Of all the criticisms leveled against Zohran Mamdani, his occupancy of a rent-stabilized apartment is probably the weakest.
That’s because he is essentially paying market-rate rent, The Real Deal has learned.
For his unit at 32-15 35th Street in Astoria, the socialist mayoral candidate pays what is called a preferential rent, meaning a lower amount than the landlord could charge under state law.
That might look like a sweetheart deal: Mamdani pays about $2,250 a month, while the legal rent — the maximum allowed under rent stabilization — is nearly $3,100 for his one-bedroom apartment.
But the 30 free-market units in the 52-unit building have an average rent of $2,115, according to the owner’s property tax assessment challenge. That is even less than Mamdani is paying, which is an indication that the owner could not get the legal rent of $3,082 if he or she tried.
That is usually the case with preferential rents, although they are also offered when a landlord wants to give a particular tenant a break.
Why didn’t Mamdani bring this up when rival candidate Andrew Cuomo attacked him for leasing a rent-stabilized apartment? That is unclear. Mamdani might not have known he was paying a preferential rent until TRD emailed his campaign an inquiry, which went unanswered Thursday. He has said he did not know the unit was rent-stabilized when he rented it.
It is likely, however, that Mamdani’s unit would be rented out for closer to the $3,082 maximum if he were to win the November election and move to Gracie Mansion. Despite a pandemic dip, rent growth has been strong since the pre-Covid period when Mamdani initially rented the apartment. Astoria specifically has seen the steepest rent growth in Queens, with the average price of a one-bedroom hitting $3,304 this year, compared to $2,845 a year ago, per a report from M.N.S. Real Estate. But the Rent Guidelines Board has kept rent increases below the inflation rate for a decade.
At one time, Mamdani’s landlord could have jacked up his rent to the legal limit, but in June 2019, the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act gave additional protection to tenants paying preferential rent. The landlord would have to wait for Mamdani to leave to raise the rent to the legal limit.
But even then, there is no guarantee that someone would pay it. StreetEasy on Wednesday showed 86 listings for one-bedrooms in Astoria asking less than $3,000 a month.
What we’re thinking about: Property tax arrears are public information. Should outstanding mortgage debt be public as well? With easy access to property debt, people who bought Hamptons houses in foreclosure from Michael O’Sullivan, only to lose them to lenders or foreclosure auction bidders, might have avoided that disaster.
On the other hand, such clueless people might have failed to check the debt anyway. And making mortgage balances public could be considered an invasion of privacy and have unintended consequences. Send your thoughts to eengquist@therealdeal.com.
A thing we’ve learned: The New York State Bar Association is working on a report about housing court. It will become public after it’s adopted by the group’s House of Delegates. Given housing court’s reputation for dysfunction and delay, and the endless horror stories told by landlords and their lawyers, the bar association’s report could present a damning picture.
Elsewhere…
— An appellate judge has upheld an order blocking the Department of Social Services from ending a key housing voucher program, according to a press release from supportive shelter and housing provider Win. The ruling preserves the “unit hold incentive,” which compensates landlords who accept CityFHEPS tenants while holding a unit vacant during the voucher holder’s application process.
— This month’s Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Central Harlem, which has killed five people, hospitalized 14 and made sickened 100 New Yorkers in all, comes after the city’s Department of Health lost over one-third of its cooling tower inspectors in the past three years, Gothamist found. Though the city aims to inspect towers annually, seven out of the 10 linked to the current outbreak were not inspected in the past year.
— Mayor Eric Adams and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams will roll out a pilot this fall to streamline the city’s discretionary funding process for some nonprofits, City & State reported. The initiative replaces the current months-long contracting process with direct one-year grant agreements, cutting out 13 steps. About 100 organizations will test the new system in the first year.
— Quinn Waller
Closing time
Residential: The top residential deal recorded Thursday was $15 million for a 3,466-square-foot resale condominium unit at 157 West 57th Street. Bespoke Real Estate had the listing.
Commercial: The top commercial deal recorded was $19.8 million for a portfolio of mixed-use properties at 194-196 Avenue A and 503-505 East 12th Street in the East Village. The four properties have a total of 16,336 square feet and 15 residential units. Avenue Realty Capital sold the properties to Hamilton Lane.
New to the Market: The highest price for a residential property hitting the market was $7.4 million for a 4,800-square-foot co-op at 477 Washington Street in Hudson Square. Thomas Hemann with Compass has the listing.
Breaking Ground: The largest new building project filed was for a proposed 68,458-square-foot, 13-story mixed-use building at 2361 Second Avenue in East Harlem. Panagis Georgopoulos filed the permit on behalf of developer Abraham Biller.
— Matthew Elo
