New York City tenants have long known that the rents are too damn high. Yet landlords and real estate organizations have repeatedly complained that rents are too low. Several are now in court challenging the rent freeze recently adopted by the city’s Rent Guidelines Board and scheduled to go into effect for leases being renewed after Oct. 1.

In the past landlords have lost such challenges. Nonetheless, they have been highly effective at portraying themselves as victims of a system that treats them unfairly, leading to great frustration among tenant advocates familiar with the plight of their clients.

The rent histories we have seen clearly demonstrate that past rent hikes have indeed been too high. That is why our organization, PA’LANTE Harlem, along with two tenant associations and five individual tenants, have intervened in the case. The five individual tenant intervenors live in rent stabilized........

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