What Mamdani’s Proposed Rent Freeze Means for Landlords

On June 24th, 2025, Queens Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for Mayor of New York City. A significant portion of his success stemmed from a headline-worthy plan to freeze the rent, and in a city where roughly 69% of inhabitants are renters, it caught on.

But as catchy as the “freeze the rent” slogan is, there’s a lot more to Mr. Mamdani’s housing platforms.

As a property management software company dedicated to do-it-yourself landlords, we created this article to help you understand Mr. Mamdani’s platforms, how they might impact you, and what you can do to prepare.

What are Mr. Mamdani’s leading housing platforms?

While Mr. Mamdani’s platforms align with many of the stated priorities of the Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialists of America, he focuses a number of his proposals on tenant protections.

Here are the nuts and bolts of those plans.

Citywide Rent Freeze

You’ve seen the t-shirts, slogans, and signs, but what does Mr. Mamdani’s rent freeze plan actually mean for you as a landlord?

Applies to rent-stabilized properties only:

• Mr. Mamdani’s proposal would freeze rents on all rent-stabilized units in NYC, eliminating any increases for the length of his term.

Mechanism of the freeze:

• If elected, Mr. Mamdani plans to appoint pro-freeze members to the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB).
• These members would vote to set annual rent increases to 0%.

Why does this matter to landlords?

• The RGB governs rents for about one million units citywide.
• Nearly half of all rental units in NYC are rent-stabilized (Furman Center).

What does it mean for your bottom line?

• Once frozen, rents would remain locked at current levels.
• As long as Mamdani’s board maintains a 0% rent increase vote, landlords will see no legal increases, regardless of rising expenses.
• The freeze could last throughout his entire term in office.

For landlords, Mamdani’s plan signals a significant shift in how rent-stabilized units are governed. If enacted, the rent freeze could tighten margins and reshape long-term planning, making it critical to stay informed and prepared.

Good Cause Evictions

In 2024, New York City passed the Good Cause Eviction law, a significant change for landlords of market-rate units. While rent-stabilized apartments fall under separate guidelines, this new law introduces eviction restrictions and rent increase caps for many market-rate rentals across the city.

Here’s what landlords should know:

What qualifies as “good cause” for eviction?

Under the new law, landlords could no longer evict a tenant without meeting specific criteria. Acceptable reasons now include:

• Non-payment of rent
• Lease violations
• Disrupting other tenants’ safety, health, or comfort
• Illegal use of the property
• Other defined legal reasons

These rules limit a landlord’s discretion to end tenancies, even at the end of a lease term.

New limits on rent increases:

The law also caps rent hikes for market-rate units based on inflation:

• Rent increases are limited to 5% plus the local inflation rate.
• As of February 2025, NYC’s inflation rate is 3.79%, meaning the maximum legal increase is 8.79%.
• Maximum rent increases would be capped at 10% overall.

Who is exempt?

Not all landlords are affected. The law does not apply to:

• Owner-occupied buildings with fewer than 10 units.
• Landlords who manage fewer than 10 total units.
• Units renting for more than 245% of the HUD Fair Market Rent.

As an assembly member, Mr. Mamdani, who co-sponsored the bill, has publicly stated his intent to eliminate some of these exemptions, particularly for small landlords and newer buildings. If successful, even more market-rate units could fall under the law’s rent and eviction restrictions.

If you own or manage market-rate properties in NYC, it’s essential to understand whether your units are affected — and to stay up to date on potential changes coming from Albany.

Building Affordable Housing

Recent data from a New York City study highlights the ongoing challenges of housing affordability, with rents increasing at a faster pace than incomes for many residents. A city study provides insight into how these trends affect renters, particularly those with lower and middle incomes.

Key findings from the City of New York study:

• According to a City of New York study:
  • Housing costs are rising faster than incomes.
  • More than 50% of New Yorkers spend over 30% of their income on rent.
• Renters earning less than $70,000/year pay on average more than 54% of their income toward housing costs.
• The gap between income growth and inflation continues to widen, impacting the financial stability of many New Yorkers.

Mr. Mamdani’s housing plan

Assemblymember Mr. Mamdani proposed “Housing By And For New York,“ a plan focused on public investment in affordable housing:

• Construction of 200,000 new rent-stabilized units over the next 10 years
• Units built by union labor
• Targeted at families earning less than $70,000/year, the median income for NYC renters
• Funded with a $100 billion public commitment, according to his website

If implemented, this plan would significantly expand the city’s supply of rent-stabilized housing for moderate-income residents, albeit at a high cost.

