Syracuse Good Cause Eviction: What Landlords Must Know in 2025

Syracuse passed a local Good Cause Eviction ordinance that applies to residential rental units across the city. For every landlord with a Syracuse address, this law changes the rules on lease non-renewals, rent increases, and holdover evictions — and the consequences of getting it wrong go beyond losing a case. This page documents what the law requires and what it means operationally.

What Good Cause Eviction Is

Good Cause Eviction laws limit a landlord’s ability to evict tenants or refuse lease renewals without a legally recognized reason. New York State enacted a statewide Good Cause Eviction framework in 2024 under L. 2024, ch. 96. Syracuse, as a municipality, opted into expanded coverage that applies to a broader portion of the local rental stock than the state baseline.

Under the law, a landlord cannot remove a tenant or decline to renew a lease without demonstrating “good cause.” The law is not a rent freeze and it does not eliminate the right to evict — it requires that the grounds for removal be among those specifically enumerated in the statute, and that proper notice be provided.

What Qualifies as Good Cause in Syracuse

The following are recognized as good cause under the statute:

• Nonpayment of rent. A tenant who has not paid rent after a proper 14-day demand notice can still be evicted. Good Cause does not protect nonpayment. This is the most important thing for landlords to understand: the law does not prevent eviction for non-payment, it changes the procedures around non-renewal and other grounds.
• Material lease violation. A tenant who has substantially and repeatedly violated a material lease term — subletting without permission, unauthorized occupants, conduct causing significant harm — can be removed. The violation must be material and documented, and the landlord must have issued a cure notice first.
• Owner or immediate family occupancy. A landlord who intends to occupy the unit or allow a qualifying family member to occupy it can decline renewal, subject to notice requirements and, in some cases, relocation assistance obligations.
• Sale of property requiring vacancy. A sale of the building to a buyer who will occupy it as a primary residence can be good cause for non-renewal, with specific notice requirements.
• Substantial renovation requiring vacancy. Renovations that cannot be completed with a tenant in occupancy can justify non-renewal, but the renovation must be genuine and the landlord must be prepared to demonstrate it.
• Rent increase within legal limits. A landlord may propose a rent increase within the statutory cap. A tenant who refuses the new terms and vacates is not being evicted — but a landlord who proposes an increase exceeding the cap faces liability.

Rent Increase Limits Under Good Cause

Under New York’s Good Cause Eviction law, a rent increase is presumptively unreasonable if it exceeds the lower of 5% or the local Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 5%. In Central New York, this cap has effectively been in the 5-8% range depending on the year’s CPI figure.

A landlord who raises rent above this threshold must be prepared to justify the increase in court if challenged. Increases for substantial capital improvements, documented operating cost increases, or pass-through of mandatory costs can support a higher increase — but each requires documentation and a formal process. Landlords who raise rents above the cap and face tenant challenge are exposed to civil liability, not just procedural setback.

Notice Requirements: Where Landlords Are Getting It Wrong

The notice requirements under Good Cause Eviction are more demanding than a standard lease expiration notice. Syracuse landlords are required to:

• Provide written notice of intent not to renew at least 90 days before lease expiration (for tenancies of two or more years; 60 days for one to two years; 30 days for under one year)
• State the specific good cause grounds in the notice — a generic “we are not renewing” notice is insufficient
• Include the required statutory language in the notice informing tenants of their rights
• Serve the notice properly under CPLR service rules

Landlords who send a brief email or text saying the lease won’t be renewed have not satisfied these requirements. A holdover proceeding filed on the basis of an improper notice will be dismissed. More significantly, a tenant who stays past the lease expiration date because the landlord failed to provide proper notice may be protected from removal under Good Cause until proper notice is later provided — pushing the timeline out by months.

What Good Cause Does NOT Do

It is important to be clear about the boundaries:

• Good Cause does not apply to owner-occupied properties with fewer than a specified number of units (see the statute’s exemption provisions)
• Good Cause does not prevent eviction for nonpayment — the standard RPAPL Article 7 nonpayment process applies
• Good Cause does not impose rent stabilization or require registration with DHCR for market-rate units (unlike rent-stabilized housing)
• Good Cause does not give tenants the right to remain indefinitely — it requires proper grounds and proper process

The Interaction with Habitability

A landlord who attempts a non-renewal under Good Cause while also having outstanding habitability complaints is in a difficult position. Tenants and their attorneys are aware that a retaliatory eviction defense — asserting that a non-renewal followed a habitability complaint — can defeat a holdover proceeding. In Syracuse, where Code Enforcement activity is aggressive and tenant legal aid is well-funded, this defense appears frequently. Landlords who operate documented, responsive maintenance programs eliminate most of this exposure before it develops.

How RenPro Manages Good Cause Compliance for Syracuse Properties

For landlords RenPro manages in Syracuse, Good Cause compliance is built into the lease renewal workflow:

• Renewal notices are generated on the correct timeline for each tenancy length
• Notices include required statutory language and identify good cause grounds where applicable
• Rent increase proposals are reviewed against the current cap before any notice is sent
• Documentation supporting any non-renewal decision is assembled and retained
• Habitability records are current so that retaliatory eviction defenses are rebutted by evidence, not argument

For self-managing landlords in Syracuse, the first incorrect non-renewal notice is often an expensive lesson. The process for getting it right consistently requires a workflow that doesn’t exist in most informal management arrangements.