Hundreds of thousands of households across the state already owe back rent as a result of the pandemic, and face eviction when protections expire on Jan. 15. The Good Cause Eviction bill would give tenants the right to a lease renewal in most cases, and prevent landlords from removing a renter without an order from a judge.
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For 19 years, José Bejar and Patricia Bejar have lived on the first floor of a two-family home in Bayside, Queens. They have paid the rent on time each month, they say, even during the pandemic, when José’s salary was reduced and the monthly fee increased. They even have purchased their own heaters for the winter as well as kitchen flooring, carpets and refrigerators.
But in August they received a letter from the landlord: They had to leave in 90 days.
Bejar’s family paid their rent until October, when they decided to fight the eviction and demand repairs. They had no heat; the windows needed fixing; and they were missing a carbon monoxide detector, stove and oven. Last month, a Queens judge ordered the property owner to make the repairs, but the looming eviction process can commence once state tenant protections end on Jan. 15. The Bejars may have little recourse, because tenants in non-rent stabilized apartments, like buildings with fewer than six units, have no right to a new lease. Property owners can order them out, no questions asked.
“We are in limbo. I don’t know what is going to happen now,” said Patricia Bejar.
A piece of state legislation known as the Good Cause Eviction bill would give tenants like the Bejars the right to a lease renewal in most cases, cap rent increases on existing tenants and prevent landlords from removing a renter without an order from a judge, even if their lease has expired or they never had a lease. Property owners would need to prove “good cause”—like nonpayment—to kick tenants out.
The bill has emerged as a key demand of many tenants’ rights advocates, while landlord groups have launched an aggressive campaign to kill the measure. It is among the highest-profile fights facing Albany in this legislative session: progressive Democrats want to pass Good Cause before New York’s eviction moratorium ends Jan. 15, and two Senate committees held a hearing on the measure that kicked off Friday morning.
It is not yet clear if legislative leaders and officials will support the bill. Attorney General Letitia James and Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin have both publicly backed the idea, and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins has sponsored a similar measure, but Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Gov. Kathy Hochul have not.
Some influential tenant advocates and lawmakers say they hope backing off their demands for an eviction moratorium extension could make Hochul and Heastie more amenable to Good Cause.
Jose Bejar, a 78-year-old immigrant from Ecuador, said the legislation would help him and his wife hold on to their home. “We do not have a lease but I can show you my bank account history and you will see that I pay my rent by check,” he said.
Bejar’s landlord, and the law firm representing him, did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment for this story. Legal Aid’s top Queens housing attorney, Sateesh Nori, said the landlord spoke with him before hiring a lawyer and said he wanted the Bejars out so he could sell the building.
“Under the law, he doesn’t need any reason,” Nori said. “The only reason he needs is ‘there’s no lease.’”
Nori said property owners looking to sell their buildings can force tenants out to make the properties more attractive to buyers. In other cases, new owners can abruptly increase rents or deny a new lease to their tenants. That makes renters casualties of such home sales, Nori said.
“You can’t just evict someone because of a business decision,” he added.
About half of New York City’s apartments do not fall under rent-stabilization rules and tens of thousands have been removed from the stabilized rolls since the 1990s, meaning those tenants have no guarantee of a lease renewal or dramatic rent hikes.
More than 152,000 rent-stabilized apartments were deregulated from 1993 to 2018, and property owners managed to remove another 8,000 units from rent-stabilization via vacancy rent hikes just before landmark tenant protections took effect in June 2019.
Landlords and their representatives have fought the Good Cause bill, likening it to universal rent control that strips owners of their property rights. They need to increase rents to cover the costs of a mortgage, rising property taxes and water bills, say members of the landlord group Small Property Owners of New York (SPONY).
“Good Cause Eviction legislation would compromise a small property owner’s ability to cover the basic costs of providing safe, quality housing for New Yorkers, which will ultimately reduce the supply of rental housing at a time when what we really need is more housing choices for people, not less,” said Joanna Wong, a Manhattan landlord and a SPONY member.
“Small property owners are gasping for air,” added Lincoln Eccles, a Brooklyn landlord and another member of the group.
But the bill’s backers say large corporate landlords are the biggest beneficiaries from the current arrangement, which enables them to take over property portfolios and jack up rents or push out tenants. A group of Brooklyn tenants rallied in October to highlight the actions of their new landlord, the firm Greenbrook Partners, which has moved to evict or raise rents on residents across their new buildings.
At that rally, State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, the chair of the Senate’s housing committee, said the bill would block investors from scooping up buildings and ejecting tenants.
“You cannot be evicted from your home unless your landlord has good cause to do that. It’s a simple concept,” Kavanagh said. “This idea of eviction for profit is a relatively new thing in New York in the past decades. Many predatory equity companies have cut their teeth on it. Many have become thirsty for that kind of profit.”
The bill could help tenants, particularly low-income residents, at a precarious moment across New York City: Hundreds of thousands of households already owe back rent as a result of the pandemic and face eviction when protections expire on Jan. 15.
