Exclusive | Mamdanis credit check ban to backfire, trapping renters into even higher rents, broker says

Mayor Zohran Mamdani says he wants to lighten the load on New York City renters.A veteran Manhattan broker says the mayor’s newest idea will do the opposite.The proposal, part of Mamdani’s 23-point “Rental Ripoff Report” released Thursday, would stop landlords from requiring both a credit check and proof of income from applicants, forcing owners to pick one screening method over the other.

It would also shift the cost of the credit check itself from tenant to landlord.Cea Weaver, director of the Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, likened the idea to the 2024 FARE Act, which made landlords cover broker fees instead of tenants.Like that law, the new rules would need City Council approval.

Weaver has said the current standard, often requiring proof that an applicant earns 40 times the monthly rent plus a paid credit check, weighs heaviest on the renters who move most often.But Keyan Sanai, the top ranking rental agent at Douglas Elliman, said the mayor is targeting a cost that barely exists anymore.“The only permitted charge is the actual cost of a credit and background check, capped at $20, and that must be waived when an applicant supplies a qualifying report completed within the previous 30 days,” Sanai said.

“Eliminating that remaining $20 charge may produce a headline, but it will not meaningfully improve housing affordability.”Sanai said the bigger issue isn’t who pays for the credit check.It’s the rule barring landlords from reviewing both credit and income at once.“That is not merely a change in who pays a nominal screening cost,” Sanai said.

“It is a restriction on basic financial underwriting.”He compared it to a 2019 rule capping security deposits at one month’s rent and blocking landlords from also collecting a final month upfront, a change he said made it harder for applicants with irregular income or thin credit to strengthen a weak application.“That restriction made it more difficult for applicants with substantial a...