POUGHKEEPSIE – City Court Judge Frank Mora has declared that the Good Cause Eviction Law passed by the Poughkeepsie Common Council in 2021 as unenforceable. The March 1, 2023 ruling came after a landlord/tenant case was appealed by the tenant. Under the recent city law, landlords cannot evict tenants for owing money after the landlord raises rent by an “unconscionable amount.”
The case of LAKR KAAL ROCK LLC was against an 87-year-old tenant on a fixed income. The tenant has resided in an apartment at Kaal Rock for 48 years. Recently the landlord increased her rent by 23 percent, from $1,300 per month to $1,600 per month, in April 2022. The tenant signed the new lease but then only submitted rent payments of $1,365 per month, which is a five percent increase under the good cause eviction law.
The landlord began an eviction proceeding in Poughkeepsie City Court and the tenant filed a motion to dismiss the proceeding for several reasons, including the argument that the 23 percent increase violates the city’s law.
In his ruling on the motion allowing the eviction proceeding to move forward, Judge Mora said the “GCEL enacted by the City of Poughkeepsie Common Council is deemed unconstitutional, thereby rendering it VOID and UNENFORCEABLE under New York State’s ‘Preemption Doctrine’.”
Mora issued a similar decision on the same day with another Kaal Rock tenant who saw her rent raised by 10 percennt. The tenant submitted rent payments adding only five percent, forcing the landlord to begin an eviction proceeding. Again, Mora declared the law unconstitutional and unenforceable because it overrides existing state laws.
Second Ward Councilman Evan Menist sponsored the law in 2021 and disagreed with the judge. “We passed the local ‘Good Cause Eviction Law’ to protect people like the 87-year-old woman in this case who has lived in her home for over 48 years before her landlord jacked up her rent by 23 percent, an amount she could not afford on her fixed income,” he said. “Without this law, hundreds of seniors and families will end up out on the streets. Multiple courts have found that these vital protections are preempted by state law, and it is high time that our representatives in Albany pass statewide Good Cause Eviction, or at least change state law to allow cities like Poughkeepsie to keep our local protections in place.”
The sentiments offered by Menist were echoed by a grassroots organization that lobbied the council for the passage of the law. “We fought alongside tenants in Poughkeepsie to win good cause protections,” said Community Voices Heard (CVH) Executive Director Juanita Lewis. “It’s devastating to see these protections be dismantled city by city, judge by judge. Now, it’s up to our state elected officials. We’re calling on state legislators to immediately pass Good Cause protections statewide.”
According to CVH, 65 percent of Poughkeepsie’s residents are renters, and one in three renters spends more than half of their income on rent.