Good Cause would not help them pay their arrears, but it would prevent many renters from losing their homes and further fueling a potential homelessness crisis.
A recent report by the Community Service Society (or CSS, a City Limits funder) found that rent continued to increase for low-income New Yorkers despite the pandemic, contradicting a popular narrative that rents had declined as a result of the crisis. The report, based on a survey of low-income tenants, found that rents rose for 43 percent of those living below the federal poverty line, with the increases disproportionately impacting low-income tenants of color. Monthly prices increased for 49 percent of Asian tenants and 41 percent of Black and Latinx renters compared to 32 percent of white tenants, CSS found.
In the case of the Bejar family, their rent rose from $1,900 to $2,100 in 2020, and despite José having lost his full-time job and having just come out of knee surgery, they still paid.
“We even stopped eating, but we paid him the rent,” José Bejar said.
But this is not the case for many New Yorkers. Across the state, 27 percent of low-income tenants “owe back rent, with Black and Latino tenants—particularly women—at the greatest risk,” reads the CSS report.
The state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), designed to cover the bankrent of New Yorkers who owe due to the pandemic, has failed to cover about two-thirds of its nearly 300,000 applicants. There are already 192,000 nonpayment eviction filings in housing courts, the CSS report adds.
READ MORE: Letitia James Backs ‘Good Cause’ Eviction Bill in Run for New York Governor
Meanwhile, 36 percent of low-income respondents and 22 percent of moderate- or high-income respondents reported to CSS that they were concerned about losing their home when the moratorium expires.
“All indications suggest that if the eviction moratorium expires, housing courts reopen, and no additional eviction protections and rent relief are passed, the impacts will be most severely felt by low-income tenants and communities of color,” the report warns.
Approval of the Good Cause Eviction Bil is one of the recommendations made by CSS to curb the potential eviction crisis, along with statewide Right to Counsel and a winter eviction moratorium like the one that was passed in Seattle.
Good Cause protections already exist in a handful of New York towns, including Albany, which enacted a version modeled off the state bill last year.
“The tenant should have some protection,” Nori said. “And hopefully something like this is going to happen in Albany, but we don’t know. We’re hoping.”
71 thoughts on “As NY’s Eviction Moratorium Nears its End, Will Albany Pass ‘Good Cause’ Bill?”
What about those such as myself who are court ordered to pay child support, and at such a high rate, that we cant afford to keep up w everything.??, We are challenged with.paying bills.or heat, or are we going to eat tonight.?? Is my dog or pets gonna have enough food, God forbid we need a new pair of boots or theirs an emergency, becuse we are in limbo, stuck, wondering n looking for answers but to no avail….We low class n struggling families and individuals severaly need the help and assitance. If we can barly cover rent, how are we ever gonna get into another suitable place…
How about you choose between paying your cell phone, internet, and cable or paying for a roof over your head? Get rid of the animal also or go homeless because of the feeding costs. You choice! You probably smoke too and probably smoke weed as well. The choice to spend your money on all these amenities over paying your rent will ultimately find you homeless. Suck it up and get rid of everything so you can pay your rent and not end up on the streets!
Did you say get rid of your animal because of feeding cost how about get rid of you because of feeding cost I didn’t care about the cellphone I don’t smoke I don’t have cable I don’t have internet but when you said get rid of your animal that shows me you never had a heart you don’t have a heart you can’t have a heart and animal is human that’s like saying get rid of your child so you can have a roof over your head God will prevail whatever needs to be done will be done I hope another than torium is past and I hope the good cause bill is passed then what I guess you will have to go bury your head in the sand again oh well
You’re a f*ingwith that attack response. You sound incredibly ignorant and hate filled. You seem like a miserable old miser that no one can stand. Try splurging for some compassion. You have no idea how some people love and yet you judge. I hope karma slaps you in the head and you end up with a dose of devastation. I hope you suffer greatly just so you can understand how these people feel. Open your ignorant mind. You sound like a uneducated racist slumlord. I’ll bet you got beat up a lot as a kid. Now you’re just an overweight bitter old man tossing out stereotypical rants.
I bet your a liberal free loading mooch that wants to live off other peoples private property for free since that what liberals/socialist like you do best, take advantage and leech off the hardworking tax payers but don’t contribute a thing like the parasite you are. Using a pandemic that is no longer in the state of emergency to take advantage of hard working Americans assets. I bet you don’t realize how a middle class landlord feels when they are behind on their mortgage for 2+ years because of other people while still paying bills, feeding their families, and dealing with the stress of foreclosure. Go cry to your government for help, instead of sending them to the middle class and having us deal with their issues. Better yet why don’t you take some of those soon to be homeless people in your house and have them live with you? I bet you won’t! Lmao
*you’re
100% Agreed
Exactly 💯
Very good analysis
This is fake news .tenants donot want to go back to work they became lazy and sucking the merits of the landord
Incorrect use of the word “merit.” Go back to middle school, or crack open a dictionary more than once per decade. If you’re going to insult someone you don’t even know behind the safety of an anonymous message board at least choose the words you use correctly.
