For most of New York's modern rental history, the line between rent-regulated housing and market-rate housing was reasonably clear. Stabilized units operated under one set of rules. Market-rate units operated under another. Landlords of unregulated apartments could set rent at whatever the market would bear, decline to renew a lease at expiration, and within the notice periods the HSTPA introduced in 2019, end tenancies without needing to state a reason.

The Good Cause Eviction Law, which took effect on April 20, 2024, changed that framework for a significant portion of New York's market-rate housing stock. For the first time, landlords of covered unregulated apartments must have a legally recognized reason to evict a tenant or refuse to renew a lease. Rent increases above a defined threshold are presumptively unreasonable. And every landlord in New York City and in opted-in municipalities must include a standardized disclosure in every lease, renewal, and eviction notice. Under Real Property Law section 231-c, landlords in municipalities that have not adopted Good Cause must also include a notice stating that the local law has not been adopted.

The law is not statewide in scope, but its geographic reach is expanding. As of 2026, New York City and more than a dozen upstate municipalities have adopted it, with more actively considering opt-in. Property managers outside covered areas today may fall within covered jurisdictions by their next lease cycle.

The Good Cause Eviction Law, codified in New York Real Property Law Article 6-A (sections 210 through 216), prohibits landlords of covered properties from evicting tenants or refusing lease renewals without a legally recognized reason, limits rent increases that can serve as the basis for non-payment eviction proceedings, and imposes mandatory disclosure requirements on all landlords in covered jurisdictions regardless of whether their specific unit is exempt.

What is Good Cause Eviction in New York? The Good Cause Eviction Law requires landlords of covered market-rate apartments to provide a legally recognized reason to evict a tenant or refuse a lease renewal. It also limits rent increases by defining a threshold above which increases are presumed unreasonable, giving covered tenants the right to contest those increases as a defense in housing court.

Here is what this guide covers:

1. How Good Cause Eviction works and what it requires

2. Which units and landlords are covered, and which are exempt

3. How municipalities outside New York City opt in and customize the law

4. The notice requirements that apply to every landlord, covered or not

5. What constitutes good cause and how rent increase limits work

6. Operational implications for property managers managing mixed portfolios

7. Where the law is heading statewide

This guide is for informational purposes only and reflects the law as understood as of 2026. Good Cause Eviction opt-in status, exemption thresholds, and local rent standards change frequently. Confirm current parameters with DHCR and consult qualified legal counsel before making compliance decisions for any specific property or jurisdiction.

How Good Cause Eviction Works

Before the Good Cause Eviction Law, landlords of unregulated apartments in New York City could decline to renew a lease at expiration without stating a reason. As long as proper advance notice was provided under HSTPA's notice requirements, the tenancy ended. Good Cause fundamentally changes this for covered units.

Under the law, a landlord of a covered property must establish one of the statute's defined good cause grounds in court before a tenant can be removed. This applies to both evictions and non-renewals. A tenant who pays rent, complies with the lease, and avoids prohibited conduct cannot be displaced simply because a lease has expired. The practical effect is that covered tenants have a right of tenure as long as they meet their lease obligations.

Good Cause is enforced through the courts. A tenant does not file a complaint with a government agency to invoke their protections. Instead, they raise Good Cause as a defense in a housing court proceeding when a landlord seeks to evict them or remove them through non-renewal. This means the law's practical significance surfaces most prominently when a landlord initiates an eviction or non-renewal proceeding for a covered unit.

The law also limits rent increases in a specific and consequential way. A rent increase above the local rent standard, defined as the lower of 10% or 5% plus the applicable regional Consumer Price Index, is presumptively unreasonable. If a landlord seeks to evict a tenant for non-payment of rent that resulted from an unreasonable rent increase, the court can find that the non-payment was justified by the increase. This does not mean all rent increases above the threshold are illegal, but it does mean a landlord who raises rent above that level and then seeks to evict for non-payment bears the burden of demonstrating in court that the increase was reasonable given the circumstances.

