'Good cause' eviction protections are now in place in NY. Here's what that means.

Published Apr 22, 2024 at 11:38 a.m. ET

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Published Apr 22, 2024 at 11:38 a.m. ET

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New York's freshly minted state budget will extend new eviction protections to renters across the state, but figuring out who is actually covered by the rules could get tricky.

For years, progressive lawmakers and tenant groups have been fighting for a new law that grants some rent-stabilization protections to tenants in unregulated apartments. It’s called "good cause" because landlords have to demonstrate one for evicting a tenant or declining to renew their lease. California, New Jersey and Oregon all have their own versions of the measure.

Now, so does New York — albeit a much weaker law than supporters had pushed for.

The new measure will require landlords to offer a lease renewal to tenants who pay their rent and follow the terms of their previous lease agreement. It will also allow renters to challenge rent increases above 10%, or 5% plus the consumer price index, whichever is lower. The new law takes effect immediately.

But it also includes a number of carve-outs, including a confusing portfolio exemption allowing owners with 10 or fewer units across multiple properties to dodge the rule, and a 30-year exemption for buildings opened since the start of 2009.

Lawmakers who wanted stronger good-cause protections say they have mixed feelings about what made it into the budget after staunch opposition from real estate and landlord trade groups and Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“This is not good-cause eviction as [originally] written, clearly," said State Sen. Julia Salazar, who sponsored the original version of the bill. "I think this is nonetheless a historic moment. It’s the very first time that we are seeing new protections against unjust evictions and unreasonable rent increases for unregulated renters in New York City.”

Here’s what renters and owners should know.

That mostly depends on how many apartments your landlord owns — not how many are in the building where you live. (Yes, it’s objectively confusing.)

The new law orders landlords to inform tenants if they are covered by good cause and includes specific language that property owners have to attach to their lease. But state law also requires landlords to disclose whether units are rent-stabilized — and that doesn’t always make it into the lease.

It will be somewhat easy for people in larger buildings to tell if they qualify.

Apartments in buildings constructed before the start of 2009 with more than 10 units and rent below about $6,000 a month for a one-bedroom are covered by the good-cause law.

The law includes a price ceiling, so if the monthly rent is above at 245% of the local fair market rent established by the federal government, you aren’t covered. (See? Confusing.)

Covered tenants now have a right to a lease renewal and the power to challenge monthly rent increases beyond 10%, or 5% plus the consumer price index — an estimate of inflation — whichever is lower. But that’s only if they’ve been paying rent and following the terms of their lease.

Here’s where things get trickier.

The legislation says tenants qualify for good-cause protections if the landlord’s entire portfolio includes more than 10 apartments. So if a landlord owns two six-unit buildings, then good cause applies because they have a total of 12 units in their portfolio.

But many apartment buildings are owned by individual limited liability companies that cloak the actual people behind them. Buildings owned by LLCs tied to the same person or company may list separate head officers, which can make proving ownership even more difficult.

The new good-cause measure comes just a few months after Hochul vetoed legislation that would have publicly unmasked LLC ownership. Now, the state will be maintaining those records in a private database.

Ellen Davidson, an attorney at the nonprofit Legal Aid Society who helps lawmakers craft housing legislation, said the new rule will make it hard for many renters to determine if they’re covered by good cause.

"It’s going to be very hard for tenants without attorneys to navigate this,” she said. “By looking at that LLC, you can’t tell the difference between someone who owns tens of thousands of homes across the country and someone who only owns a two-family home.”

Tenants in buildings with 10 or fewer units where the owner also lives on site do not qualify.

Co-ops, condos, mobile homes, dorms, hotels and apartments subject to other rent regulations are excluded from the new law too, as are seasonal homes.

Landlords can refuse to renew a lease or evict a tenant for a variety of reasons, even if the unit is covered by the good-cause law.

If the tenant stops paying rent, breaks the law or violates a “substantial obligation of their tenancy” and fails to correct it within 10 days of written notice, they can still be evicted.

Landlords can also evict a tenant if they’re planning to turn the unit over to a family member or demolish the building.

Not automatically. Under the new law, other towns and municipalities will have to enact their own laws to opt in to good-cause rules.

Many tenants in buildings with 10 or fewer units will be asking that very question.

The measure will require owners to disclose in leases if tenants qualify for good cause.

But Cea Weaver, director of the Housing Justice For All coalition, a pro-tenant group, said the arrangement could give owners ample ability to skirt the rules

“Good-cause eviction is so full of holes that landlords will drive a fleet through it,” she said in a statement.

The state’s housing agency is now tasked with auditing a sample of building owners to see if they are complying with the rules. And tenants will still have to challenge rent increases or evictions in court to take advantage of the new protections.

“Given that a tenant may not readily know how many units are in their landlord’s portfolio, but need[s] to know if they’re covered by this law, there are notice requirements in this legislation,” said Salazar, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn. “I think it's really important for us to monitor the implementation.”

Nothing changes as a result of the good-cause law.

Tenants in New York City’s roughly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments have the right to a lease renewal and the same protections against rent hikes.

But lawmakers did approve a new rule allowing landlords to raise rents by higher amounts based on apartment renovations.

Yes. The original bill, sponsored Salazar and Assemblymember Pamela Hunter, a Democrat from Syracuse, would have covered a lot more people and was a lot easier to understand.

The measure would have allowed tenants to challenge rent increases above 3% or 1.5 times the consumer price index, whichever was higher. And it would have covered all apartments except those in owner-occupied buildings with less than four units.

“It doesn’t cover as many people as I’d like, but it’s a start,” said Manhattan Assemblymember Tony Simone, who supported the original proposal.

Some of the city's and state’s biggest tenant groups are panning the exemptions.

Housing Justice For All and the Met Council on Housing estimate the rule will exclude hundreds of thousands of renters.

They don’t like it either, but for different reasons.

Ann Korchak, head of the trade group Small Property Owners of New York, said many landlords have a fundamental problem with being told what they can and can’t do with their buildings.

She also said the mandatory lease-renewal rule will lead to tenants staying in the same place for years, even if it’s not a good fit for them or the owner wants them out. That will lead to fewer renovations and owners may become more reluctant to rent their units, she said.

“People are going to be locked into units,” Korchak noted. “Housing is improved when the units are empty.”

Still, it’s not as broad a measure as they had been warning about for the past five years.

The new law takes effect immediately, but it gives landlords four months to catch up with the disclosure rules.

The measure is set to expire on Jan. 15, 2034.

First, tenants facing eviction should appear in court to respond to the notices from the landlord. There, they can see if they qualify for free legal assistance through the city’s right-to-counsel program.

Landlords are now supposed to disclose their ownership interests in housing court during an eviction proceeding to prove they are exempt from good-cause restrictions.

“The most challenging part is going to be making sure tenants are aware of their rights and making sure landlords are following the law, before this gets to a landlord actually seeking to evict a tenant,” Salazar said.

Tenants can also do some online sleuthing to figure out how many units their landlord owns. The website Who Owns What uses city records to link buildings owned by the same people or companies through a web of LLCs. The database, which is run by the organization JustFix, draws on the city’s online property records system, though it isn’t foolproof.

Ultimately, Salazar said, it will be up to housing court judges to decide whether tenants qualify for good-cause protections and whether rent increases are legal.

Are you a tenant facing a hefty rent increase? Are you an owner trying to navigate the new rules? Or do you just want to share how you're making it work in New York City? We want to hear from you. Email reporter David Brand at [email protected].

Additional reporting by Jon Campbell

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David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.

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