This is all you have liberal? Insult his word usage? Seems to me you got the point so loud and clear it offended you. Additionally, the only thing you could retort with is his word usage? Does this make you feel better to yourself or make you feel as if your better than him? It’s cool, you own nothing and have squandered what you had away. But its ok be mad at him for using the wrong word. Look in a mirror!
Yes. The goal of a liberal socialist. Become a bigger parasite then they already are.
Do you think the mother of your kid/kids gets a break from taking care of her responsibility? You don’t get a cut nor a break from taking care of your kids that’s not negotiable
I have very interested history callme
Nyc and nys is becoming like a hell for small landlords. They never run out of ideas which squeeze small landlords. I have not received rent from squatters since Dec 2019 but the courts have been waiting for governor to allow them. So in a free country America where is my property rights? Why courts failed to enforce constitution which govt is currently violating?
Agree
I haven’t received rent from one tenant is two years. I don’t rent with leases only agreements. Landlords should make repairs but you should be able to evict tenants you don’t want. It’s my property.
We were lucky enough to get LRAP…
One year back rent
They had already left and destroyed their half of my only duplex
The same thing is happening to me . I have not received rent for almost 3 years . My tenants are on a fixed income so they’re not affected by anything. I was charging them cheap rent and have not raised them in over seven years this is the thanks I get for being a good landlord. At this point I’m selling my condo and I want them out thank you.
I do not live within NYC limits and cannot comment on rent regulation or laws as I know nothing about them. I am a homeowner on Long Island with a small house. In Feb 2021 I allowed a couple slightly above middle aged to move into my home (basement) for an agreed “one month”as they had no where to go due to being evicted.( I found out after the fact). They stated they just needed the month because they had an apartment in Brooklyn and the heat wasn’t working and it could take about two weeks to be repaired. I found out that was a lie,there never was an apartment. I now realized that it was nothing more than a”take advantage of the good neighbor” scam. After thirty days they are then entitled to “squatters rights”. What person in “government” would come up with such a law as this and take away the rights of property owners. When you ask/tell a person(s) to leave
your property with proper notice they should leave or be treated as trespassers. In June 2021 they allowed four un-vaccinared guest workers from another country to move into my basement with them and started collecting rent ( total $480 per week). There were now six people living in my basement. Courts are closed and not hearing any eviction cases. (obviously COVID was not a concern and never has been for these people). Police have never been to my home up till now.(two occasions). I eventually found an attorney that would issue an eviction which gave them 30 days. Mind you they had to be out by Sept 30 2021. However a new moratorium kicked in and they are still here minus the guest workers. As far as “rent” payments,(FEBRUARY,MARCH,APRIL) 2021 was the only 3 times I asked for and received any money for “rent” or utilities I simply wanted them to leave my home. They have no financial obligation to pay me and have not done so for 10 months. In Sept.2021 they applied for rental assistance knowing full well and with knowledge it was perjury to fill out the form(s) I was not going to approve it and told them so. She phoned me and asked me to add his name to a receipt I gave HER I said absolutely not just pack up and leave ( I also told them not to apply because you’re trying to scam, scheme and defraud the US Govt.) They did so anyway. He has never lost any income during the pandemic. She does not work. (Stays under legal radar due to an alleged coviction she has in her home country.(Fugitive from justice I’m told). I have reported the information I received.These are the most undesirable disrespectful people one could possibly ever encounter I’m sure there are worse. I refer to them as my ” two cockroaches”. In closing I’d say its ok to help someone but NEVER,EVER let it be in your house.
I am not a landlord. I am a tenant who is being terrorized and threatened by someone who moved into the apartment below me in June. I know the insanity that I am living with and the fear and anxiety it is costing me, as well as the financial cost of having to pay to stay in hotels just to feel safe. And I STILL cannot believe some of these stories that I am reading.
You’re disgusting calling people roaches your mother should have swallowed you
or you could go out and earn a living and maybe own something to be proud of so you can see the other side. Take your hands out of my pockets.
Same here. Oct 2019 I let someone stay in my basement only for two months till they moved into their new home. Guess what. It’s feb 2022 still here. And everything thing is on my meters. So I’m paying their water electric and heat for 3 years. And they both have income. Makes me want to sell my house. Even worse my upstairs tenants stopped paying rent 6 months now because they know my hands are tied. The courts are so jammed up. I’ve been in court since aug and it just keeps getting adjourned. Sick to my stomach
RENT should be the number 1 thing everyone should be paying. Not your car payment unless you want to live in your car, not your cell phone or monthly cell plan, not your internet or cable, not your dog or cat food, not your cigarettes, not your beer or weed, not your new iPhone, not your Netflix monthly payment, not your new Nike sneakers, I could go on and on and on…..WHERE ARE YOUR PRIORITIES PEOPLE? Do we need another Great Depression so that you all can get your priorities straight?
