Good Cause Eviction Turns Two. Most Landlords Aren't Even Trying.

What You'll Learn From This Post

• Whether the Good Cause Eviction law covers your apartment, and the eligibility checklist most tenants get wrong
• How the rent increase cap actually works (not a hard ceiling, the math matters)
• What courts have said in the first two years, and why most landlords are choosing not to fight it
• What to do right now if your landlord is ignoring the law

I'm at Academy Records Annex on Banker Street in Greenpoint flipping through the used jazz section and talking to Marco, who works there. We met when he was at Good Records before it closed, and I trust Marco's music taste more than my own. Sleater-Kinney's Little Rope is playing (2024, the newest and darkest of their eleven albums) and whenever I'm listening to them I feel like I'm in the middle of a Portlandia skit. Which doesn't help, because all of the unrequested legal explanations I inflict on people have the same resonance as Fred Armisen breaking down the 12 step process for opening a pickle jar.

Marco isn't the kind of person who can ask for legal advice directly, but I could tell by the face he was making that he either needed legal advice or he was constipated.

"What's up?"

Marco kept restocking the same shelf. "Got something in my mailbox this morning. My landlord says my lease is up. He's not renewing."

I put down the Mingus record I was holding. "When's your lease end?"

"June. He wants me out by then."

Market-rate. No stabilization. No protections he knew about.

"Marco. You don't have to leave."

📅 The Law (Two Years In)

I wrote about Good Cause when it first passed. It literally saved Halloween. Two years on, it's saving a lot more than that.

On April 20, 2024, New York passed the Good Cause Eviction law. If you're rent-stabilized, you already had protections. This law is for the other million-plus tenants who didn't have them. Per Real Property Law Article 6-A: your landlord can't evict you without proving a legally defined "good cause" in court. Can't refuse to renew cuz they feel like it. Can't raise your rent above a threshold without justifying it to a judge.

Two years in, roughly a million renters are covered statewide per the NY Senate. Nineteen municipalities have opted in as of early 2026, including New York City.

🛡️ Are You Covered?

This is where most tenants trip up. The law doesn't cover everyone. Here's the test, per HPD and the NY AG's guide:

Your building is not new construction. Buildings with a certificate of occupancy after January 1, 2009 that are less than 30 years old are exempt. CO in 2010? Currently exempt. CO in 1995? Covered. Most pre-war and postwar buildings in NYC clear this easily.

Your landlord owns more than 10 units statewide. Small landlord exemption. But here's the catch most tenants miss: landlords can't hide behind LLCs.

And this is where I go full Peter and Nance from Portlandia (you know, the couple who can't just eat the chicken, they gotta know which farm, which farmer, what the chicken's name was, and now they're in a cult).

The LLC owns the building. But WHO owns the LLC? And who owns THAT LLC? Because if we trace this back far enough, we're gonna find one actual human being, a natural person (meaning a flesh-and-blood human, not a corporate entity, because yes, corporations are legally "persons" and yes, that's as bonkers as it sounds), and THAT person's total unit count is what matters.

Your landlord saying "I only own this one building" doesn't mean a damn thing if the person behind the LLC owns 50 units across the city. It's the free-range chicken of property law. We're tracing it all the way back. Check Who Owns What.

Marco looked up from his shelf. "He doesn't, like, just own this one building?"

"Probably not. We'll find out."

Your rent is below 245% of Fair Market Rent. For a NYC one-bedroom, roughly $6,000/month. Above that, you're not covered. HCR publishes thresholds annually.

You're not already covered by another program. Stabilized, controlled, subsidized, public housing. If you've already got protections, Good Cause doesn't apply. Not sure? Check here.

Check your address at goodcausenyc.org.

💰 The Rent Increase Cap

This is the section people screenshot. So let's be precise.

The law says a rent increase above the "local rent standard" is presumptively unreasonable. Formula: 5% plus annual change in CPI, or 10%, whichever is lower. DHCR sets the operative figure annually before August 1. The current local rent standard for NYC is 8.79% (CPI of 3.79% plus 5%), set in DHCR's February 2025 notice.

"Presumptively unreasonable" means: if your landlord raises rent above the standard, the burden shifts to them. They gotta prove the increase is justified by actual costs (taxes, maintenance, capital improvements). Can't prove it? Increase doesn't hold.

Not a hard cap. But a real one. Your landlord has to show their math.

