Mamdani to Hold ‘Rental Ripoff’ Hearings in City Hall

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is taking what could be a very daytime television approach to tenant grievances, based on a new executive order calling for regular “rental ripoff” hearings.

Some real estate industry leaders are shocked while others see the practicality of laying tenant-landlord disputes out in the open. It is not completely clear what these hearings will look like, other than that they will take place in all five boroughs within the first 100 days of the new administration.

In related news, Dina Levy is joining Mamdani’s cabinet as head of New York City Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), where she will take part in the rental ripoff hearings with other commissioners.

Levy was previously senior vice president of homeownership and community development at Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), a state agency.

Levy will preside over the rental ripoff hearings alongside Ahmed Tigani, who was selected as New York City Department of Buildings commissioner last week; Cea Weaver from the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants; and leaders from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Weaver will chair the proceedings.

The hearings will investigate everything from poor living conditions to hidden fees on rent payments, according to the Mamdani administration.

In serving as commissioner of the department which doles out fines to negligent property owners, Levy joins other pro-tenant leaders in City Hall, including newly appointed Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg.

“Her experience spans the breadth of HPD’s mission, from affordable housing finance to organizing tenants and everything in between,” Bozorg said. “Dina will help deliver a more affordable city, and ensure that tenants and homeowners across the city are represented in our government.” 

That work included a 2010 campaign to replace an equity investor with a new landlord, John Crotty, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, the building recognized as the birthplace of hip-hop. The announcement of Levy’s appointment took place there on Sunday.

Crotty, as a private housing developer and a former member of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, sees Levy as someone who will come up with creative solutions to ousting bad actors in the industry after she arranged for Crotty to take over the mortgage in the building in addition to foreclosing on the owner and renovating the property.

“My sense is that some in the business community don’t necessarily know her, they see the resume and think, ‘Oh, I’m not sure if this is a good thing,’” Crotty told Commercial Observer. “But in many ways, she is the best thing for the affordable housing world and for landlords in general, because there is an acknowledgement that if the building is failing, [there is a reason].”

Crotty said he believes the rental ripoff hearings will bring complicated landlord-tenant disputes out into the open and show the public just how complex individual matters can be, though he admits that if a landlord has problems in all their buildings, it is likely due to mismanagement.

Mamdani has acknowledged some of the liquidity problems facing landlords, he added.

On the campaign trail, the new mayor spoke about rising insurance rates hitting landlords — making building repairs and other upgrades unaffordable — and leveraging the services of the Milford Street Association, an insurance collective led by Crotty, to provide an alternative.

“Whether it comes from expense or it comes from revenue, it’s all green,” Crotty said. “As a matter of fact, $1 of expense reduction goes right to your bottom line; $1 of revenue does not.”

Prior to working with HCR, where she crafted Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Move-In NY program for factory-built homes and funding accessory dwelling units, Levy served as a senior adviser to New York Attorney General Letitia James, and as director of organizing at the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board.

The shot across the bow for commercial real estate concerning the rental ripoff hearings was heard loud and clear by industry leaders such as Compass Vice Chair Adelaide Polsinelli.

“This is not the message NYC landlords need to hear,” Polsinelli told Commercial Observer. “The appointment of Dina Levy is another deliberate escalation in the city’s ongoing campaign against private housing ownership. Framed as tenant advocacy and consumer protection, this move adds yet another layer of pressure on landlords who are already operating under the most restrictive, punitive regulatory environment in New York City’s history.”

Despite the negative undertones of these appointments toward commercial real estate, James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, kept the board’s response somewhat neutral.

“Commissioner Levy comes to the job with a solid foundation of many of the challenges facing New York City and its housing supply crisis,” Whelan said in a statement. “We look forward to working with her and her team to address these critical issues.”

Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.