U clearly are a landlord u can’t tell people what to make a priority. Most of you’ll slum lords charge a arm and leg for a box apt so you can live a great life without working
Agree these Motherfuckers charger an arm and a leg for a fucking box but god forbid you pay your car note so you can drive to work or do groceries so you can eat to survive fuk them
!
So you want other people to pay for your poor decisions? Got it, must be a liberal.
I have not collected rent in almost 2 years. My tenants are not affected by Covid-19’s and are on a fixed income from social security disability and a pension. They are 73 years old and stiffing me out of money . I was charging my tenants rent that was below market price. 500.00 less per month. And yet after being nice this is what I get !!!
What about me who worked threee jobs to Save for a down payment and purchased my two family home stuck with an abusive tenants whose not paying for now 3 years. And leaving Garbadge causing flies everywhere I can’t enjoy my home that I worked so hard for running a hair salon i my home what about Thise that are taking advantage I have to worry about feeding my own children losing my home because of the way the system is set up to protect her just because she’s a tenant. Why am I punished for being a hard working American every case should be in a case by case decision every case is different t
The governor is trying to destroy landlord
We must vote her out and elect ZELDIN to clean up albany
Why did you purchase a home that you wasn’t going to be able to pay on your own anyway ? That’s your fault live within your means
but then i bet you would flip out if someone told this to a tenant who has a nicer car and smokes pot. Liberals are such hypocrites.
I am a landlord of a 6 unit building and have 3 tenants that refuse to pay me. They are hiding behind the eviction moratorium and are refusing to pay. What’s maddening, is that they are all working and just using the moratorium as an excuse, saying the state of NY says they don’t have to. I talked to two different lawyers and neither will help me as long as the moratorium is in place. What about help for people like me?
Just because they are working doesn’t mean they didn’t lose income !
Do not evict on grounds of “ non payment”…if they have been there over 2 years give a 90 day notice… then evict as a hold over tenant… squatter … freeloader…. Scum sucking maggots that they are…
Treat them like the filthy animals they are….
To many welfare seeking … foul crying … lazy pieces of shit… that don’t have one once of dignity or respect … and one would think they would be grateful to live for free… instead they demand more… then slander the person providing the roof over their head…. And for the imbecile that called the property owner a “ slumlord “ remember it’s the maggots Tennant’s that make it a “ slum” NOT the property owner …. True ignorance !!!
With this law on the books, no one will be able to sell their 2-4 family house if they have tenants in place. Many buyers of small multi family move in family members. That option will no longer be available to them. The property value on these homes will plummet. This is a horrible idea.
Really landlords we all hear about tenants being the problem. It’s easy to collect rent every month from people who are disabled. I’m disabled and payed my rent always ahead of time and was the model tenant. I had no rights was harassed every night by a drug addict meth enfedomine smoker who dragged furniture across the wood floors. Never could wake up for work or drive.my cab 12 hour shifts because of no sleep. Cable was included in rent and always turned off after paying. Oil for hot water and heat always running out.No repairs every done when something didn’t work. Rights to privacy violated couldn’t have any personal relation with my fiancee due to personal trieng to look through my windows. Landlords moving people in that live over you and they don’t do any checks on them.All landlords I would say 70 percent are slumbers not landlords. They think they can just keep pulling money out of people’s pockets and give them all these great imenities. They wonder why tenant’s end up giving landlords problems. It’s all about the landlords rights and should be more equal under the laws.So really Landlords It’s not all about you.
Yes! For every post from a woe-is-me landlord I can give you ten about my own landlord threatening me, refusing to make repairs, making false claims to court while under oath, etc. And no, I do not owe any back rent and have the documents to prove it.
Perhaps you should buy your own place and be free from the burden to pay rent!