Some landlords are getting creative. Rent stays flat, three new line items appear: "technology fee," "administrative fee," "amenity fee." If the total cost went up by more than the standard, splitting it between "rent" and "fees" doesn't change the analysis. I wrote about that whole scam in my junk fees guide.

⚖️ What the Courts Are Saying

No appellate court has ruled on Good Cause's constitutionality as of April 2026. But housing court decisions are telling a story.

In RP Wimbledon Owner, LLC v Chisholm, a New York County judge dismissed a landlord's holdover petition because it alleged $28,350 in arrears without specifying which months were unpaid. Lump sum wasn't enough. The court said tenants have a right to understand the claim against them, and the landlord failed to provide it. Petition tossed.

Procedural questions are still messy. In 1719 Gates LLC v Torres, a Queens judge ruled Good Cause evictions for nonpayment had to go through nonpayment proceedings, not holdovers. Then the same judge reversed himself two months later. Different rulings from the same bench. The rules are still being written at the trial level.

But here's the part that matters most: many landlords are choosing not to litigate under Good Cause at all. Proving their case costs money. Losing is likely. So they're just not filing. That's the law working as intended, even without a single appellate victory.

📋 The Notice Your Landlord Probably Didn't Give You

Since August 2024, your landlord has been required to tell you whether your apartment is covered. In writing. When you sign your lease, when you renew, when they raise your rent more than 5%, when they start eviction proceedings. There's a specific form: the RPL 231-c notice.

I've asked maybe fifty clients this question in the last year. Know how many got the notice? Three. Three out of fifty. Forty-seven landlords decided this law didn't apply to them. That's not confusion. That's a strategy.

Every time I see another "we forgot to give the notice" defense, my left eyebrow climbs my forehead and refuses to come down, which is how I met my dermatologist, who diagnosed it as "litigation face" and prescribed a cream her office forgot to fax to my pharmacy.

If you never got this notice, document that. It matters when your case gets to court.

🎯 What to Do

Look up your address on goodcausenyc.org.

Check your landlord on Who Owns What.

Know your math: current rent times 1.0879. Anything above that is challengeable.

If your landlord is refusing to renew without good cause, you have the right to stay. They have to take you to court and prove it. Don't move out because a letter told you to.

If you need free legal help, Legal Aid Society and Housing Court Answers both handle Good Cause cases.

Marco's still restocking near the jazz section while Sleater-Kinney plays. I'm flipping through a bin of Blue Note reissues.

"So what happens if he tries to evict me anyway?"

I pull out a clean pressing of Charlie Parker with Strings. Been looking for this one. "Then you show the judge the timeline. Lease non-renewal within a year of Good Cause coverage? Law presumes retaliation. He'd have to prove it wasn't."

"And the rent thing?"

"Current rent times 1.0879. Anything above that, he's gotta justify to a judge with actual costs. Can't just say he feels like it."

Marco stops restocking and looks at me. "How do you know all this applies to my building?"

I check Who Owns What on my phone. His landlord's got buildings scattered across Brooklyn and Queens. "Your landlord owns 42 units. Building's from 1972. Your rent's twenty-four hundred. You're covered."

"So I just stay?"

"You just stay. He wants you gone, he takes you to Housing Court and explains to a judge why. And good luck to him on that. Easier to find Peter and Nance's chicken farm."

I head to the counter with the Bird. Marco rings it up. There's a framed picture above the register of Yoko Ono signed "For Steve, Love Yoko, 1971." Marco isn't Steve. I've been meaning to ask for two years. Today's not the day.

FAQ

Q: Does Good Cause apply to all NYC apartments?

No. Your building can't be new construction (CO after 2009 and less than 30 years old), landlord must own more than 10 units statewide, rent has to be below 245% of Fair Market Rent, and you can't already be covered by stabilization or another program. Check goodcausenyc.org or the HPD page.

Q: Can my landlord raise rent above the cap?

They can try. But anything above the local rent standard (currently 8.79% for NYC) is presumptively unreasonable. Burden shifts to them to prove it's justified by actual costs. Can't prove it? Doesn't hold.

Q: My landlord says my lease is up and I have to leave. Do I?

Not if you're covered by Good Cause. They can't refuse to renew without a legally defined reason, and they have to prove it in court. Do not move out based on a letter. That's literally what I do. Get in touch.

This is general legal information, not legal advice for your specific situation. Every apartment is different. If you're facing an eviction or rent dispute, consult with an attorney who can review your actual circumstances.