Westchester Owners Association is a nonprofit organization made up of property owners in Westchester
Landlords play a critical role in maintaining safe, dignified, and affordable homes for tenants.
However, ever since the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) was
passed, keeping these buildings functioning has become difficult and is becoming harder year
after year due to the rising need for maintenance and increasing costs such as insurance and
utilities. HSTPA has made it impossible for a property owner to reinvest in their property which
is resulting in tenants sharing the loss and having to live with the new way buildings are forced
to operate. To make things even worse is if Good Cause Eviction becomes law, it will further
strip landlords of their ability to hold problem tenants accountable—jeopardizing the safety and
well-being of all residents in a building.
Tenants can Cause Major Disruptions
Consider a recent Saturday night when a tenant reported a severe water leak at an apartment
here in Yonkers. The building superintendent responded quickly, only to discover the leak was
coming from the apartment above. When he attempted to access the unit, the tenant refused to
open the door, cursing and verbally assaulting him. As a result, the super had no choice but to
shut off the water for the entire building, leaving over a dozen families without access to water
for hours in the evening when everyone is getting home from work and school when it is time to
cook dinner or shower for the evening. All this inconvenience due to a bad neighbor!
In another case, a tenant’s refusal to allow management to fix a leak resulted in damage to the
elevator’s electrical controls, leaving a seven-story building without a working elevator for a full
week. Elderly residents and families with young children were forced to navigate stairs or
remain trapped in their apartments, all because a single tenant obstructed necessary repairs.
Problematic tenants don’t just create physical damage—they also make life unbearable for their
neighbors. In another building, a tenant repeatedly allowed disruptive non-residents into their
unit, playing loud music and arguing disturbing neighbors who want to sleep. Families with
young children are forced to endure the excessive marijuana smoke seeping through walls and
floors, despite repeated pleas to stop. These tenants have no consideration to anyone else
living around them causing everyone to suffer.
Not a Matter for the Police
In most of these cases the police cannot assist, it is a landlord/tenant matter but the problem
does not involve one tenant, it affects ALL the other tenants in the building. One option still
available for a Landlord is proving an eviction case which is already difficult to impossible.
Today, if worse comes to worst; a landlord can simply not offer a renewal to a problematic
tenant so long as they provide sufficient notice. But if Good Cause Eviction passes, landlords
will be powerless to address these types of situations. Tenants who violate basic standards of
decency and safety will be entitled to automatic renewal — essentially a lease-for-life – so long
as they continue paying rent and don’t do anything explicitly illegal. That means bad neighbors
are protected at the expense of those trying to live peacefully.
Good Cause Eviction
Proponents of Good Cause Eviction may claim to be trying to protect tenants. But they do not
understand the other provisions this law allows “bad neighbors” and the unintended consequences of the law prioritize bad actors over the good tenants and landlords alike. Good
cause eviction will allow bad neighbors to become more empowered and good tenants to suffer!
Some lawmakers are under the impression that a Landlord can simply evict the bad tenant
when they violate the lease. They lack the real world knowledge of how the court system
responds to these types of legal matters and how judges respond. Anyone who thinks differently
should sit in on a Landlord Tenant case in Yonkers court so they can experience how the
system is already broken.