Why did you stay if it was so awful.?There were plenty of apartments available during the pandemic. You could have easily moved
5 out of 17 apartments aren’t paying, some close to 2 years.most work and don’t pay. Now I can’t afford to feed my family. Fucked in NY
Get an extra job
I am an unemployed educator who has benefited from this help, but I desperately want this moratorium to END. There is another reality far more troubling than $ that few people talk about or maybe even know about: safety. I have lived in my apartment in Syracuse, NY for over 21 years. Have paid my rent up until October or November before applying for assistance. In June of 2021, a man moved below me – has not paid his rent since moving in, but what he has done is cause so much upheaval in this building, spent nearly 7 months terrorizing me (calling me racial slurs, b _ _ _ _ _ throwing things at my window, threatening to kill me, and spending hours at a time smashing the walls and ceiling, threatening my landlord IN WRITING, etc.). As of last week, the police have been here 20 times since July. The story is always the same – nothing can be done until he actually tries to hurt me. He has been in three arguments with the woman next to him because of this; once they got into a SPITTING match. He no longer messes with her because her husband literally threatened to kill him right in front of the police about 3 months ago. I just got back home Friday night. Before then, I spent the week at a hotel. The week before that, I was at a hotel. I spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year at a hotel. Since October, I have slept at a hotel much more than I have slept in my own bed. And I am grateful to some of the people at the hotel who know my situation and extend my nights without cost. I walk around my apartment anxious – waiting for this guy to pop off in any minute. I have run online discussions where people have heard these outbursts and banging on the ceiling and walls. In fact, I have heard what sounds like the ceiling cracking – and you can even feel depressions in certain spots on my living room floor. It is pure insanity. Last week, it was “They are going to find your ass face down!” This is the type of s_ _ _ he yells up at me while calling me names and smashing the ceiling. I have over SIXTY recordings of this man screaming and smashing the walls and the ceilings and there was a witness who saw him come outside at about 5 AM and hurl something at my window back in Sept. The hole is still in the screen – and I never even bothered to remove the shards of glass that landed on the window ceil. I have heard him on the phone screaming at the top of his lungs all sorts of obscenities at my elderly landlord at 3 AM in the morning. He has emailed her all types of vulgar things – called her all types of names. Has any of these lawmakers stayed in Wegmans until 12 AM because they cannot walk around their own apartment without the threat of violence, or to put money they would not otherwise have to spend on credit cards so that they can sleep in a hotel when they have a perfectly nice apartment they have been in for 2 decades without issue, or sleep in their car until it gets too cold to stay there, or have to do job interviews from their car? As I type this, I have white noise playing on my comp, which I have to do when I am here in order to help drown out all of his mumbling downstairs and to help me sleep at night. I get into bed every damn night with my heart racing. RACING. Even when I am not home, I jump and my heart races whenever I hear a loud noise. THREE different women have called the police on this man since July. He moved in June and has not paid a dime of rent since. He has this building in an uproar – people afraid of him – folks bickering because of all of the screaming at 3, 4, 5 AM. My landlord tried to evict him in July but did not get a court date until October. And you know what happened? NOTHING! ALL eviction cases were adjourned that day. My landlord’s attorney says that the judges do not know what to do with these evictions cases. He did not even bother showing up to court. He filled out some hardship claim – apparently – and spent a part of that day screaming and smashing things around the apartment according to two witnesses, including our handyman. I made sure I was not even home at the time. I will tell you the other thing he did: pull up in a third car the next day. He had 2 parked in the parking lot, one with no tags that my landlord had been trying to get him to move for months. After months of her demanding – and him threatening her if she had it towed – she finally had it towed in November right around the time she called Spectrum to block his number and email. I cannot at all give any of you reading this even half of the understanding of the sheer horror I am living with. It’s has only been when officers have listened to some of the audio that they took this seriously. For months, it was always the same: them thinking it’s a basic neighbor dispute, them saying they cannot do anything, them telling ME not to provoke him, etc. The last few times I have called, however, officers have shown concern and respect. They have listened to my story dumbfounded – one even said that were it up to him – he would go in there and drag him away. This was two weeks ago – and at least they banged on his door and told him to stop harassing me. He yelled that he was listening to me talk to them in the hallway and that I was lying; that if they knocked on his door again he was suing. Just surreal, crazy sh_ _. This guy is savvy. He knows how to play the system. He came here with a scam – has done nothing but wreaked havoc in this building and in my life. The police asked me why he targets me and the only thing I can think of is that he thought I called the police on him the first time when it was my landlord who had. After the police left, he started screaming, “B, you ain’t never going to get sleep” and started throwing things at the ceiling. He was already waking up screaming at 5 am and dragging furniture across the floor, slamming doors, going into the hallway pounding on people’s doors, etc. But the call to police escalated him to specifically targeting me. My landlord said that the woman below him had been sending emails to her before this, otherwise, she is afraid to get involved. And she has an infant! And as of this writing – TWENTY times the police have been here. There is so much more to this story. I get helping people. As a single woman with no children – I have paid a LOT in NYS taxes in my 53 years. I am owed assistance when I need it. I have no problem with people getting help, especially during a pandemic. I DO have a problem with protecting scammers, criminals, and people who are threatening others’ lives, damaging property, and terrorizing their neighbors. How did we get to a point where NYS says, you can stay in your residence no matter what chaos you are causing? One of the women at the hotel says she is going through a similar thing with her neighbor in Rochester, NY. People keep telling me to move. Move where? I have already used up what little I had in retirement savings. Right now, I am living on credit cards and have a negative balance in my bank. Thank goodness, many of my hotel nights have been on comps/rewards. Still, I have to pay for food and gas to drive to the hotel. I cannot walk to my car without carrying a stick and/or a knife with me. Everything I have typed here and more has been documented and/or witnessed by others. It has made no difference. A former co-worker/friend and her husband just bought a house. They will move in next month or so. They have offered me to live with them. I am FIFTY-THREE. I do not want to take them up on this offer for obvious reasons. But more and more people are telling me to do it because they are concerned for my safety. I do not have family or close friends here other than my former co-worker. Their offer is generous, but living with friends is risky. I do not want to lose a friendship because I moved in with them and it takes many months before I can leave. But I am an emotional wreck most days. I am dealing with shit crap on top of unemployment, mounting bills, the risk of COVID infection, an elderly and sick mother in NYC, etc. How many women and children are living in fear of someone like this man downstairs, but the police cannot do anything or – as my landlord’s attorney says – are unwilling to. The police keep saying it’s a landlord matter. The attorney says the police could have arrested this man long ago, which might help their future efforts to evict him. He and I also agree, it’s the governor’s and legislature’s fault as well. Whose ever fault it is, I know one thing, no one should have to live like this. And this is the type of story that is getting lost in the debates over $, which are legitimate, but people’s safety and lives are also being threatened by people who are being protected by this moratorium. For this reason, although I am currently benefiting from it, I say let it end! LET IT END!
