Public Forums Will Document Illegal and Abusive Landlord Practices While Advancing Enforcement Priorities
The Mamdani administration is conducting Rental Ripoff Hearings across all five boroughs, providing New Yorkers with opportunity to testify publicly about illegal landlord practices including hidden fees, retaliation, discrimination, illegal eviction, and deplorable housing conditions. The hearings serve dual purpose: documenting systemic problems in the rental housing market while advancing the administration’s enforcement and policy-reform priorities.
Hearing Format and Purpose
The Rental Ripoff Hearings invite testimony from tenants facing housing exploitation, tenant organizations, social services agencies, advocacy organizations, legal service providers, and landlords and property managers. The hearings create space for New Yorkers to document their experiences while providing city agencies with concrete information about enforcement priorities.
Testimony Documentation
Testimony from the hearings is being documented and analyzed to identify patterns in landlord misconduct. This information will inform the administration’s enforcement strategy and policy priorities.
Boroughwide Schedule
The administration is conducting multiple hearings across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island during the administration’s first 100 days. This geographic spread ensures that residents across the city have opportunity to testify without excessive travel burden.
Legal Representation and Support
The administration is coordinating with legal service providers to ensure that tenants testifying receive legal information and referral to organizations that can help address their specific housing violations and tenant rights issues.
Landlord Participation
The hearings explicitly invite landlord and property manager testimony. The administration wants to hear from property owners about challenges they face in maintaining buildings, managing tenant relationships, and complying with housing regulations. This invitation reflects the administration’s belief that housing problems result from policy failures rather than from landlords and tenants alone.
Media and Public Attention
The hearings are receiving significant media attention, bringing public focus to landlord misconduct and tenant housing insecurity. This publicity raises the reputational cost for landlords violating housing codes and tenant rights.
Connection to Enforcement Action
Information gathered at the hearings directly informs enforcement decisions by the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, HPD, and other city agencies. Landlords identified as systematic violators during hearings face legal action and penalties.
Policy Reform Agenda
The hearings also inform the administration’s policy reform agenda. Patterns of legal violations documented in testimonial provide evidence supporting proposed legislative changes to strengthen tenant protections and close landlord loopholes. Learn more about NYC housing enforcement, tenant legal services, and tenant organizing.