The law is scheduled to expire on June 15, 2034, unless the New York State legislature extends it, a common legislative pattern in New York housing law. Property managers should treat that sunset date as a political variable, not a planning certainty.

Which Units and Landlords Are Covered

Coverage under Good Cause Eviction is not universal. The law includes several exemptions that define a substantial portion of New York's rental housing stock as outside its scope. Understanding precisely which properties are covered and which are not is the starting point for every compliance decision.

Buildings constructed after January 1, 2009 are exempt for a period of 30 years from the date a Temporary or Permanent Certificate of Occupancy was issued. This means any building completed in 2009 or later falls entirely outside Good Cause coverage until its 30-year exemption period expires.

Units renting above 245% of Fair Market Rent are exempt. The FMR threshold is set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is updated annually by DHCR. In New York City, this threshold is currently in the range of approximately $6,000 per month for a one-bedroom unit, though the exact figure varies annually by unit size and is updated by HUD each year. Municipalities that opt into the law may set a higher FMR threshold, which narrows the exemption and extends coverage to more tenants.

Small landlords are exempt. In New York City, a small landlord is defined as a natural person who holds a direct or indirect ownership interest in no more than 10 units statewide. The 10-unit threshold looks through corporate entities: if any individual with a direct or indirect ownership stake in an LLC or other entity owns more than 10 units in total, the entity does not qualify as a small landlord. Landlords claiming the small landlord exemption in an eviction proceeding must provide the tenant with a list of all units in which they hold any ownership interest statewide.

This LLC look-through provision is one of the most operationally significant aspects of the exemption. A property management company that manages units held in multiple LLCs with overlapping ownership needs to calculate the total unit count at the individual natural person level, not the entity level, before claiming the small landlord exemption for any unit.

Owner-occupied buildings with 10 or fewer units are exempt. If the owner of a building lives in the building and the building contains 10 or fewer units, all units in that building fall outside Good Cause coverage.

Additional exemptions include: units already subject to rent regulation under state or federal law, units that must be affordable at specific income levels under a regulatory agreement, buildings operated by educational institutions, hotel rooms and Class B dwellings, units in medical facilities, manufactured homes, and units rented in connection with employment where the employment is being lawfully terminated.

Units already subject to rent stabilization or rent control are not affected by Good Cause. Those tenants already have just cause eviction protections under the existing rent regulation framework. Good Cause added a new protection layer for the market-rate sector that previously had none.

How Municipalities Outside New York City Opt In

The Good Cause Eviction Law is mandatory in New York City. Outside New York City, it applies only if a municipality's local legislative body passes a local law adopting it under New York Real Property Law section 213.

As of April 2025, the following municipalities had opted in: Albany, Beacon, Binghamton, Catskill, Croton-on-Hudson, Fishkill, Hudson, Ithaca, Kingston, New Paltz, Newburgh, Nyack, Poughkeepsie, and Rochester. This list is expanding. Before relying on this for compliance decisions, confirm the current opt-in status of any jurisdiction on the DHCR Good Cause Eviction page, which is updated annually by August 1.

What makes the upstate adoption landscape operationally significant for property managers is that municipalities can modify two key parameters when they opt in: the small landlord portfolio threshold and the Fair Market Rent exemption threshold.

In New York City, the small landlord exemption covers owners of 10 or fewer units. Most upstate municipalities that have opted in to date have set that threshold at one unit, meaning only landlords who own a single unit statewide qualify for the small landlord exemption in those jurisdictions. This effectively eliminates the small landlord exemption for any property management company or multi-unit owner operating in those opted-in upstate municipalities.

Municipalities can also set higher FMR thresholds, which extends coverage to higher-rent units. Albany, for example, set its FMR threshold at 345% rather than the default 245%, bringing more units under coverage.

