NYC Affordability

What the law does

Good Cause Eviction is a New York State law, Article 6-A of the Real Property Law, that took effect on April 20, 2024. According to NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), it gives many tenants in unregulated (“market-rate”) apartments two things they didn’t have before:

1. A landlord needs a “good cause” reason to end the tenancy. That covers evicting you, declining to renew your lease, or, if you have no lease, telling you the tenancy is over. You don’t need a written lease to be protected, as long as the apartment is covered.
2. A benchmark for unreasonable rent increases. An increase above the “local rent standard” is presumptively unreasonable, and a tenant can raise that in Housing Court.

The good-cause reasons HPD lists include nonpayment of rent (unless the unpaid amount comes from an unreasonable increase), violating a substantial lease obligation, nuisance or serious damage, illegal use, unreasonably refusing the landlord access, a government vacate order, and refusing reasonable lease changes offered with 30 to 90 days’ written notice. A landlord can also reclaim the unit to live in themselves or for certain close family members, or to demolish it or take it off the market, but must prove those with “clear and convincing evidence,” and the owner-move-in reason doesn’t apply if the tenant is 65 or older or has a disability.

Who’s covered, and who isn’t

The default is “covered,” and the exemptions do the sorting. Per HPD and the state’s required notice form, the law does not apply to:

• Small landlords: an owner of 10 or fewer units in New York State in total. For an LLC, every individual owner has to clear that test. A landlord claiming this exemption in an eviction case must hand over a list of the units they own.
• Owner-occupied buildings with 10 or fewer units.
• Rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartments, which already have their own rules (see our rent stabilization guide), and income-restricted units like NYCHA, project-based Section 8, or Housing Connect lotteries.
• Units in condo and co-op buildings.
• Buildings that got their certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2009. Coverage starts 30 years after the CO, so a 2010 building comes under the law in 2040.
• High-rent units: rent above 245% of HUD’s Fair Market Rent for that county and unit size. New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) publishes the dollar thresholds each year; check its current notice rather than guessing.
• A handful of narrower categories: seasonal units, hotel rooms, school dorms, religious housing, hospitals and senior care facilities, manufactured homes, employer-provided housing when the job ends, and a sublet when the original tenant wants to move back.

Your landlord has to tell you which bucket you’re in. Since August 18, 2024, a landlord must attach a Good Cause notice stating whether the law applies (and if not, why) when offering a new or renewal lease, declining to renew, raising rent by more than 5%, sending a 14-day rent demand, or filing an eviction case.

The local rent standard

The local rent standard is the rate of inflation plus 5 percentage points, capped at 10%. The inflation figure is the annual change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for your region, which HCR publishes by August 1 each year. An increase above the lower of (CPI + 5%) or 10% is presumptively unreasonable.

The current figure: HPD states that as of May 4, 2026, the NYC-area inflation rate is 3.38%, so the local rent standard is 8.38%. A law-firm summary of HCR’s August 2026 annual notice (Warshaw Burstein) reports the same 3.38% CPI-U figure for the five NYC counties.

“Presumptively” matters. This isn’t a hard ceiling like a Rent Guidelines Board order. Per HPD, the landlord can give reasons for a bigger increase, such as significant repairs or higher property taxes, and the court makes the final call.

How a tenant actually uses it

Good Cause is enforced in court. There’s no agency that pre-approves your renewal. In practice:

• Read the notice. If your landlord says the law doesn’t apply, the notice has to say which exemption. If it does apply and the increase is above the standard, the notice has to give the landlord’s justification.
• It’s a defense. If you’re taken to Housing Court for nonpayment, you can argue the unpaid amount comes from an unreasonable increase. If the landlord declines to renew, they need one of the good-cause reasons.
• Get help early. HPD points tenants to 311 (ask for the Tenant Helpline) and Housing Court Answers.

Notice rules for big increases and non-renewals

Separately from Good Cause, and for nearly every residential tenant, Real Property Law §226-c (added by the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act) requires written notice before a landlord renews with an increase of 5% or more, or decides not to renew:

How long you’ve lived there (or your lease term)	Minimum notice
Under 1 year, and lease under 1 year	30 days
1 to 2 years, or a lease of 1 to 2 years	60 days
2+ years, or a lease of 2+ years	90 days

If the landlord misses the deadline, the statute says your tenancy continues on the existing terms until the full notice period has run from the date you actually got written notice. Our renewal lease entry covers how this plays out for stabilized and market-rate tenants.

Worked example

You’ve rented a covered, market-rate one-bedroom for 18 months at $3,000/month. Your landlord offers a renewal at $3,400.

• The increase: $3,400 − $3,000 = $400, which is 13.3% of your current rent.
• The local rent standard (cited): 8.38%, per HPD as of May 4, 2026.
• Highest presumptively reasonable rent (calculated): $3,000 × 1.0838 = $3,251.40, an increase of $251.40.
• Result: $3,400 is $148.60 above that line, so the increase is presumptively unreasonable. The landlord’s Good Cause notice has to state a justification, and a court would weigh it if it came to that.
• Notice: the increase is over 5%, and you’ve been there between one and two years, so §226-c requires at least 60 days’ written notice.

The 10% cap only bites when inflation runs hot. With a purely hypothetical CPI of 6%, the formula would give 6% + 5% = 11%, so the cap would hold the standard at 10%, or $3,300 on the same $3,000 rent.

What it doesn’t do

Good Cause doesn’t freeze your rent, doesn’t stop a landlord from asking for more, and doesn’t protect you if your unit falls into an exemption. If you’re planning to leave rather than fight an increase, see breaking a lease in NYC for what you could owe if you go early.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For your specific situation, call 311 for the Tenant Helpline or talk to a tenant attorney.