Have you actually read what the Hardship Declaration states? A property owner can evict a tenant deemed to be a nuisance. Has the individual been charged? The police are correct in saying only the property owner can start the eviction process but you can always bring an Order of No Contact yourself.
If your landlord has shared with you that this individual has made a declaration of hardship he or she has violated the confidential nature of the declaration: it is not to be shared with other tenants who have no bearing upon its content. Also, how can you be certain that this individual is not paying rent? Perhaps he receives a Section 8 subsidy. Anything your landlord says should be taken with a grain of salt unless you have access to their bank account.
The problem is not with the moratorium but with your landlord, who refuses to remove this person where the Hardship Declaration allows, and the police, who refuse to charge this individual with even a simple nuisance violation.
During the eviction ban, no one gets evicted. I called the Sheriff’s office and that is what they told me. No one gets evicted. The landlord can try to bring a case but judges have routinely adjourned them until just recently. Many lawyers don’t want to start cases that just end up being adjourned. So the eviction ban is making the state stop landlords from getting back their property. It is a violation of the 5th amendment. It makes landlords support people who have jobs and can support themselves but they don’t because the state says they can stay without any repercussion. This is why there will be a full stop to real estate development in NYS. This GCE bill will affect the whole state, not just NYC. Small property owners will be forced to sell. NYS will lose more affordable units because of the GCE.
Thank YOU! I am not trying to hear this nonsense Elayne is talking. This has been horrible. This is horrible. I spent my morning in Wegmans doing job searches and falling asleep in a damn supermarket because this fool is pounding on the ceiling and walls and calling me all sorts of slurs, threatening to kill me and such whenever I am home. On Monday, I finally talked to the woman who lives below him. She was in the hall speaking with another tenant who was originally defending this guy. The woman below him (T) – has a newborn – was still visibly shaken from hearing the same things I heard early that morning. She said her daughter refuses to visit her because she is afraid of this man. People keep saying they think he will try to harm people once he is evicted… IF he is evicted. I am talking about 7 months of hell from a tenant who has repeatedly violated his lease, threatened several women – it’s always women – has refused to pay rent from the first month he moved in (according to my landlord), has had the police called on him 20 times, and Elayne above is concerned about my landlord is violating this man’s privacy. I am as liberal as they come – but no. Just NO!
1. I HAVE read it. I pointed the very nuisance point out to my landlord and her attorney – SEVERAL times!
2. As I have said, my landlord took him to court in October. ALL eviction cases were adjourned that day for anyone who filled out the Hardship Declaration.
3. I have spent almost every day of the past 6 months worrying about being killed by someone who has been threatening to do just that.
4. This whole building is in an uproar over this. The woman below him told me on Monday that she is afraid to empty her trash alone and that her daughter will not even visit her because she is afraid of this man.
5. My landlord’s attorney said trying to get rid of him under the anti-nuisance law – which was recommended by one of the officers – would take even longer, so that is why they went for eviction due to non-payment of rent. At the time, (July) no one knew there would be an extension. They did not get into court until almost mid-Oct.
6. Since the eviction notice was posted on his door for all to see, I feel confident that he has not paid his rent.
7. I had to tiptoe into my bedroom tonight – as I have had for months – I am bracing myself for the violent and racist verbal attacks that are likely to start between 3-5 AM – along with the pounding on the ceiling/floor so loud that my heart pounds for 5 minutes – and the threats to leave me “face down in a ditch.” I am exhausted because I had to tiptoe out of my own apartment this morning while this man raged early this morning. The tightness in my head from the stress in unbearable at this very moment. Others in this building are afraid that if he is evicted, he will come back and harm people! I DO NOT CARE ONE BIT ABOUT THIS MAN’S PRIVACY! There are women in this building who are worried about their safety. I am one of them. No person’s privacy is more important than the lives they are threatening to take!
8. The threat to people’s safety is an issue that needs attention drawn to this dilemma. Oh – and I did not have to wait until 3 AM cuz he is already starting here at 11:28. I am as liberal as they come – but I can’t support this, at least not how it’s currently being or not being enforced. It’s dangerous. And this is from someone who actually needs the help herself.