For property managers with portfolios spanning multiple jurisdictions, this creates a patchwork of local rules. The same lease template that works in a jurisdiction that has not opted in may not comply in a neighboring city that has adopted Good Cause with a one-unit small landlord threshold. Tracking which municipalities are covered and what their specific parameters are is an ongoing compliance responsibility, not a one-time audit.

The Notice Requirements That Apply to Every Landlord

This is the section most property managers overlook, and it is the most universally applicable compliance obligation under Good Cause Eviction.

Effective August 18, 2024, every landlord in New York City and every opted-in municipality must include the standardized Good Cause Eviction Law Notice in every initial lease, every renewal lease, every notice of non-renewal, and every 14-day notice to pay or quit. This notice requirement applies whether or not the specific unit is covered by the law, and whether or not the landlord qualifies for an exemption.

The notice must inform the tenant of one of three things: the unit is covered by Good Cause Eviction; the unit is not covered, with the specific applicable exemption identified; or the property is located in a municipality outside New York City that has not adopted Good Cause Eviction.

Landlords in municipalities that have not yet adopted Good Cause Eviction must still provide the notice under Real Property Law section 231-c, with the non-adoption of the local law identified as the reason for non-coverage. This extends the notice obligation into jurisdictions that have not opted in, requiring landlords to address the law's applicability in every lease and legal notice they issue.

A lease or legal notice that omits the required Good Cause notice is a compliance failure regardless of whether the unit is actually covered by the law's substantive protections. The New York State Attorney General's office and the Tenant Protection Unit of the Division of Housing and Community Renewal have both signaled increased enforcement focus on Good Cause compliance.

For property management companies operating standard lease templates across multiple properties and jurisdictions, updating templates is not sufficient. Every individual lease, renewal, and eviction-related notice needs to be reviewed and updated to include the correct Good Cause notice language for that specific property's jurisdiction and exemption status.

What Constitutes Good Cause

For units that are covered by the law, a landlord can only remove a tenant or refuse to renew a lease by establishing one of the following grounds in court:

The tenant has failed to pay rent, provided the rent owed did not result from an unreasonable rent increase. Non-payment resulting from a rent increase above the local rent standard does not constitute good cause for eviction.

The tenant has violated a substantial obligation of their tenancy that was not corrected within 10 days of receiving a notice to cure.

The tenant is using the premises for an illegal purpose, engaging in conduct that interferes with the comfort and safety of other occupants or adjacent residents, or allowing damage to the property beyond normal wear and tear.

The landlord requires possession of the unit for their own primary residence or that of an immediate family member, provided specific conditions are met.

The landlord is withdrawing the unit from the rental market entirely.

A government agency has issued a vacate order due to a condition the landlord did not create.

Several things are notably absent from this list: lease expiration alone, a desire to renovate, or the wish to rent to a different tenant at a higher rent. These were the most common practical reasons for non-renewal in the pre-Good Cause market-rate environment. Under current law, none of them constitutes good cause.

The Rent Increase Limit

The law's rent increase provision operates as follows. A rent increase is presumptively unreasonable if it exceeds the local rent standard: the lower of 10% or 5% plus the applicable regional Consumer Price Index. As of April 2025, the local rent standard was 8.79% in New York City and surrounding counties and 8.38% upstate. These figures change annually and must be verified against current DHCR guidance before issuing any rent increase notice to a covered tenant.

The presumption is rebuttable. A landlord can present evidence in court that a higher increase was reasonable given specific circumstances: significant capital repairs, substantial property tax increases, or other documented cost increases. The court has discretion to find a higher increase reasonable based on that evidence. However, the burden of establishing reasonableness rests with the landlord once a tenant raises the unreasonableness defense.

This is a significant operational shift. In the pre-Good Cause environment, market-rate landlords could set renewal rents at whatever the market would support. Under Good Cause, a rent increase above the local rent standard creates legal risk in any subsequent eviction proceeding for that tenancy. Property managers who routinely issue above-threshold increases to covered tenants need to document the business justification for each increase in a way that would hold up in court.

