Albany ‘Good Cause’ rejected

City’s measure outlining eviction conditions violates state law, judges decide

ALBANY — A panel of five judges on the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court ruled Thursday the city’s Good Cause eviction law clearly violated state law that governs evictions.

The decision, which affirmed a lower court ruling overturning the law, will have statewide implications as other cities had followed Albany’s example, passing their own versions of the law. It will also put more pressure on housing activists to push for a statewide version of the law.

Mayor Kathy Sheehan’s chief of staff, David Galin, said the administration is “very disappointed” in the ruling.

“We just received a copy of the ruling and are evaluating our options,” he said in a statement.

Benjamin Neidl, the attorney for the landlords, said he and his clients are pleased with the decision.

“It vindicates what the plaintiffs and other Albany landlords have said all along: that Albany’s local law wrongfully disrupted the carefully designed state laws that have been calibrated to balance the rights of landlords and tenants alike,” he said. “In this case, we have only ever asked for a restoration of the rights guaranteed under state law, and this decision achieves that.”

In their ruling, the panel wrote that the city’s attempt to draw a distinction between existing state law regarding landlords’ ability to evict tenants and the city’s local law was mistaken and that landlords clearly have a right to maintain an eviction proceeding against a holdover tenant or a tenant who defaults on rent, as well as terminate a lease at will or upon 30 days notice.

“Therefore, despite defendants’ good

intentions, the code of the city of Albany ... impose restrictions on rights granted to landlords by state law and, thus, Supreme Court properly declared those provisions nullified by conflict preemption,” the panel wrote in a six-page decision.

The decision left in place one aspect of the law, a requirement that landlords seeking to evict a tenant submit their rental occupancy permit to a housing court. The state Legislature passed a law last year requiring the city’s landlords to do so.

The city passed the Good Cause legislation in July 2021 as part of a larger package of bills meant to address housing and code issues in the city. Several other cities, including Kingston and Beacon, followed suit.

It had several components, including a rule that landlords could not evict or refuse to renew a lease with a tenant unless they met one of 10 possible conditions. The conditions included failure to pay rent and behavior that caused a property to be deemed a nuisance. It also included language that limited rent increases to 5 percent, with some exceptions.

In November 2021, a group of local landlords filed a lawsuit, seeking to have the law overturned. State Supreme Court Judge Christina Ryba in June ruled in the landlords’ favor and the city appealed. Ryba’s decision found that the city’s law was in conflict with state law because it created an impediment to landlords’ access to courts and limited remedies provided under state law.

Advocates of goodcause eviction measures have argued that they prevent predatory rent hikes and give tenants greater power in lease negotiations. Landlords have argued they amount to rent control and infringe on their property rights.

Council member Alfredo Balarin, who sponsored the city’s Good Cause bill and has worked on other housing issues in the city, said he believed the legislation would have worked in the favor of landlords who treat their tenants properly.

“If you’re a good landlord and you’re doing everything you’re supposed to, you don’t have anything to be afraid of,” he said. “I’m disappointed. We did the hard work and now the court is saying it has to go back to the state.”

Hours after the ruling was released, a group of tenants’ rights advocates said the decision meant the state Legislature has to act during the upcoming budget negotiations to ensure statewide Good Cause eviction is included in the final bills.

If not, tenants across the state, including those in Albany who had organized for Good Cause eviction, would be at risk of evictions, said Canyon Ryan, the executive director of United Tenants of Albany.

“This decision makes it clear: the legislature must act now to pass Good Cause eviction for all renters in New York state,” he said in a statement.

Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, chair of the Assembly Committee on Housing, and state Sen. Brian Kavanagh, chair of the state Senate Housing Committee, said they would push for Good Cause eviction to be included the budget negotiations.

“We’re talking about our fellow human beings being thrown out like a table you’d throw out of your apartment,” Rosenthal said.