Mamdani Releases Action Plan to Tackle Rental Ripoff Hearing Findings

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration released a report Thursday morning detailing what it gleaned from the so-called Rental Ripoff hearings and what it plans to do about some of the most pervasive issues experienced by tenants and landlords.

Complaints expressed during the hearings didn’t stray far from expectations, with 16 percent of the 2,400 participants complaining of pest infestations, as well as mold, heat, hot water issues and broken elevators. But many tenants also expressed a sense of fear of retaliation from landlords and building managers for voicing grievances.

Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, briefed reporters on the findings in the report Wednesday and discussed measures to hold bad landlords accountable while exploring new options to take control of problematic buildings and portfolios.

“The recommendations [in the report], some of them are administrative actions that we can take as a city,” Weaver said during the briefing. “Some of them are legislative actions that we will need to work with the City Council to make a reality. And some of them require court action or litigation. So we’re going to be rolling these out over the next few years. This is not something that we’re going to be able to implement in the report tomorrow.”

One of the ways the Mamdani administration plans to tackle complaints is by requiring that inspectors at least attempt to launch an investigation on every complaint, starting in October with the upcoming building heating season. 

If there are multiple complaints from different apartments within the same building, they will no longer be bunched together into one complaint, but will be treated as individual potential violations, according to the report.

The city will also crack down on false self-certification of repairs.

A landlord can report to the New York City Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) that an issue was corrected, and the agency randomly inspects about 15 percent of those claims, but the Rental Ripoff hearings indicated that up to 32 percent of violations were falsely self-certified.

While the HPD handles complaints involving mice and roaches, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene enforces rat infestations. But the city will have to work more collaboratively to streamline the approach of mitigating pest infestations and create more clearly defined required timelines to remedy the problem.

The administration will also take legislative action to formally recognize tenant unions that negotiate with landlords through collective bargaining to address quality-of-life concerns, though it’s unclear if this will provide organizations with more leverage.

Tenants will also be able to schedule HPD inspections to ensure access to the building and apartments.

“One of the things that we have observed again and again is that when owners and tenants negotiate with one another over issues of mutual concern, we’re seeing better results,” Weaver said. “We’re seeing better access for HPD inspectors. We’re seeing better access for owners who want to make repairs.”

With 11 percent of New Yorkers experiencing disabilities, which includes the aging population, the New York City Department of Buildings will launch a pilot program to allow landlords to install smaller elevators in qualifying walk-up buildings.

The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), however, found the report to largely be an exercise in identifying problems and implementing responses, rather than a preventative approach.

“The mayor’s report focuses on symptoms, not causes,” REBNY President James Whelan said in a statement. “New Yorkers are paying record-high rents because there is not enough housing, and many of the reported conditions are concentrated in heavily rent-stabilized buildings that are facing significant operational and financial challenges. Rather than addressing these issues directly, the administration continues to paint property owners with a broad brush, unfairly characterizing an entire industry.”

Kenny Burgos, CEO of the New York Apartment Association, wasn’t greatly impressed either.

“Here is what the report will not say,” Burgos said in a statement. “That distress has a cause. Buildings cannot be maintained on frozen revenue. Boilers, roofs, elevators and facades do not repair themselves. The administration froze the rent, and now proposes new mandates, new fines, new fees, and new liens on the same buildings it admits are struggling. It is disingenuous to tell New Yorkers the poison is the medicine.”

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