Landlord Filed Holdover Petition Before GCE Law Enacted

Landlord sued to evict month-to-month unregulated tenant after serving a 90-day Notice of Termination dated Sept. 8, 2023, with a vacate date of Dec. 31, 2023. Tenant asked the court to dismiss the case. Tenant claimed that landlord's petition was defective because it didn't contain the effective date of certain portions of New York's Good Cause Eviction (GCE) law. The GCE law requires landlords to plead good cause for eviction in a summary proceeding.

The court agreed with landlord that the GCE law wasn't enacted until April 9, 2024, which was several months after the petition was filed. And the portion of the GCE law that requires landlords to plead in the petition a "good cause" ground for eviction didn't go into effect until Aug. 18, 2024. Although landlord filed the affidavit of service of the Notice of Petition and Petition after the initial effective date of the GCE law, the proceeding commenced before the new pleading requirements went into effect. In any event, landlord promptly requested to amend any possible defect. 

Landlord also shouldn't be prejudiced by the filing date of its affidavit of service. Commencement of an eviction proceeding for purposes of the GCE law is the date of filing a petition and not the date of service. To accept tenant's claim would result in retroactive application of the GCE, which was not the legislative intent.  Also, although landlord filed its petition in January 2024 (before the GCE Law was enacted), the court system didn't assign an initial court date until April 10, 2024, and, at that time, made the first court date Aug. 20, 2024. 

Lau v. Zheng: Index No. L&T 303685/2024, NYLJ 1/29/25, p. 17, col. 1, 2025 NYLJ LEXIS 322 (Civ. Ct. Kings; 1/29/25; Ortiz, J)