Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing a proposal that would force New York City landlords to pick up the tab for tenant credit checks.
The recommendation, outlined in his administration’s new Rental Ripoff Report, would bar owners from charging applicants for credit reports and instead require landlords or their brokers to pay any screening costs.
“This can be an insurmountable barrier for rent-burdened tenants – defined as those paying at least 30% of their income toward rent – and especially those exiting shelter or receiving rental assistance,” the report said.
The report was unveiled at a press conference where a masked tenant activist called evictions “violence.”
Mamdani’s plan is to have DCWP work with the City Council on new legislation that would stipulate landlords could require either a credit check — paid for by the landlord or broker — or proof that an applicant’s income meets the common 40-times-the-rent standard, but not both.
The report argued the shift would cut down on redundant paperwork and out-of-pocket costs for renters.
The 68-page report laid out an ambitious slate of tenant-focused proposals, including legally recognizing tenant unions, directing HPD to investigate every heat complaint citywide and requiring landlords to disclose any AI-generated or digitally altered images and videos in rental listings so applicants are not misled by doctored apartments.
The report’s ideas came from “Rental Ripoff Hearings” where 2,300 of tenants across the five boroughs detailed housing conditions, fees and landlord practices they wanted City Hall to change.
Mamdani signaled that his team is already working to line up legislative support for the ideas in the report.
“We are speaking to our partners, whether it be those who serve in the City Council or beyond that, about the importance of…ensuring that we are finally bringing the kinds of tenant protections that this city should have brought years ago,” Mamdani told reporters Thursday at a press conference about the report.
“I know that we’ve already started conversations with City Council members around the aspects of this report that require legislative action,” he said.
Cea Weaver, director of the New York City Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, said Housing and Buildings Committee Chair Council Member Pierina Sanchez is “very excited” to work with the administration on this.
“The administration has begun productive conversations with me about the report’s legislative proposals, and I look forward to participating thoughtfully in the Legislative Task Force,” Sanchez said in a statement.
The announcement of the report was staged at the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side, with tenant activists casting the report findings in dire terms.
Toni Marrero of the Hope Tenants Union spoke from behind an N95 mask — worn for the smog — and called evictions “violence.”
“Our city is turning a corner on tenant power,” Marrero said. “The Mamdani administration is emboldening us so that we no longer tolerate the violence of evictions as a matter of business as usual.”
Marrero said she had “survived” eviction — but her friends didn’t fare quite so well.
“I survived three eviction cases. I’ve lost three friends to eviction — two of whom lived on my floor,” Marrero said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, tweeted a clip of Marrero afterward, captioning it, “Theater of the absurd.”
