STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3803
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 30, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BURKE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Housing
AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to requiring land-
lords to pay a fee if they evict a tenant without good cause
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The real property law is amended by adding a new section
2 238-b to read as follows:
3 § 238-b. No cause eviction fee. 1. Definitions. For the purposes of
4 this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "Landlord" shall mean any owner, lessor, sublessor, assignor, or
6 other person receiving or entitled to receive rent for the occupancy of
7 any housing accommodation, or an agent of any of the foregoing.
8 (b) "Tenant" shall mean a tenant, subtenant, lessee, sublessee, assig-
9 nee, manufactured home tenant, as defined in paragraph one of subdivi-
10 sion a of section two hundred thirty-three of this article, an occupant
11 of a rooming house or hotel, as defined in section seven hundred eleven
12 of the real property actions and proceedings law, or any other person
13 entitled to the possession, use, or occupancy of any housing accommo-
14 dation.
15 (c) "No cause eviction" shall mean eviction except for any of the
16 following grounds:
17 (i) The tenant has failed to pay rent due and owing; provided, howev-
18 er, that the rent due and owing, or any part thereof, did not result
19 from a rent increase which is unreasonable or imposed for the purpose of
20 circumventing the intent of this section. In determining whether all or
21 part of the rent due and owing is the result of an unreasonable rent
22 increase, it shall be a rebuttable presumption that the rent for a
23 dwelling not protected by rent regulation is unreasonable if said rent
24 has been increased in any calendar year by a percentage exceeding either
25 three percent, or one and one-half times the annual percentage change in
26 the consumer price index for the region in which the housing accommo-
27 dation is located, as established the August preceding the calendar year
28 in question, whichever is greater;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08072-01-5
A. 3803 2
1 (ii) The tenant is violating a substantial obligation of their tenan-
2 cy, other than the obligation to surrender possession, and has failed to
3 cure such violation after written notice that the violation cease within
4 ten days of receipt of such written notice; provided however, that the
5 obligation of tenancy for which violation is claimed was not imposed for
6 the purpose of circumventing the intent of this section;
7 (iii) The tenant is committing or permitting a nuisance in such hous-
8 ing accommodation, or is maliciously or by reason of negligence damaging
9 the housing accommodation, or the tenant's conduct is such as to inter-
10 fere with the comfort of the landlord or other tenants or occupants of
11 the same or adjacent buildings or structures;
12 (iv) Occupancy of the housing accommodation by the tenant is in
13 violation of or causes a violation of law and the landlord is subject to
14 civil or criminal penalties therefor; provided, however, that an agency
15 of the state or municipality having jurisdiction has issued an order
16 requiring the tenant to vacate the housing accommodation;
17 (v) The tenant is using or permitting the housing accommodation to be
18 used for an illegal purpose;
19 (vi) The tenant has unreasonably refused the landlord access to the
20 housing accommodation for the purpose of making necessary repairs or
21 improvements required by law, or for the purpose of showing the housing
22 accommodation to a prospective purchaser, mortgagee, or other person
23 having a legitimate interest therein;
24 (vii) The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of a
25 housing accommodation located in a building containing fewer than twelve
26 units because of immediate and compelling necessity for their own
27 personal use and occupancy as their principal residence, or the personal
28 use and occupancy as principal residence of their spouse, parent, child,
29 stepchild, or parent-in-law, when no other suitable housing accommo-
30 dation in such building is available. This paragraph shall permit recov-
31 ery of only one housing accommodation; or
32 (viii) The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of any
33 or all housing accommodations located in a building with less than five
34 units to personally occupy such housing accommodations as their princi-
35 pal residence.
36 2. Applicability. This article shall apply to all housing accommo-
37 dations except:
38 (a) Owner-occupied premises with less than four units;
39 (b) Premises sublet pursuant to section two hundred twenty-six-b of
40 this article, or otherwise, where the sublessor seeks in good faith to
41 recover possession of such housing accommodation for their own personal
42 use and occupancy;
43 (c) Premises the possession, use or occupancy of which is solely inci-
44 dent to employment and such employment is being lawfully terminated; and
45 (d) Premises otherwise subject to regulation of rents or evictions
46 pursuant to state or federal law to the extent that such state or feder-
47 al law requires "good cause" for termination or non-renewal of such
48 tenancies.
49 3. No cause eviction fee. A no cause eviction shall require the land-
50 lord to pay a fee to the evicted tenant equal to the amount of one
51 month's rent. Such amount shall not include any portion of a safety
52 deposit return.
53 § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall
54 have become a law.
