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Good Cause Eviction: what New York's 2024 law covers in NYC

New York's Good Cause Eviction Law in NYC: which apartments it covers, the exemptions, the grounds for eviction, the 8.38% rent test for 2026 and the required notice.

Good Cause Eviction is a New York State law that protects tenants who are not rent-stabilized: a landlord covered by it may not evict a tenant, or refuse to renew a lease, without one of the reasons the law lists, and a rent increase above a yearly benchmark is presumed unreasonable. It is Article 6-A of the Real Property Law, enacted in the State budget and signed on April 20, 2024, and it applies in New York City automatically.

It matters because most New York City renters who are not in a regulated apartment had no right to a renewal before 2024: at the end of a lease, the landlord could simply decline to renew. For an owner, the law changes what a lease is worth and how a vacancy can be created; for a buyer, it changes what can be done with a building's tenants after closing.

Where and when it applies

The law took effect in New York City the day it was signed, April 20, 2024, with no local vote; the City's housing agency, HPD, says it applies to eviction cases first filed on or after that date. The parts requiring landlords to give tenants a notice took effect 120 days later, on August 18, 2024. Outside the city, a town, village or city must opt in by local law; the State's housing agency, HCR, listed 19 that had done so as of May 4, 2026. The whole article expires on June 15, 2034 unless the Legislature extends it.

Which apartments are covered

The law covers every rental home — with or without a written lease, and including apartments in mixed-use buildings — except those it exempts. The exemptions are what decide most cases:

  • A small landlord — one who owns no more than 10 units anywhere in New York State. For a company, every person with a direct or indirect stake in it must own 10 or fewer units, and a company that cannot name those people does not qualify. A landlord who claims this exemption in an eviction case must disclose its owners and their units.
  • An owner-occupied building of no more than 10 units.
  • Apartments already regulated — rent-stabilized and rent-controlled apartments, which have their own, stronger protections, and other units whose rents or evictions are regulated by law.
  • Income-restricted housing — apartments that must stay affordable under a law or a regulatory agreement with a government, such as public housing, project-based Section 8 and lottery apartments.
  • Co-ops and condominiums, and any unit in a building with an offering plan filed with the Attorney General.
  • New buildings — those that received a certificate of occupancy, temporary or permanent, on or after January 1, 2009, for 30 years from that certificate.
  • High-rent apartments — where the monthly rent is above 245% of the fair market rent HUD publishes for the area and the apartment's size.
  • Hotel rooms and other transient uses, school and college dormitories, seasonal homes, housing that comes with a job that has ended, housing in a religious facility, hospitals and senior-care facilities, manufactured homes, and a sublet the tenant wants back for personal use.

By BlockLot Intelligence's count of the City's rent-stabilization fee, 1,038,861 apartments were registered as rent-stabilized for tax year 2026/27 — all of them outside Good Cause, because their own law already protects them more. The same goes for the 71,381 assisted apartments BlockLot counts in HUD's records, which are income-restricted.

The high-rent threshold

HCR publishes the thresholds each year from HUD's fair market rent (FMR) for the area. In its 2026 notice, the same figures apply in all five boroughs — a unit renting above them is not covered:

SizeExempt aboveHUD FMR
Studio$6,196$2,529
1 bedroom$6,505$2,655
2 bedrooms$7,130$2,910
3 bedrooms$8,928$3,644
4 bedrooms$9,700$3,959

The 2025 thresholds were lower — $6,811 for a two-bedroom, for example.

What counts as good cause

A landlord of a covered apartment needs a court order to remove a tenant, and must prove one of the grounds the law lists:

  • unpaid rent — unless the arrears come from an unreasonable increase;
  • a substantial lease violation, not cured within 10 days of a written notice;
  • a nuisance, serious damage to the apartment, or interference with other tenants' safety or comfort;
  • occupancy that breaks the law where an agency has ordered the apartment vacated — the tenant may return once it is fixed;
  • illegal use of the apartment;
  • unreasonably refusing access for repairs or showings;
  • the owner's own use, or a close family member's, as a home, when no other suitable apartment in the building is free — never against a tenant 65 or older or disabled;
  • good-faith demolition, or withdrawing the apartment from the rental market;
  • refusing reasonable changes to the lease, including a rent increase that is not unreasonable, offered in writing.

The owner's-use, demolition and withdrawal grounds must be proved by clear and convincing evidence, a high bar, and a tenant pushed out by a false claim on any of them can sue for damages and legal fees. Every existing notice and court procedure still applies, and a tenant cannot sign the protection away in a lease.

