What Is It?Just cause eviction controls (JCEC) are laws that protect renters by ensuring that landlords can only evict with proper cause, such as a tenant's failure to pay rent or destruction of property. While JCEC provide such protections for renters, landlords retain full right to evict a tenant for breach of rental contract. Just cause evection controls are an important tool for promoting tenant stability-particularly in low vacancy and expensive housing markets-where landlords may be tempted to evict tenants in order to obtain higher rents. Vacancy ControlsJurisdictions such as Fairlawn, New Jersey have vacancy controls that limit rental increases when rent-controlled units are vacated. Vacancy controls are often the hardest aspect of rent control to establish, even when comprehensive rent control exists.JCEC are often coupled with rent control laws and offer an important complimentary protection for renters. Many jurisdictions allow vacancy decontrol. This allows owners to set rents at market level when a rent-controlled unit becomes vacant. Preserving rent controls and tenant protections for occupied apartments, while removing them when units are vacated can lead to unjust, or no-fault evictions. Just cause eviction controls correct this problem by ensuring that landlords have proper cause for evictions. While JCEC are often packaged with rent control, they can apply to all rental units in a jurisdiction.
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