KINGSTON – The Ulster County Legislature will consider a proposed Good Cause Eviction Law to protect tenants and provide clarity to landlords in the months ahead.
The state has excluded justifications for eviction from state law leaving it up to municipalities to determine if further regulation is appropriate.
Under the local law proposed by Legislator Abe Uchitelle (D, Kingston), evictions would only proceed in instances in which a judge determines that the property owner has good cause. The local law would define “good cause.”
According to the 2020 Ulster County Rental Housing Survey, the incomes of renters have not kept pace with the rising rents in the county. Since 2010, the median rent in Ulster increased by 16 percent while the median household income of renters decreased by one percent, according to the survey.
Uchitelle said the law would protect tenants from unfair evictions as a result of predatory rent increases and ensure landlords’ rights to evict if they have good cause.
Evictions that would be preserved in the proposed legislation would include situations where a tenant is violating the law or using the property for an illegal purpose; causing a nuisance or damage to the property through neglect; unreasonably refusing the landlord access to the property to make repairs; or failure to pay their rent.
Failure to pay rent due to an annual rent increase over five percent would not meet the threshold of good cause and would not be grounds for eviction under the proposed legislation.
“It is our responsibility to everyone in this community that we protect our most vulnerable and provide property owners with fair guidelines that are simply intended to prevent unethical practices that weaken our community,” said Uchitelle.
Legislature Majority Leader Jonathan Heppner (D, Woodstock) said the law would provide “a fair playing field” for renters and property owners alike.
The measure is supported by Citizen Action New York and Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson.
Adoption of the local law “is essential to helping stem the rising tide of gentrification and displacement that is eroding communities throughout Ulster County,” said Rashida Tyner, co-founder of the Ulster County Coalition for Housing Justice and founder of the Real Kingston Tenants Union.
