EVICTION FOR GOOD CAUSE ONLY?

Currently, it is still in "committee".

"BILL NUMBER: S3082

SPONSOR: SALAZAR
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the real property law, in relation to prohibiting
eviction without good cause

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this legislation is to prohibit the eviction of residen-
tial tenants or the non-renewal of residential leases without good
cause.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one adds a new Article 6-A to the real property law titled
Prohibition of Eviction Without Good Cause, with the following sections:

 
SECTION 1:  Section 210 of the new Article 6-A provides that the short

title of this article is the "Prohibition of eviction without good cause
law".

Section 211 provides definitions of the following terms used in the
statute: "housing accommodation", "landlord", "tenant", "rent", and
"disabled person".

Section 212 states Article 6-A is applicable to all housing accommo-
dations, except for owner-occupied premises with less than four units,
premises sublet pursuant to RPL 226-b where the sublessor seeks in good
faith to recover possession for his/her personal use and occupancy,
premises incident to employment when such employment is being lawfully
terminated, and premises otherwise subject to regulation of rent or
evictions pursuant to state or federal law to the extent such state or
federal law requires good cause for termination or non-renewal.

Section 213 prohibits landlords from taking any action to evict, fail to
renew a lease, or otherwise seek to remove a tenant from housing accom-
modation except for "good cause", as defined in section 214.

Section 214 (1) sets forth permissible grounds for the removal of
tenants, including the failure to pay rent, the violation of a substan-
tial obligation of the tenancy, committing or permitting a nuisance,
permitting the premises to be used for an illegal purpose, or if, under
certain conditions, the to be premises are to be personally occupied by
the landlord or close relatives of the landlord as their primary resi-
dence. A rent increase is presumed to be unreasonable and, therefore,
not a basis for eviction, if it exceeds either 3% of the previous rental
amount or 1.5% of the Consumer Price Index whichever is higher.

Section 214 (2) creates a private right of action for tenants required
to surrender housing accommodations if a landlord makes a fraudulent
statement regarding a proposed use of the housing accommodation for
personal or family use.

214 (3) provides that a tenant's rights pursuant to RPAPL 751 to stay
the issuance or execution of a warrant of eviction remain in force, so
long as the tenant complies with the procedural requirements of said

law. A new section 215 preserves existing requirements of law relating
to eviction proceedings.

Section 216 provides that any waiver of the rights provided by this
Article is void.

Section 2 is a severability provision.

Section 3 provides that this Act will take effect immediately.

 
EXISTING LAW:

This bill adds a new Article to the real property law.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of legislative and executive
actions during 2020 - including Governor Cuomo's executive orders, the
"Safe Harbor Act" (S 8192-B / A 10290-B, Chap. 127 of the Laws of 2020),
and the "Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act" (S 9114 / A
11181, Chap. 381 of the Laws of 2020) - implementing partial and tempo-
rary moratoria on evictions during the emergency pandemic have provided
a basic level of protection for many tenants during this time. In a
normal year, housing courts would receive an average of 39,000 filings
in this time-frame. However, it is projected that millions of New York-
ers will be at risk of eviction, due to unemployment or other impacts of
the COVID-19 pandemic when the current protections expire.

However, the risk many New Yorkers face of losing their homes existed
prior to COVID-19 and will continue after the pandemic is over. Even
prior to the pandemic, data from 2019 shows that 92,000 individuals in
New York State were homeless and 100 families on average were evicted
every day. Many residential tenants from across New York State have been
evicted for unjustifiable reasons. Residential tenants, constituting the
biggest constituency in the state, lack basic rights to renew an expir-
ing lease and to not be priced out of their homes.

National data show that the number of households experiencing housing
instability (i.e. being threatened with eviction or being evicted,
filing eviction paperwork in court, becoming homeless) was significant
at an average of 5 million people per year. And, in addition, these
individuals and families go on to experience long-term and severe defi-
cits to their financial security, education, health and well-being. For
instance, landlords often do not rent to individuals with past eviction
records or with debt owed to previous landlords. As a result, displaced
families have few options besides poor living conditions that often have
minimal access to transportation or work which results in intergenera-
tional trauma and poverty.

Landlords across the state displace tenants in order to gain higher
profits. The de facto evictions happen, among other ways, via non-rene-
wal of their leases. These non-renewals displace individuals and fami-
lies in order for owners to rent out their units to higher income
tenants. This bill will prohibit landlords from evicting tenants without
there being a good cause (which is defined in Section 214).

 
SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT:  This bill would set a precedent of placing the
lives, health, safety, and well-being of tenants first, and before the
profits of landlords. This legislation would limit cases of homelessness
as a result of eviction and help to ensure that the human right to hous-
ing is given meaning in New York State."