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Rental owners’ primary goal is to “RETAIN” good tenants, not evict tenants. Proponents of the Good Cause Eviction law have it completely wrong, as they would have one believe that housing providers are itching to evict tenants, nothing could be further from reality.
Tenant turnover is expensive, costing thousands of dollars in re-painting minor repairs, brokers fees, lost rental income etc.
Good Cause Eviction helps very few tenants and hurts most tenants. 90%+ of all evictions are for non payment of rent and the GCE law does not help non payors. The small number of tenants to which it may apply are likely nuisances that are causing complaints from other tenants.
BUT GCE will impact all tenants as owners will become very strict in approving new tenants, raising required credit scores , say from 650, to now 720. Also income requirements will rise, say from 3X the rent to now 4X the rent, making it harder for tenants to qualify .
Good Cause Eviction hurts good tenants. For example, when complaints are received that one of the tenants in the building are a nuisance to the other tenants, i.e.. leaves bags of smelly garbage in the hallway, leaves the entry door unlocked, doesn’t clean up after its dog, has the hallways reeking of weed, currently, the owner can just wait for the offenders lease to expire and not offer a renewal. Now it will require legal action, the offender will promise the judge they will mend their ways, and be allowed to remain. Of course they will continue offending, aggravating the other tenants.
Eviction without just cause, or “good cause eviction”, is a misnomer. There are categorically no legal evictions in New York without just cause – in this sense, New York has always had good cause evictions. An eviction of a residential tenant is governed by a statutory process, which requires an order of the court to proceed. There are procedures built into the judicial eviction process to ensure tenant rights are protected. It is unlawful to evict a tenant without an order from a court of competent jurisdiction. It is a class A misdemeanor to evict an occupant from their home without a court order. Law enforcement is able to intervene in an unlawful eviction as a crime.