Rent freeze court fight heats up as city and landlord lawyer trade threats

What happened

The court fight over New York City's rent freeze for roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments grew heated on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, in a Manhattan courtroom, Gothamist reported. A group of landlords is suing to overturn the Rent Guidelines Board's June decision. Their lawyer is Randy Mastro, a former first deputy mayor under Mayor Eric Adams. City Corporation Counsel Steven Banks is defending the freeze before Manhattan Judge Brendan Lantry.

Mastro argues that City Hall's contacts with the board were "not normal" and show an influence campaign by Mayor Zohran Mamdani and other top officials. Mamdani has sharply denied that he or his administration dictated the vote. Banks said he may ask for a hearing to question Mastro under oath about his own contacts with the board while he was first deputy mayor. He also criticized what he called Mastro's "insults" and "bravado." Two weeks earlier, Gothamist reported that former board chair Doug Apple said Mastro pushed for a limited increase in phone calls before the 2025 vote. The board approved a 3% increase on one-year leases that year. Mastro said he only explained why Adams disagreed with the board's decision. In court, Mastro said that if he were questioned, he would seek to question Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg and other officials too.

Judge Lantry said he had no plans to hear testimony. The lawsuit claims the board ignored data on rising landlord costs in order to deliver Mamdani's "freeze the rent" campaign pledge. Lantry had earlier ordered the city to turn over communications between Mamdani, 12 other city officials, and board staff and appointees. Court records show those texts and emails mostly covered new board appointments and meeting schedules. According to Gothamist, they did not appear to show outright attempts to influence the board's decisions. Mastro asked for a deeper search of officials' phones, including deleted messages and the encrypted app Signal. Lantry has not yet ruled on what else the city must turn over.

The freeze is already in effect. Under the board's decision, landlords cannot raise the rent on new one- and two-year leases for stabilized apartments signed on or after Oct. 1. Mamdani appointed six of the board's nine members.