New York City becomes first in the US to ban deceptive subscription practices

Zohran Mamdani stands next to Sam Levine, commissioner of consumer and worker protection, at a press conference in New York on 21 January 2026. Photograph: Anthony Behar/Sipa US via AlamyView image in fullscreenZohran Mamdani stands next to Sam Levine, commissioner of consumer and worker protection, at a press conference in New York on 21 January 2026. Photograph: Anthony Behar/Sipa US via AlamyConsumedNew YorkNew York City becomes first in the US to ban deceptive subscription practicesRule from Mamdani administration bans companies from trapping customers into paying recurring charges and ‘junk fees’

New York City has adopted a new rule that bans companies from using deceptive subscriptions to trap customers into paying for gym memberships, streaming services and other recurring charges, the city’s consumer protection office said.

The new rule, which will start on 1 October, promises hefty fines and aggressive enforcement for violators. Companies that do not provide a simple way to cancel could pay $525 per user subscription, back fees and additional fines.

The city is also targeting so-called “junk fees” that raise the final price of everything from apartments to sporting events, with a proposed rule that requires sellers to “advertise the total price for any good or service, including all mandatory additional charges and fees, up front”, according to a release shared with the Guardian.

“People shouldn’t have to wait on hold for half an hour or send a certified letter or show up to a store in person in order to cancel” a subscription, said Samuel AA Levine, the city’s commissioner of consumer and worker protection, in an interview.

The proposed fee rule could have an especially wide effect, sending ripples through New York’s expensive housing market, where about 70% of residents rent.

Apartment renters in the US face a rising tide of add-on fees such as “boiler management” and “lifestyle” charges from management companies, which make true rental costs hundreds of dollars higher than the price stated on real-estate company websites.

If the proposed renters rule passes after public comment and hearing, any mandatory fees, including annual ones, would need to be included in the stated monthly rental price, Levine said.

The current situation creates “a scenario where rather than competing on price, companies are competing on their ability to hide the true price. That’s the worst kind of incentive” – and one that deeply distorts the market, Levine said.

The moves are part of an aggressive push by Zohran Mamdani and Levine, a former head of consumer protection in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to rein in what they see as predatory corporate malpractice nationwide.

“In the dawn of the [Ronald] Reagan era, the FTC and others in Washington said expressly that … markets could correct themselves, regulate themselves, they were going to stop writing rules,” and allow companies to police their own behavior, Levine said. “What it has gotten us is 40 years of deceptive pricing,” he said.

Bans on junk fees and subscription traps are generally popular with consumers, but have been fought aggressively by industry groups. When the Biden administration introduced a junk fee rule in 2024, the US Chamber of Commerce argued it was “an attempt to micromanage businesses’ pricing structures”, and apartment fees were cut from that federal rule after lobbying by the real-estate industry.