Other Policy Initiatives

Although not as splashy as his main tentpoles, Mr. Mamdani has stated that he intends to focus on other housing-related areas if he wins the mayoral election. These include:

• Cracking down on “bad landlords.” This plan involves an overhaul of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. It aims to coordinate code enforcement under one roof and ensure that agencies work together to hold owners and landlords accountable for code and habitability violations. Part of the plan also includes a revamped 311 system.
• Ending “deed theft.” Not all of Mamdani’s policies focus solely on tenant protections. He has discussed his desire to keep existing NYC homeowners in their homes and away from predatory tax lien sale situations. A key lever of this plan involves revising the city’s property tax system to help homeowners comply with Local Law 97, which focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.

What do Mr. Mamdani’s housing policies mean for landlords?

So what does all of this mean for you, the New York City landlord that, like many people, was caught by surprise by Mr. Mamdani’s rapid rise in popularity? What kinds of material impact on your properties and business should you expect if Mr. Mamdani enacts his agenda whole cloth?

The answers to those questions may vary slightly depending on whom you talk to.

Critics of Mr. Mamdani’s rent freeze proposal argue that implementing such a freeze could further reduce the number of available rent-regulated units. They contend that more landlords may choose to destabilize their units by making significant renovations.

However, since the passage of the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, it has become more challenging for landlords to carry out these plans because the law limits the rent increases they can claim due to renovations.

Additionally, some say that freezing rents could put further strain on landlords who have struggled to keep up with rising property taxes and other inflation-related maintenance costs, or discourage new investors from purchasing and improving older buildings that have fallen into disrepair.

Impact of Good Cause Eviction Expansion

Additionally, the Good Cause Eviction law was carefully negotiated with landlord advocacy groups to lessen the burden on landlords with small to medium-sized portfolios who could find themselves underwater if forced to raise the rent at rates below inflation over a multi-year period.

The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, has said that the law would ”exacerbate the deleterious effects of the numerous measures that the legislature and local governments have already taken to hinder the effective operation of the market mechanism that matches the supply of housing with demand.”

In layperson’s terms, they argue that the law limits the power of landlords to manage their properties as they see fit, and could potentially lead to builders choosing not to construct new units in the city, or even lenders refusing to lend as freely to builders.

Lastly, Mr. Mamdani’s plan to spend $100 billion over 10 years to build new housing has faced criticism for the high dollar figure, which would drastically increase the city’s debt; some financial analysts have suggested a “ratings outlook cut” for New York’s long-term borrowing power.

While there are groups that have pushed back on the deed theft reforms — specifically those investors who disagree about how the law will be enforced — the majority of Mamdani’s critics regarding housing have fixated on his rent freeze policies and position on revisions to the Good Cause Eviction law.

What can landlords do right now?

While Mr. Mamdani hasn’t won the election yet, it’s not a bad idea for NYC landlords to make preparations in case he fully enacts his platform in the future. Here are some things you could start doing right away to prepare:

• Forecast for 4 years of frozen rent: Review your finances for the next four years, assuming no rent increases, but planning for increased maintenance and materials costs.
• Understand the Good Cause Eviction law: If Mr. Mamdani repeals some of the small-landlord carve-outs, review how that might impact your units and your ability to raise rent.
• Review record-keeping policies: As Mr. Mamdani plans to increase enforcement and liability for landlords who don’t comply with building codes, maintaining accurate records and staying on top of maintenance needs is more crucial now than ever.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of your political affiliation, positions, or opinions on Mr. Mamdani, his policies will undoubtedly impact the New York City housing market in some potentially dramatic ways. While tenant advocates have hailed the policies as much-needed reform to an increasingly unaffordable housing system, tenants aren’t the only variable in the New York housing equation.

If fully realized, four consecutive rent freezes will make a real difference in the long-term forecasting for landlords, regardless of the size of their portfolio. It could mean some very difficult decisions about which maintenance projects or further investments are worthwhile.

However, on the other hand, a rent freeze could reduce the number of evictions for families struggling to meet the current rent price, let alone an 8-10% annual increase.

Many tenant advocates have praised the Good Cause Eviction policy as beneficial for renters. However, landlords have understandably expressed frustration because the rising costs in other sectors of the economy are not adequately considered. This situation leaves them struggling to maintain their properties and invest in necessary improvements.

While there doesn’t seem to be one easy answer to any of the complicated questions we’ve taken a look at, TurboTenant is here to help you navigate the increasingly complicated world of property rental in New York and beyond.

Sign up for a free account today, and we can help make rent collection simple, no matter how complex your local government makes operating your business.