It’s certainly bad time for landlords. The tenants not paying rent will have a hard time finding a place after this is finally over. Landlords need to be sure to file judgements and renew those judgements. Eventually, landlords will be compensated for providing safe clean housing. The tenants will have a hard time finding a new home or shelter as most folks won’t risk renting to them.
More hate-the-poor speech. You would do well to remember that it’s much easier to become destitute than you think, especially during a plague that has killed nearly 900,000 people in the United States alone in less than two years.
Disease, poverty, and homelessness are not character flaws. Rather, they are societal ills.
But, with deference to God the Almighty Dollar, landlords had the opportunity to apply for financial assistance through the NYS ERAP, with or without their tenant’s cooperation. If they failed to do so, they have only themselves to blame.
ERAP paid 4 months out of 10. Still rent is not paid. While I do not have mortgage I still have to pay HOA, property taxes, insurance, repairs out of my Social Security Disability Benefit.
Another tenant did not pay for 26 months.
I cannot even sell those two apartments, because of the tenants
The argument is motivated by the criticism of “bad” Landlords that seek evictions of unfortunate tenants. While that argument certainly has its supporters and may have some merit, the other side of the argument is that some Landlords are saddled with undesirable tenants for various reasons. The two positions should be considered and perhaps some sort of reasonable compromise can be reached.
What the arguments do NOT address is the provision in the proposed bill that restricts Landlords from getting market value from future vacated apartments on currently de-controlled apartments. Placed in proper context, Landlords were largely forced to reduce rents during Covid to get their apartments rented and in an environment where supply significantly outpaced demand as people temporarily relocated from NY during Covid… resulting in temporarily and often dramatically reduced rents. Most of those leases expire in the first three quarters of 2022. Any attempt to restrict rent increases, and at a minimum, before 4Q 2022 on VACATED apartments should be seen for what it is…a “taking” of Landlords’ property value by NY State creating a new crop of rent stabilization and restrictions on rent increases on the temporarily reduced Covid rents. This is clearly unreasonable and is not the stated intention of the bill; and it flies in the face of some well intentioned tenants and their advocates that complain about eviction consequences, a scenario that could potentially be solved through compromise.
The counterargument would be that Landlords would be motivated to evict tenants to restore their higher prior rents (which are presently legal rents, without restrictions); if there is a convincing argument for the Court to consider as to why a tenant should not be evicted, the Courts can deal with that. But, the attempt by this legislation to lock in temporarily reduced Covid-influenced rents is solely a “play” by the State to solve their low income housing challenge on the backs of Landlords rather than through government solutions and action.
Keep out
Well you are definitely right but what are you doing about it ?
The left are active and campaigning you on the other end are explaining because you think logic rules but not in politics!!!
Get out there and organise!!
Private landlords should not be treated like public utilities or bear the burden of providing free or subsidized housing. If the government wants to protect tenants pay their rent and build housing for those who can’t afford private housing. Then we can all bear the cost equally.
These politicians are so lazy. Figure out a real solution to this and stop forcing landlords to provide subsidized and free housing. Covid is here to stay and landlords can’t go on with this free housing scam forever. Stop putting the burden on landlords. Pay the rent for those who claim they can’t and build housing for this who can’t afford private housing and that way everyone can bear the cost but stop treating private landlords like they are utilities.
The government has no clue what its doing. Hochul’s just trying to buy votes like everyone in NY.
Same garbage, different year. We’ve given up blaming the unchanging stubborn corrupt joke of a government decades ago, allowing them to get away with anything. NY is the problem. They watch while everyone fights and they just watch and keep wrecking lives, day in, day out, endlessly. I’m a landlord and good cause legislation should be on the tenant to prove there is no good cause, not the landlord. Its THEIR livelihood. I’m all for the bill, but put it in reverse. But of course, that would make sense, and we live in NY.
Something an average Joe can solve in 5 minutes is a hope and a dream centuries into the future for this disgusting place.
They screwed ALL of us, tenants and landlords alike. For PERCEPTION AND VOTES.
What about landlords that cannot make their mortgage payments because of tenants not paying rent for months, even though they have jobs and other ones leaving and damaging the property for thousands of dollars. Small Landlords having to file lawsuit to recup monies owed and fight to get paid. This circus needs to stop. Tenants are taking advantage of this situation, you can look on Facebook to see that meanwhile, they come and go like they please, they enjoy themselves at Six Flags, they go to Giants games and so on, they party all night… I’m not saying they all do that, my tenant does anyways… But come on, enough is enough. No more free pass and time to get a job people! Time to meet your number 1 obligation which is paying rent and time to get rid of cancers that poison our existence by behaving terribly on all other levels! It’s my house, my rules, I pay my taxes and I’m on the deed, not them. Respect.