Operational Implications for Property Managers

The Good Cause Eviction Law creates several specific operational challenges for property managers handling portfolios that include covered units.

Lease template audits are now ongoing: Every jurisdiction that opts in potentially changes the applicable exemption parameters. A lease template that correctly reflected the law for a property in one city may be incorrect after a neighboring municipality adopts Good Cause with a one-unit small landlord threshold. Templates need to be reviewed against current opt-in lists at every renewal cycle.

Rent increase documentation needs to be defensible: For covered units where a landlord has a legitimate basis for a rent increase above the local rent standard, that justification needs to be documented before the notice is issued, not assembled retroactively if a tenant raises it as a defense. Documentation of capital improvement costs, property tax increases, and insurance cost escalations should be maintained at the unit level.

The LLC ownership analysis is not optional: Any property management company where ownership is held through LLCs or other entities needs to conduct a clean count of total units owned by each individual natural person with any ownership stake. This analysis needs to be updated whenever ownership changes. A management company that cannot accurately state the individual ownership counts for all principals operating under its management has an unresolved exemption determination for every unit where the small landlord exemption is being claimed.

Non-renewal decisions for covered units require documentation: Before issuing a non-renewal notice for a covered unit, the specific ground for non-renewal must be identified and documented. A non-renewal issued without a recognized Good Cause ground is not enforceable, and the tenant can remain in possession.

Court proceedings now require affirmative showings: Eviction proceedings for covered tenants require the landlord to affirmatively establish Good Cause as part of the court case, not simply demonstrate non-payment or lease expiration. Property managers who handle eviction filings for covered units need legal counsel familiar with Good Cause's procedural requirements.

For property management companies handling the lease documentation, rent tracking, and notice workflows across a mixed portfolio of covered and exempt units, maintaining clarity on the status of each unit and the documentation supporting each exemption claim or rent increase decision requires systematic record-keeping. RIOO guide to contract management in property management covers how documentation discipline at the lease level reduces downstream legal exposure. RIOO's Leasing Management and Contracts & Renewals modules support the property-level recordkeeping and lease workflow management that Good Cause compliance requires across a statewide portfolio.

Key Takeaways for Property Managers

• The Good Cause Eviction Law, effective April 20, 2024, requires landlords of covered market-rate units to establish a legally recognized reason to evict or refuse to renew a lease. Lease expiration alone is no longer sufficient

• Coverage primarily affects pre-2009 market-rate apartments in New York City, subject to exemptions. Outside New York City, it applies only in municipalities that have passed a local opt-in law. Confirm current opt-in status at hcr.ny.gov/good-cause-eviction before relying on any published list

• The small landlord exemption (10 or fewer units statewide in NYC) is assessed at the individual natural person level, not the entity level. LLC ownership structures do not provide shelter from coverage if any individual owner exceeds the threshold

• Most municipalities that have opted in upstate have set the small landlord threshold at one unit, effectively eliminating the exemption for multi-unit owners and management companies in those jurisdictions

• Rent increases above the local rent standard (the lower of 10% or 5% plus regional CPI, updated annually by DHCR) are presumptively unreasonable and create legal risk in any subsequent non-payment eviction for covered tenants. Verify current figures before issuing any rent increase notice

• The notice requirement under Real Property Law section 231-c applies to landlords in covered jurisdictions including those with exempt units, effective August 18, 2024. Landlords in non-opted-in municipalities must also provide the notice, identifying non-adoption as the reason for non-coverage

• The law is scheduled to expire June 15, 2034, but legislative extension is a live political question that operators should not treat as settled

The Geographic Expansion Is Not Finished

Good Cause Eviction began as a New York City law. Within two years of passage, more than a dozen upstate municipalities had adopted it, and advocacy organizations are actively working to expand that list. The pattern of adoption tracks closely with local housing advocacy capacity and political composition, and both are present in more municipalities than have yet acted.

