokers from passing their fees on to tenants.

The report does not define what penalties would apply or whether responsibility would fall on the landlord, broker or listing platform.

A crackdown on false repair claims

The report also highlights a longstanding tenant complaint: property owners certifying that violations have been corrected even when the underlying problems remain.

Owners may certify to HPD that repairs have been completed, after which the agency notifies tenants so they can challenge the claim. HPD also audits certifications through reinspections, particularly for more serious conditions. The report says city data show that 32% of violations checked in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 were found to have been falsely certified, though it does not provide the raw number behind that figure or say how many owners were penalized.

HPD’s Certification Watchlist targets owners who repeatedly claim that unresolved conditions have been corrected. The report says properties placed on the watchlist saw a 10% decline in falsely certified violations during the program’s first year, in 2025.

Under the recommendation, HPD would explore creating an automatic fee or fine when an inspection required under the watchlist finds a false certification. The administration says the proceeds could help fund additional monitoring, but it has not specified the amount. Establishing the penalty would require the City Council to amend the Housing Maintenance Code.

Other proposed enforcement changes include exploring annual, recurring penalties for immediately hazardous DOB violations that remain uncorrected. DOB also plans to seek legislation expanding its lien authority to all categories of violations when the outstanding penalties against a property total at least $25,000.

The report also proposes changes aimed at pests and recurring mold, two most frequently mentioned physical conditions in testimony. HPD and the Health Department plan to review pest-enforcement rules because the current 21-day deadline for clearing a violation can be shorter than the several months needed to eradicate an infestation. 

For mold, HPD plans periodic roof-to-cellar inspections of buildings in its Underlying Conditions Program and will consider new fees or fines to strengthen that program. The administration will also explore code changes addressing cases in which cosmetic repairs are made without correcting recurring leaks or other root causes. 

Renters could get clearer warnings about utility costs

The administration also wants landlords to give prospective tenants clearer information about the utility bills attached to an apartment.

Weaver said the wide variation in tenants’ bills was the most surprising finding from the hearings. Some renters reported knowing that their electricity was individually metered but not realizing they would also be responsible for electric heat or hot water, potentially producing far higher winter bills.

“I think the thing that was the most eye-opening to me was the wide variation in utility bills that tenants are facing, and the affordability concerns that that leads to,” Weaver said.

HPD, the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice and MOPT plan to work with the City Council on standardized disclosures spelling out which utilities tenants must pay, what those charges cover, how services are metered, shutoff policies and how renters can report noncompliance. The exact legislation has not yet been drafted.

The report assigns a role in developing the disclosures to the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. Separately, Mamdani on Wednesday appointed Annel Hernandez as the city’s public utility advocate, a position charged with lowering utility costs, expanding access to energy-affordability programs and increasing public participation in utility rate proceedings.

What about NYCHA?

NYCHA residents also participated in the hearings, though some initially feared they were being excluded from the process. Before the first Brooklyn session, residents arrived prepared to protest, concerned that public housing tenants would not have a meaningful platform. City officials repeatedly clarified that NYCHA residents could register for the same one-on-one testimony sessions as other tenants and that representatives from the authority were available to address their concerns.

The resulting report says NYCHA tenants described slow responses to maintenance problems, inadequate repairs and poor communication. It cites the 2023 Housing and Vacancy Survey, which found that 43% of NYCHA apartments reported at least three housing problems, compared with 15% of homes citywide.

But most of the report’s 23 recommendations focus on the private rental market, which operates under a different enforcement system. Weaver said many of the recommendations are relevant to NYCHA developments converted through the Permanent Affordability Commitment Together, or PACT, program because those properties are subject to HPD oversight. She said NYCHA would separately hold five additional “NYCHA in Your Neighborhood” engagement events this fall.

Some changes are closer than others

Several proposals are still being studied or are concepts rather than settled policies.

The city says its “Fix the City” initiative will launch by the end of the year and conduct comprehensive investigations of at least 10 housing portfolios with the largest concentrations of long-standing, egregious violations.

The goal is to combine inspections, emergency repairs and litigation — and potentially move distressed buildings into the hands of preservation-oriented owners. That initiative was first announced in the administration’s earlier housing plan, but the new report supplies more detail about its scope.

The administration also plans to begin “Enforcement Days” in the Bronx this fall, working with organized tenants to identify buildings for coordinated, roof-to-cellar inspections.

Other recommendations would modernize the city’s paper-based property-owner registration system, seek faster court action in serious building-condition cases, reduce avoidable eviction filings stemming from voucher or assistance delays and expand enforcement against unlawful non-rent fees.

Some recommendations may not launch until 2027, while others will begin as limited pilots. MOPT plans to convene a legislative task force this fall with Council members, advocates, building managers and agency officials to begin working through proposals requiring changes to city law.