By Chris WadeThe Center SquareA group of New York City landlords filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the city's rent control board, claiming its decision to freeze rents was a "sham" because the board was packed with Mayor Zohran Mamdani's appointees. In June, the rent board voted 7-1 to set a two-year rent freeze for one-year and two-year leases or subsidized housing. Shortly after taking office in January, Mamdani appointed five new members to the rent control board in a sweep aimed at packing it with supporters of his rent freeze plan. “That Mayor Mamdani preordained this outcome and then took affirmative steps to stack the deck is now undeniable,” landlords wrote in Wednesday's lawsuit. The city's half-century-old rent stabilization law restricts annual rent increases for specific apartments, with any increases set annually by the rent board.