NYC Good Cause Eviction: What Landlords and Investors Must Know

On April 20, 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul signed Good Cause Eviction into state law, and it took effect immediately, altering the rules for millions of market-rate rental units across New York. For landlords and investors, this is not a distant policy change: it affects how you raise rents, how you remove tenants, and how you underwrite income property today.

In my 25-plus years working with buyers, sellers, and investors across all five boroughs, I have watched rent regulation expand incrementally. Good Cause is the broadest extension of tenant protections to market-rate units in a generation.

What Good Cause Eviction Does

Rent increase cap: For covered units, the "local rent standard" is the local rate of inflation plus 5%, capped at 10% total. A rent increase above that standard is presumed unreasonable, and a court decides the final answer. As of May 4, 2026, NYC's Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) listed the NYC-area inflation rate at 3.38%, for a local rent standard of 8.38%. New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) republishes the figure each year before August 1, so check hcr.ny.gov for the current number before you set a renewal.

Eviction restrictions: HPD lists the accepted good cause grounds for eviction, nonrenewal or termination of a covered tenancy. They include:

• Nonpayment of rent, unless the nonpayment follows an unreasonable rent increase
• A violation of a substantial lease obligation or the landlord's rules
• Nuisance, property damage, or illegal use of the home
• Unreasonable refusal of access for repairs or a showing to a prospective buyer
• Owner or family use as a primary residence, which does not apply if the tenant is 65 or older or has a disability
• Demolition or taking the home off the rental market, both of which require clear and compelling evidence in court
• Refusal of a reasonable lease renewal offered with 30 to 90 days of notice

Which Properties Are Covered

Coverage turns on who owns the unit, not just how big the building is. A "small landlord" is exempt only if the landlord owns 10 or fewer units in total across New York State, and the Attorney General's guide says an LLC is not exempt if any one person behind it owns more than 10 units statewide.

What Landlords Must Now Provide

Since August 18, 2024, every landlord in New York City must include a Good Cause notice, stating whether the home is covered and why or why not, with these actions:

• Offering a new lease or renewing an existing one
• Telling a tenant the lease will not be renewed or the tenancy is ending
• Raising rent by more than 5%
• Sending a 14-day rent demand
• Filing an eviction case

For non-renewals and rent increases above 5%, the required advance notice is 30, 60, or 90 days, depending on how long the tenant has lived in the home. HPD publishes template notices.

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How This Changes Multifamily Underwriting

Good Cause adds a ceiling to the revenue growth side of the NOI equation. In the Bronx, where co-ops and small multifamily buildings trade at cap rates in the 4-to-5% range, investors who underwrote aggressive rent bumps on covered buildings need to revise those projections.

Exemptions can change the answer on a specific building. A building completed in 2009 or later is outside the law for 30 years from its certificate of occupancy, and a high-rent unit above 245% of Fair Market Rent is outside it too. On a purchase, count the buyer's own statewide units too, because the small-landlord test looks at the owner, not the building.

For buyers evaluating Queens and Brooklyn multifamily properties, the exemption analysis should be part of every due diligence checklist. See the NYC market report index covering all 169 neighborhoods.

Sources: NYC Housing Preservation and Development, "Good Cause Eviction" (nyc.gov/site/hpd); New York State Attorney General, "New York State Good Cause Eviction Law." This article is general information, not legal advice.