The rent test

The law does not cap rents. Instead it sets a local rent standard — 5% plus the yearly change in the consumer price index for the region, or 10%, whichever is lower. An increase above it is presumed unreasonable: a landlord who refuses to renew a tenant who will not pay more must then prove the increase is justified, for example by rising property taxes, fuel, insurance or the cost of significant repairs not caused by neglect. An increase at or below the standard is not unreasonable.

For New York City, HCR uses the consumer price index for the New York–Newark–Jersey City area:

NoticeCPI changeStandard
August 20243.82%8.82%
April 20253.79%8.79%
July 20263.38%8.38%

So in 2026 a $2,000 rent can rise to $2,167.60 without being presumed unreasonable. "Rent" includes any fee charged for living in the apartment, but not optional amenities such as parking or storage — unless they are used to get around the law.

The notice landlords must give

Since August 18, 2024, a landlord must attach a notice, worded in the law itself, titled Notice to Tenant of Applicability or Inapplicability of the New York State Good Cause Eviction Law, to every new lease and renewal, every notice of a rent increase or non-renewal, every 14-day rent demand and every eviction petition. It says whether the apartment is covered, which exemptions the landlord claims, and the reason for any increase above the standard or any non-renewal. HPD publishes a fillable copy.

Separately, a landlord planning an increase of 5% or more, or not to renew, must say so in writing 30, 60 or 90 days ahead, depending on how long the tenant has lived there (under a year, one to two years, two years or more).

How it differs from rent stabilization

Rent stabilizationGood Cause
Who sets increasesThe Rent Guidelines BoardNobody: a court tests them
RegistrationEvery unit, every year, with HCRNone
RenewalA right, on set termsOnly without good cause to refuse

See rent stabilization for the system it supplements.

Changes on the table

A bill of technical amendments (S8612A) passed the State Senate on June 2, 2026. Among other things it would measure the 2009 new-building exemption apartment by apartment, add chronic non-payment as a ground and limit increases to one a year. As of October 9, 2026 it had not passed the Assembly and is not law.

A worked example

The American Copper Buildings, two rental towers at 626 First Avenue in Manhattan owned by a company, show how the exemptions stack. DOB's records show the towers' first temporary certificate of occupancy on November 25, 2016 — after the 2009 cut-off — so the new-building exemption keeps Good Cause away from them until 2046. And for tax year 2026/27 the City billed the stabilization fee on 761 of their apartments, which are rent-stabilized under the 421-a program and exempt for that reason too.

Where you see this in BlockLot

BlockLot does not say whether an apartment is covered — that turns on the landlord's whole portfolio and the rent, which no public record shows. But a building's Lot & building card holds facts the exemptions turn on: the residential units, the rent-stabilized units from the City's fee, whether the lot is a condominium, and the year built; the building's certificates of occupancy are in its Construction records, and a HUD contract appears at the top of the page.

Facts a Good Cause exemption turns on, on a building's page.
Facts a Good Cause exemption turns on, on a building's page.
  1. Regulated apartments are exempt
  2. Co-ops and condos are exempt

Questions people ask

Is my NYC apartment covered by Good Cause Eviction? Probably, if it is a market-rate rental and no exemption applies. The main ones are a landlord with 10 or fewer units statewide, a certificate of occupancy from 2009 or later, a co-op or condo unit, a regulated or subsidized apartment, and a rent above 245% of the fair market rent. The landlord's Good Cause notice must say which applies.

How much can my landlord raise the rent? There is no hard cap. An increase above the local rent standard — 8.38% for 2026 — is presumed unreasonable, and the landlord must justify it in court if a tenant who refuses it is taken to court.

Can my landlord refuse to renew my lease? Not without good cause, if the apartment is covered: unpaid rent, a serious lease violation, a nuisance, illegal use, refused access, the owner or family moving in, demolition, or withdrawing the apartment from the market.

Do landlords register Good Cause apartments? No. There is no registry and no State approval of increases or evictions; the law is applied by the court when a case is brought.

Is Good Cause the same as rent stabilization? No. Rent-stabilized apartments are exempt from Good Cause because their own law sets the increases and guarantees renewals.

When does the law end? June 15, 2034, unless the Legislature extends it.

Sources

By BlockLot. Reviewed October 9, 2026. Figures by BlockLot Intelligence, computed from public data on October 11, 2026. This page explains the rules in general; it is not legal or tax advice. For a decision about a specific property, check the official source or ask a professional. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.