IN-DEPTH: ‘Just Cause’ Policies Benefit Tenants, Landlords Say They ‘Just Cause’ Problems

While the director of a tenants association says “just cause policies benefit tenants,” the president of a landlord’s association insists they “just cause a lot of problems” for landlords.
“Just cause” eviction policies are designed to prevent random, retaliatory, or discriminatory evictions by ensuring that landlords can evict tenants only for specific reasons, such as failure to pay rent, intentional property damage, or refusal to comply with the terms of the lease.
Tenant advocates insist that just cause policies protect tenants from unjust evictions and costly rent hikes. Conversely, landlords say that just cause policies make it difficult to get rid of problem tenants and reduce the number of available properties by discouraging owners from offering their properties for rent….