The Dark Side of Good Cause Eviction Laws

Housing providers routinely contend with all sorts of behavior from residents that negatively impact their neighbors or other members of their apartment communities. Usually, residents cease such behavior after being warned, but sometimes this is not enough. In such cases where violations remain uncorrected or are repeated, housing providers have two options: engage in a protracted and expensive eviction process or choose not to renew a lease agreement.

Although rarely utilized, non-renewals are a vital tool for addressing certain cases ranging from persistent noise violations to threats and violent conduct, given it spares all parties involved from engaging in the eviction process. Good Cause (HB 709 / SB 651), also referred to as just cause, would prohibit housing providers from nonrenewing a lease or terminating a holdover tenancy without proving a resident violated their lease in landlord-tenant court. This would require the testimony of affected residents against their neighbors, which many people would be hesitant to do. Essentially, good cause laws provide residents with an indefinite lease that must be renewed, regardless of their behavior.

Since the General Assembly is considering whether to enact prohibitions on non-renewals and lease terminations for holdover tenancies, it is important to ask what effect this type of law will have in practice. We got an answer during the Senate Judicial Proceeding Committee’s housing panel held on January 21. Arianna Royster, Senior Advisor at Borger Management, testified at the hearing to her experience managing apartments in Washington, DC under just cause and how it has harmed numerous residents of Borger properties.  

Good Cause Laws in Action

Royster states she is often told by lawmakers to simply enforce lease agreements. However, in certain situations, it's not that easy, especially given that residents have the opportunity to cure lease violations within a certain time frame and then are free to repeat the same violation once that period has passed. She goes on to recount three horrific situations that occurred recently at Borger-managed properties in DC that illustrate this problem.

The first situation involves a resident repeatedly overflowing his bathtub and flooding his neighbor’s apartment below. Under just cause, a resident can overflow their bathtub and flood neighboring apartments as much as they want with no consequences.

“Imagine you're a new resident excited about the possibility of finally living on your own. You've selected the perfect apartment for you. You've spent hours on Amazon purchasing items to decorate your apartment. The big day is here, and you move in; You're settled and enjoying your apartment. 30 days into your residency, your neighbor above you overflows their bathtub [and water leaks into your apartment]. Things happen, right? You're inconvenienced, but you clean up and you move your items back into their place after we've had to [re]paint and restore your apartment. Life's good again. 45 days later your upstairs neighbor overflows the bathtub again. You think, “What's going on? Why does this keep happening.”

So, we repeat the process. After a month goes by it happens for a third time. At this point, as a resident, you're annoyed, and you're looking to management for a solution. Well, management's enforcement of the lease is to go the legal route, which can take more than a year. In the meantime, you're being subjected to a neighbor who cannot be controlled by management. Your options are to move out of the apartment you just were so excited to move into a few short months ago or transfer to another unit and move again. The impact of Just Cause legislation at work. This happened to one of our residents just last week.”

The second situation involved a resident assaulting a 67-year-old employee. Under Just Cause, a resident can assault people in the building repeatedly and remain living on the property beyond his current lease agreement.

“A resident corners your 67-year-old employee in an elevator and brutally assaults him. The police arrest the resident, but he's out of jail in four hours. Under Just Cause, the only avenue available is to send a 14-day notice to cure, meaning as long as he doesn't assault another person within that timeframe, he can continue to live on the property. Imagine the PTSD our employee and residents felt, fearing that they may be assaulted by this individual next.”

The final situation involves a resident causing a widespread roach infestation that spreads to several apartments across multiple floors. This resident refuses to grant access to his apartment so that the infestation can be abated. Under Just Cause, a resident can live in an unsanitary way that subjects his neighbors to hoards of insect infestations and face little to no consequences.  

“A resident on the fourth floor refuses to clean his apartment. He doesn't take out his trash. He relieves himself not only in the bathroom but throughout the apartment. Food is strewn throughout the apartment in open containers. This behavior produced the worst roach infestation I have experienced in my 35 years, and I've seen some horrific things. The resident will not allow you in the apartment to clean it or treat the roach infestation. Meanwhile, residents beside and below him suffer from this roach infestation. Engaging in the legal process to enforce the lease against this individual can take over a year; during this time, 17 residents are being inconvenienced, to put it lightly.”

It's not just housing providers recounting these stories. The Washington Post in March of last year reported on how Just Cause leaves little recourse for residents plagued by secondhand tobacco and marijuana smoke from neighbors. With the management company unable to non-renew individuals violating the no smoking clauses of their lease due to DC’s Just Cause law, and an eviction process that routinely takes a year to navigate, several residents in a Northwest DC apartment are forced to suffer or move.