NEW YORK (VINnews) — A group of New York City landlords filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to overturn a rent freeze approved in June, alleging Mayor Zohran Mamdani improperly influenced the Rent Guidelines Board’s decision.

The lawsuit, filed in Staten Island, claims the board’s vote was “arbitrary and capricious” because it relied on flawed data and ignored evidence of rising operating costs for landlords. It also alleges Mamdani appointed board members who were predisposed to support a rent freeze and used city resources to bolster tenant participation at public hearings.

The suit was brought by five small landlords with properties in Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. They are represented by attorney Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani.

“This was a sham process with a predetermined outcome that Mayor Mamdani dictated by fiat,” Mastro said in a statement. “That is not the way government decisions by independent boards are supposed to be made.”

Spokespeople for the Mamdani administration did not immediately respond to requests for comment.