Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced a citywide series of “Rental Ripoff Hearings” aimed at gathering tenant testimony on unsafe housing conditions, hidden fees and other alleged abusive landlord practices. The hearings, established by Executive Order 08, will take place in all five boroughs from late February through early April and are designed to inform city housing policy and enforcement priorities.
Signed on Jan. 5, Executive Order 08, titled Protecting Tenants From Rental Ripoffs and Abusive Landlord Practices, directs the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of Buildings, and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection — in coordination with the Office of Mass Engagement — to hold public hearings within the first 100 days of the administration. The order also requires a public report within 90 days after the final hearing summarizing common complaints and recommending policy changes.
“These hearings bring together renters to speak directly about what they’re facing, from hidden fees to broken tiles and unresponsive landlords,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Their testimony will guide our work and help shape the policies we advance to build a city New Yorkers can afford to call their home.”
Deputy Mayor for Housing and Planning Leila Bozorg said the sessions will give tenants a platform to influence real reforms, while Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, described the hearings as an opportunity for residents to improve conditions for millions of city renters. Officials from HPD, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection and the Department of Buildings also pledged to use testimony to drive policy and enforcement efforts.
Under the schedule announced by city officials, the hearings will be held:
- Thursday, Feb. 26, 5:30–8:30 p.m. — Downtown Brooklyn
- Thursday, March 5, 5:30–8:30 p.m. — Long Island City, Queens
- Wednesday, March 11, 5:30–8:30 p.m. — Fordham, The Bronx
- Saturday, March 28, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. — East Harlem, Manhattan
- Tuesday, April 7, 5:30–8:30 p.m. — North Shore, Staten Island
Tenants and other members of the public can register to attend in person through the city website at nyc.gov/RentalRipoff. At each hearing, participants will be able to record testimony or sign up for one-on-one conversations with city officials. Residents who cannot attend in person may submit testimony via email to RentalRipoff@cityhall.nyc.gov.
The executive order states that the hearings should solicit input not only from tenants but from tenant organizations, social services agencies, legal service providers, landlords and property managers about “illegal, unfair, abusive, deceptive, or unconscionable landlord practices” and operational improvements to strengthen housing and building code enforcement. It also calls for enhanced interagency cooperation and prioritization of tenant protection enforcement.
Within 90 days after the final hearing, the participating agencies are required to submit a joint summary and report to the mayor detailing themes and problems raised by the public and proposing a plan to address harmful landlord practices. The city will post the report on the agencies’ publicly accessible webpages.
Officials said the hearings represent a cornerstone of the Mamdani administration’s early housing agenda, aimed at amplifying tenant voices and driving policy changes to improve housing quality and affordability across New York City.
