Tarrytown’s Board of Trustees will soon vote on whether the Village should opt into New York State’s Good Cause Eviction Law. The law sets fair rules and clear expectations for landlords and tenants alike. Under the law, landlords must have good cause (e.g., non-payment of rent) to evict someone; it also sets reasonable parameters around the amount of a rent increase at the time of a lease renewal, unless a landlord can demonstrate good cause for exceeding those parameters.
The law has many exemptions. It only applies to buildings built after 2009, for example, and excludes government-regulated buildings, co-ops, and condos. In addition, the law exempts owner-occupied buildings with fewer than 11 rental units and units owned by “small landlords,” a term that individual municipalities can amend to best suit their locality’s needs.
To ensure that Tarrytown’s version of the law is sufficiently strong to protect renters—our neighbors—there are two amendments that are needed. The current draft of the law, which will be up for debate at the public hearing on Monday, Sept. 15 at 7 pm at Village Hall, features those amendments in their strongest form. It is that version of the law that the Board of Trustees ought to pass.
First, the current draft denotes that Tarrytown should increase the rent amount eligible for exemption from the law from 245% of fair market rent (as determined by U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development) to 345%. The amendment will make it harder for landlords to raise rents to avoid the law; it also reflects the continued disparity between the rising cost of living and stagnant wages.
Second, the current draft defines a “small landlord” as one whose New York State real estate portfolio is comprised of no more than one rental property. There are many reasons for doing so:
1. Lowering the number to one increases the number of renters protected by the law.
2. A lower number makes it more difficult for unscrupulous landlords to falsely claim that “good cause” does not apply to them, and easier for tenants to find out if a landlord exceeds the legal limit. (In theory, the law requires landlords to let a tenant know how many units they own, but there is no mechanism to ensure that landlords are honest. Moreover, many landlords, especially large corporate ones, hide their ownership through LLCs, limited liability corporations. Indeed, some landlords have multiple LLCs, making it very difficult for a tenant to know how many rental properties they actually own. There’s no database that provides such information
3. A growing number of LLCs own property in Tarrytown. LLCs now own more than 17 percent of the parcels in the area bounded by Central Avenue, North Washington, Wildey St, and Mechanics Avenue, for example.
4. The growth corresponds to rising eviction rates in Tarrytown: According to data gathered from the Statewide Landlord Tenant Eviction Dashboard, there was a 1500% increase (from 2 to 32 cases) in eviction filings from 2023 to 2024, in housing court. As of late July, there had already been 38 filings in 2025. Those numbers fail to capture the full reality of housing insecurity as most struggling tenants cannot afford the time or expense to pursue legal remedies in the face of problems with landlords and focus instead on finding new housing for themselves and their families.
5. A lower threshold is a disincentive for corporate property owners aiming to purchase multiple properties. It thus provides more opportunities for small, local property owners, who will be more likely to have fairer and more equitable relationships with their tenants and be more community focused.
A strong Good Cause Eviction law will make Tarrytown more stable, more affordable, and fairer for all!
Please attend the meeting of the Tarrytown Board of Trustees at Village Hall—at 7pm on Mon., September 15, 2025, when Trustees will discuss and possibly vote on the law.
You can also write (via email) to the Trustees to voice your support for the draft law.
If you would like a handout version (81/2″ x 14″) of the above to share with others or to post somewhere, please download the pdf below.
Livable Tarrytowns 