NYC landlords face squeeze as Mamdani raises property taxes while planning to implement 'rent freeze'

New York City property owners are preparing for higher tax bills while socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani has pledged to impose a city-wide “rent freeze” on rent stabilized apartments. This could cause landlords to increase rents on market-rate units and those that are not rent stabilized.

Owners of buildings that include regulated apartments warn that freezing rents on those units would reduce revenue needed for upkeep, pushing landlords to raise prices on market-rate apartments to be able to stay afloat. That would mean those not in rent-controlled apartments would see prices skyrocket as landlords face a squeeze both on expenses and income.

“You can’t have your cake and eat it, too. You can’t say you want to freeze the rent and then raise my property taxes,” said Humberto Lopes, CEO of HL Dynasty and the Gotham Housing Alliance, who owns roughly 100 buildings, per the New York Post.

Lopes pointed to a 20-story rent-regulated building he owns at 446 Senator St. in Bay Ridge, where property taxes could rise from $78,000 to $91,000 after updated assessment rolls boosted valuations on co-ops, condos, and apartment buildings by 6.2 percent. A rent freeze means that he's unable to increase rents to cover increased costs.

Rent stabilized units are subject to rent increases as determined by a city-wide board comprised of both landlords and tenants. Every year, they agree to a percentage increase for one-year and two-year leases. In 2025, the rents were increased 3% for one-year leases and 4.5% for two-year leases.

Smaller properties are also affected. One- to three-family homes saw assessments increase by 4.7 percent, which could lead to higher tax bills citywide for landlords.

“You want to freeze the rent? Freeze the property taxes or lower them. Right now, you’re increasing the expenses to my building,” Lopes added. The Department of Finance (DOF) released preliminary assessment rolls last week for Jul1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, signaling potential increases. While the tax rate itself has not changed, higher market valuations are driving larger bills.

The report from the DOF revealed that Class 1 properties that cover one to three family homes rose an average of 4.7 percent in valuation. In Staten Island, homes increased in value by 5.1 percent.

“These higher assessments mean one thing: higher property tax bills,” a spokesman for the Homeowners for an Affordable New York said.

“Mayor Mamdani promised to make the city more affordable; yet under his watch, the city is quietly hiking taxes that property owners will inevitably pass on to tenants,” the spokesperson added. “Rising assessments are an invisible rent hike for every tenant in New York, and ordinary homeowners are being squeezed, too.”

The Madani administration claimed there would not be a higher property tax hike. “No, the City has not increased property taxes [rates] since January 1st — the last mayor to do so was [Mike] Bloomberg,” Mamdani spokesman Dore Pekec said over the weekend. “This annual preliminary report is simply an assessment of property values. The mayor has made it clear he plans to advocate for reform to our broken property tax system.”