SECTION 216
Grounds for removal of tenants
Real Property (RPP) CHAPTER 50, ARTICLE 6-A
* § 216. Grounds for removal of tenants. 1. No landlord shall remove a
tenant from any housing accommodation covered by section two hundred
fourteen of this article, or attempt such removal or exclusion from
possession, notwithstanding that the tenant has no written lease or that
the lease or other rental agreement has expired or otherwise terminated,
except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction entered in an
appropriate judicial action or proceeding in which the petitioner or
plaintiff has established one of the following grounds as good cause for
removal or eviction:
(a) (i) The tenant has failed to pay rent due and owing, provided
however that the rent due and owing, or any part thereof, did not result
from a rent increase which is unreasonable. In determining whether all
or part of the rent due and owing is the result of an unreasonable rent
increase, it shall be a rebuttable presumption that the rent for a
dwelling not protected by rent regulation is unreasonable if said rent
has been increased in any calendar year, after the effective date of
this article, or after the effective date of the local law in any
village, town, or city that enacts such local law to apply this article
to such village, town, or city pursuant to subdivision one of section
two hundred thirteen of this article, by an amount greater than the
local rent standard, provided further that no rent increase less than or
equal to the local rent standard shall be deemed unreasonable.