Website Helps NYC Renters Tell If They’re Covered by ‘Good Cause’ Eviction Rules

Advocacy groups Housing Justice for All and JustFix launched an online tool this week where tenants can enter their address and answer a series of short questions to help determine if their apartments are likely to qualify for protections under the Good Cause law A rental building in Brooklyn Adi Talwar City Limits It s been just more than a year since New York adopted Good Cause protections giving eligible renters extra defense against eviction without cause as well as a chance to challenge rent hikes over a certain threshold But that s only if they re veritably covered by the law The final version of Good Cause adopted as part of last year s state budget negotiations included a number of carveouts excluding tenants based on how a large number of units their landlord owns or when the property was built among other conditions That can make it hard for renters to tell if their units fall under the protections though a new website is trying to help Advocacy groups Housing Justice for All and JustFix launched an online tool this week where tenants can enter their address and answer a series of short questions to help determine if their apartments meet the Good Cause criteria Good Cause Eviction is a powerful tool to prevent evictions and price-gouging but only if tenants know they have rights Joel Stillman director of JustFix commented in a comment announcing the website Monday This tool uses inhabitants information gathered from multiple sources to sort through the law s overlapping exemptions that make Good Cause hard to use giving tenants the confidence that they have rights to stay in their homes The site uses city building records as well as information supplied by the tenant to determine doable eligibility Good Cause only applies to unregulated apartments since rent stabilized units and other subsidized housing programs like NYCHA come with their own set of tenant protections and those built after It exempts high-priced units renting for more than a month as well as smaller landlord-occupied buildings But perhaps the majority difficult-to-determine criteria is portfolio size the law only applies to tenants whose landlords own more than apartments This can be hard to gauge since numerous owners register their properties under generically-named limited liability companies LLCs The Good Cause NYC tool advises renters to check the city s property records database as well as search their landlord s name on Who Owns What another site created by JustFix which seeks out other properties an owner may be associated with Since going into effect in New York City Good Cause enforcement has primarily played out in housing court It s generally on tenants to seek legal recourse if they re covered by the law and facing eviction without sufficient reason or subject to a rent increase higher than Good Cause allows Good Cause Eviction is a historic expansion of tenants rights but only informed and organized tenants are able to use it to defend their homes Cea Weaver director of Housing Justice for All declared in a comment To reach the editor contact Jeanmarie citylimits org Want to republish this story Find City Limits reprint approach here The post Website Helps NYC Renters Tell If They re Covered by Good Cause Eviction Rules appeared first on City Limits