Abstract Rent control policies have gained renewed legislative momentum in the United States, but are rent‐regulated landlords adhering to these policies? Answering this question is critical to understanding the policy's impact. Using a unique panel data set from the New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey (NYCHVS), we investigate noncompliance with rent caps in New York City. We uncover evidence indicative of widespread rent overcharging. During our sample period, over 30% of rent‐stabilized apartments without turnover had rent increases exceeding the city's rent caps. Moreover, we find that racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to be overcharged than their White counterparts. Supplemented with building permit and code violation data, we provide evidence that our findings are unlikely to be driven by policy provisions that allow additional rent increases, notably (1) preferential rent and (2) major capital improvement.