There is no longer law and order in New York. Property rights have been effectively abrogated by the democratic mafia that governs in New York. All those who made self sacrifices and worked hard their entire lives proved to be suckers. In New York, it is far better to be a have-not and a perpetual victim. Hard work, discipline, and ambition no longer pays. If the Democrats care about providing tenants a tenancy for life at a fixed rent, then they should create more public housing. Don’t saddle private home owners with the cost of your political experiments.
Welcome to America, folks.
Property owners, please join this small landlord organization so that our voices are heard in Albany now. They are lobbying and doing a lot of intelligent outreach. Spread the word. No time to waste now. https://spony.org/
Well said Omouc Werdna! Wake up people! If the government is allowed to “confiscate” landlords property without financial compensation, they will eventually confiscate single family residences also. Socialism is lurking in the wings.
I unfortunately became a landlord to my parents apartment in NYC after their death in the middle of the year.
The man renting the apartment refuses to leave (even though I would of given him time to leave and pay him 2000 and forgive the back rent he owes to go) and claims he is the owner of it. ( my mom supposedly passed on the apartment to him). He refuses to show me or my lawyer proof of ownership. However, he told me he will leave if I give him 12000 dollars.
The rent pause and good cause eviction bill is protecting people like that man who living in a three bedroom apartment that is rightfully mine rent free (he owes me 15 months of rent which equals to 7500. Yes, he was renting an apartment like for 500 per month. He was supposedly my father’s friend and dad did a favor for him ). Whilst my dog and I are living in the living room in aunt’s place because f*ck why should I pay 1500 on studio in NYC if I have a place that is completely mine in the same area.
My savings and salary are going towards paying debts of the apartment that had accumulated in the past 15 months and bills, students loans, and my lawyer.
I shouldn’t burn my body to keep someone else warm.
the laws for small landlords of 1 -3 family homes need to revert back. Tenants exploit the present moratorium. How can make even an inflation adjusted increase when they have no obligation to pay because you can’t evict.
Landlords in NYS have many opportunities to apply for assistance for tenants who aren’t able to pay rent. There were special programs opened JUST for landlords to recoup ANY losses, even from tenants that left their property! States have a compelling state interest in preventing additional homelessness during a global pandemic. The idea that property rights are being infringed upon is very funny. Landlords have a property that they chose to use as a business enterprise, and guess what? Renting property, just like any other business, is a regulated industry. This is an appropriate regulation because in this specific case, landlords are able to recoup their costs from governmentally sponsored programs, and that burden is MUCH less than public health burden of allowing rampant homelessness during a pandemic.
The help (LRAP) for landlords who’s tenants left was only open for a short period of time before it ran out of funding. Renting property is regulated as far as size of rooms, smoke/carbon detectors, sources of heat, egress, water, functioning appliances, safe windows. Payment of rent and keeping the apartment in good condition is the responsibility of the tenant. Restrictions set by the government on the landlord’s right to evict a tenant with proper notice is an infringement on the landlord’s constitutional rights as property owners.
I got an eviction notice in November heart of beginning so we went on monthly payments until April 2021 Lost mother in law lost small business repo 2 car twice tried giving landlord 10.000 wouldn’t take it said give it to his attorney she said no just get out I have 75 year old mother W COPD I SUFFER from severe disability so while we all were confined to stay in homes who was even going to rent to anyone I was abandoned by my X of 22 year’s also and just lost my Dad on November 7th had small private cleaning and companionship small business self employed lost all of that so now what do I do I have never been so scared in my whole 50 years of life and my mother I’m so afraid for.Lord I say hear my prayers but praying isn’t going to get me out of this on .
I hope City Limits isn’t attempting to pass this article off as “journalism”. It cleary shows an ideological bias towards tenants, says virtually nothing about the plight of small owners and exhibits a woeful lack of understanding when it comes to housing economics.
You spill all your ink on the plight of tenants and only a few throw away sentences about the struggles of small owners who provide their housing. That’s because your tunnel vision sees all landlords as the same and paints them all with the same brush.
But as usual, in the end these liberal policies will end up hurting the very people they were meant to help.
The government has engineered this crisis. The government evicts tenants not landlords. Landlords can’t evict tenants, they would go to prison for doing this. Usually, tenants are evicted because they don’t pay rent. The government set all this up. They tell a landlord to take the tenant to court and the judge will sign the paper and the government sheriff or marshall will go in with a gun and do the eviction. The government could find housing for the tenant or could pay their rent. Now, the government provides incentives for tenants not to pay rent. If they stop paying, they get free housing until the lawsuit is over.
This means you can NEVER sell a property unless it’s to another investor that wants it for nothing ! This means your tenant really owns the property and can dictate when they want to leave. The landlord takes on all repairs for the property, pays taxes and insurance on the property, has legal liability on the property. The tenant lord is the real owner and has NO responsibilities except to complain that things are broken that they caused. Oh and pay a small rent increase that will really cost more to the so called landlord. What a joke !!! I’m selling everything now before this “lease for life” bill becomes law !!!