BILL NUMBER: S305 Revised 9/12/23
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 1: Adds a new Article 6-A to the real property law titled Prohi-
bition of Eviction Without Good Cause, with the following sections:
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 occupan-
cy,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 one and one-half times the annual percentage change in the
Consumer Price Index for the relevant region, 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.
Section 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.
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 former 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 temporary moratoria on evictions during the emergency
pandemic have provided a basic level of protection for many tenants
during that time. In a normal year, housing courts would receive an
average of 39,000 filings in this time-frame. However, it was projected
that millions of New Yorkers would be at risk of eviction, due to unem-
ployment or other impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic when the protections
expired. After the moratoria expired in mid January of 2022, there has
been a 40% increase in eviction cases filed by landlords. The New York
Times reports 500 cases of tenants being thrown out of their homes less
than a month after the expiration, which is double the number in all of
the 20 months prior. This number is increasing every month thereaft-
er.(1)
The risk many New Yorkers face of losing their homes existed prior to
COVID19 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 expiring lease
a 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).
Key Organizations supporting the Good Cause Eviction bill include:
*Legal Aid Society
*Housing Justice for All
*Community Service Society
*Urban Democracy Lab
*Pratt Center for Community Development
*1199 SEIU
*District Council 37, AFSCME
*Make the Road NY
*Strong Economy for All
 
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.
With the leading cause of homelessness being eviction, this legislation
would limit cases of homelessness and help to ensure that the human
right to housing is given meaning in New York State.
 
RACIAL JUSTICE IMPACT
This legislation is one of the many steps needed to address the racial
disparities in the current housing crisis. More than two thirds of Black
families in New York State rent, and Black households in New York are
three times as likely to face eviction as white households. Evictions
are consistently being filed at higher rates in New York counties with
high shares of black renters.2 The disproportionality of this issue is
indisputable.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
SENATE:
2019: S2892 (Salazar)- Referred to Judiciary, amended, recommit to Judi-
ciary
2020: S2892B- Amend and recommit to Judiciary
2021-2022: S3082- Referred to Judiciary
ASSEMBLY:
2019: A5030B (Hunter) - Referred to Housing
2020: A5030B - Amend and recommit to Housing
2021-2022: A5573- referred to Housing
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
No negative fiscal implications to the state or to localities. This bill
would result in fiscal savings by significantly reducing homelessness,
reducing the detrimental health impact of homelessness or housing
precarity, and by reducing the caseload of the state's housing courts
and all related administrative costs.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This Act shall take effect immediately.
(Bill memo amended 9-2023 to correct a technical error.)
1 Zaveri, M. (2022, May 2). After a two-year dip, evictions accelerate
in New York. The New York Times. Retrieved December 14, 2022, from
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/02/nyregion/new-york-evictionscases.html
2 Mironova, 0., Stein, S., & Baiocchi, G. (2022, February). Racial
Justice and the Right to Remain. Community Service Society of New York.
Retrievedfrom
https://smhttp-sst58547.nexcesscdn.net/nycseimages/uploads/pubs/
Racial_Justice_the_Right_to_Remain_Final_i5281 W29.pdf