Good Cause Eviction applies in New York City automatically. The law was signed on 20 April 2024 and covers the city by statute; no local opt-in was required. Its most useful provision for a tenant is the rent cap: an annual increase above the change in the regional Consumer Price Index plus 5 percent, or 10 percent, whichever is lower, is presumptively unreasonable. The percentage that produces is reset every year by the state. The hard part is not the rule — it is the list of exemptions, which decides whether the rule reaches you at all.
The rule, which does not change
Learn the formula rather than the number. Under the Real Property Law, the local rent standard is:
CPI + 5%, capped at 10%.
The CPI figure is the annual percentage change, for the preceding calendar year, in the consumer price index for all urban consumers for the relevant region — for New York City that is the New York–Newark–Jersey City index. New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR, whose rent agency is DHCR) is required to publish the applicable figures each year on or before 1 August. So the percentage moves annually while the formula stays put.
An increase above the standard is presumptively unreasonable. That phrase is doing real work: it does not make the increase illegal outright. It shifts the argument, so that if the matter reaches housing court the landlord has to justify the increase — by reference to costs, repairs or the property's finances — instead of simply imposing it.
The figure as most recently published
In its notice dated 4 May 2026, DHCR published an annual CPI change of 3.38% for the New York–Newark–Jersey City region, which produces a local rent standard for New York City of 8.38%. The previous published figure was 8.79%, from a CPI of 3.79%. Because the number is reset annually, check the current DHCR notice before relying on it — by the time you read this a newer one may have replaced it. The formula above is the durable part.
Who is not covered
This is where most tenants find their answer. A unit falls outside Good Cause if any of the following apply.
- Small landlord. The owner holds a total of 10 or fewer housing units in New York State. Note that this counts units across the whole state, not units in your building.
- Owner-occupied small building. The building is owner-occupied and has 10 or fewer residential units.
- New construction. The building was issued a certificate of occupancy on or after 1 January 2009. If you are not sure when yours was issued, see what a certificate of occupancy is and how to find it.
- Already regulated. The unit is rent stabilized or rent controlled, or is an income-restricted affordable unit. These are excluded because they have their own, generally stronger, protections — not because they are unprotected. If you are unsure, see am I rent stabilized?
- Condominium or cooperative. The unit is owned as a condo or co-op.
- High rent. The rent is above 245 percent of the federal fair market rent for a unit of that size in that county.
- Other dwellings. Manufactured homes, school dormitories, seasonal-use dwellings, hospital and religious-facility housing, and units where the tenant shares a kitchen or bathroom with the owner.
What the high-rent exemption is in dollars
The 245 percent threshold is calculated from the federal fair market rents published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, by county and by unit size, and DHCR republishes both figures each year. All five New York City counties sit in one HUD rent area, so the thresholds are the same across the city. From DHCR's 4 May 2026 notice, using HUD's fiscal year 2025 fair market rents:
| Unit size | Fair market rent | 245% — above this, not covered |
|---|---|---|
| Efficiency | $2,529 | $6,196 |
| 1 bedroom | $2,655 | $6,505 |
| 2 bedroom | $2,910 | $7,130 |
| 3 bedroom | $3,644 | $8,928 |
| 4 bedroom | $3,959 | $9,700 |
Those apply to the Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), New York (Manhattan), Queens and Richmond (Staten Island) counties alike. They are republished annually along with the CPI figure.
What "good cause" actually means for an eviction
The rent cap gets the attention, but the law's core is the requirement of a reason. Where it applies, a landlord cannot simply decline to renew a lease or refuse to continue a tenancy. They must plead one of the grounds the statute sets out — which include non-payment of rent that is lawfully due, a substantial breach of the lease, nuisance or damage to the property, illegal use, refusal of reasonable access, and certain owner-use and demolition situations. An increase above the local rent standard matters here too: if the tenant did not pay a rent that was raised unreasonably, the non-payment ground is weakened, because the rent has to be lawfully due.
Two things this is not. It is not rent stabilization — there is no registration system, no Rent Guidelines Board order, and no automatic renewal lease. And it is not a bar on eviction; it is a requirement that a reason be given and proved.
The notice your landlord has to give you
Landlords are required to attach a DHCR notice to leases and to certain court papers, stating whether the unit is subject to Good Cause and, if it is not, which exemption is claimed. That notice is worth reading closely, because it commits the landlord to a specific exemption. If the notice claims new construction, the certificate of occupancy date is a public record you can check. If it claims the small-landlord exemption, the number of units the owner holds statewide is the question — which is exactly what a portfolio search is for; see tracing landlord LLCs and portfolios.
How to work out your own position
- Find your building's certificate of occupancy date. Anything issued on or after 1 January 2009 is outside the law.
- Check whether your unit is already rent stabilized, by requesting your rent history free from HCR.
- Compare your rent against the 245 percent threshold for your unit size in the table above.
- Read the Good Cause notice attached to your lease and note which exemption, if any, it claims.
- If the claimed exemption is small-landlord, work out how many units the owner holds across New York State — the deed, the HPD registration and the owner's other buildings are all public.
Where the building record comes in
Three of the five steps above are answered from public building records: the certificate of occupancy date, the number of residential units, and the owner's other holdings. Check a Building pulls those together for any New York City address for free. It cannot tell you whether you are covered — that is a legal question with facts specific to your unit — but it can hand you the facts the question turns on.
This guide is general tenant education based on public records and state agency publications, not legal advice. Coverage under Good Cause Eviction is fact-specific and the published rent standard changes every year. To confirm your position, contact New York State Homes and Community Renewal or a qualified tenant attorney or housing organisation. Sources: NYS HCR/DHCR — Good Cause Eviction Law Required DHCR Notice, as of 4 May 2026 (CPI, fair market rent and 245% tables); Real Property Law article 6-A; New York State Attorney General — New York State Good Cause Eviction Law; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — Fair Market Rents, FY2025.