For property managers, the more consequential trend is not the number of jurisdictions that have adopted the law but the terms on which they have adopted it. Most opted-in upstate municipalities have set the small landlord threshold at one unit. That choice reflects a deliberate policy position, not an accident, and it signals what future opt-in jurisdictions are likely to do.

The practical implication is that property managers operating in jurisdictions that have not yet adopted Good Cause cannot plan on those jurisdictions remaining non-adopted indefinitely. The compliance infrastructure, lease templates, documentation practices, and ownership analysis frameworks that Good Cause requires should be built now, before opt-in happens, rather than reactively after a local law passes with a short effective date.

New York's direction on tenant protection is consistent across every legislative development since 2019. The HSTPA extended protections to stabilized tenants. Good Cause extended them to a large segment of the market-rate sector. The ETPA is spreading upstate alongside Good Cause. The operators who build compliance infrastructure proactively are the ones who absorb each new development without operational disruption. For more on how technology-enabled platforms adapt as regulatory environments grow more complex, see RIOO guide to scaling property management with tech-enabled solutions.

FAQ

1. Does Good Cause Eviction apply to rent-stabilized apartments?

No. Rent-stabilized tenants already have just cause eviction protections under New York's rent regulation framework. Good Cause applies to market-rate units that were previously unregulated. It does not add obligations to already-regulated units or change how stabilization operates.

2. What happens if a landlord issues a non-renewal notice without good cause for a covered unit?

The tenant can use the absence of good cause as a defense in housing court. A landlord who cannot establish one of the statute's recognized grounds cannot obtain a court order for eviction or removal. The tenant retains possession of the unit.

3. Is a rent increase above the local rent standard illegal?

No. A rent increase above the local rent standard (the lower of 10% or 5% plus regional CPI) is presumptively unreasonable, not automatically illegal. The distinction matters in court: if a landlord seeks to evict a covered tenant for non-payment of rent that resulted from an above-threshold increase, the tenant can raise the presumption of unreasonableness as a defense. The landlord can rebut that presumption by demonstrating that the increase was justified by documented costs such as capital repairs or property tax increases.

4. How does the small landlord exemption work for LLC-owned properties?

The exemption is assessed at the individual natural person level. If any individual with a direct or indirect ownership interest in an LLC or other entity owns more than 10 units statewide in total, the entity does not qualify as a small landlord. The entity's individual owners must each independently meet the 10-unit threshold. In any eviction proceeding where the small landlord exemption is claimed, the landlord must disclose all natural persons with ownership stakes and their respective unit counts.

5. Do I need to include the Good Cause notice even if my property is in a city that has not adopted the law?

Yes. The notice requirement under Real Property Law section 231-c applies to landlords in municipalities that have not adopted Good Cause, who must indicate in the notice that the municipality has not opted in. The notice obligation extends beyond opted-in jurisdictions.

6. What is the local rent standard and how is it calculated?

The local rent standard is the lower of 10% or 5% plus the applicable regional Consumer Price Index for the area where the property is located. The CPI component is updated annually and published by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. Current figures are published at hcr.ny.gov/good-cause-eviction and must be verified before issuing any rent increase notice to a covered tenant.

7. Can a tenant waive their Good Cause rights in a lease?

No. A tenant cannot waive their rights under Good Cause Eviction, and any lease provision purporting to waive those rights is void as against public policy.

8. When does the Good Cause Eviction Law expire?

The law is scheduled to expire on June 15, 2034, unless extended by the New York State legislature, a common legislative pattern in New York housing law. Given the ongoing expansion of its geographic reach, legislative extension before 2034 is widely anticipated, but no formal extension has been enacted as of 2026.

Note: The information in this article reflects the New York State Good Cause Eviction Law as of 2026 under New York Real Property Law Article 6-A (sections 210 through 216) and Section 231-c. Opt-in status, exemption thresholds, and local rent standards change frequently. Property managers should confirm current parameters with DHCR and consult qualified legal counsel before making compliance decisions for any specific property or jurisdiction.