I created this data visualization. Data sources and tools are in the preview image, and all datasets are linked in the related post.
Dataset: NYC’s OpenData portal on evictions, and NYS court system dashboard on eviction actions.
Data viz tool: Datawrapper
Government has a vested interest in avoiding evictions since many could end up homeless. This way the burden is shifted to the property owner who has to deal with non-paying renters. It’s cynical, but logical.
I’m in Florida and we only process a small amount of evictions each month. A person in the business told me if they actually processed them all within a 6 month span it would devastate the state economy and likely majorly impact the national economy
NYC also has very high standards for most renters.
A minimum of 40x rent for your yearly income, 80x for guarantors (who generally must be from NY or an adjacent state), and 700+ credit is the most common set of requirements.
Considering that those with exactly a 700 credit score are already less than 2% likely to be delinquent on their credit card payments, and credit card payments are usually prioritized behind rent payments, this isn’t surprising to me.
What is the unpaid rent statistics?
This is really interesting data. I’d be curious to see this plotted against the number of evictions cases filed (not executed). I suspect the filing rate is astronomically high, but the execution rate is low due to legal challenges and city programs. The real story might be in the gap between those two numbers.
Tbf, It’s insanely hard to evict someone in NYC. There’s a lot of tenant protections and the system is super regulated.
If a tenant doesn’t pay, LLs have to give notice of non payment, wait 14 days, then they have to file with the civil court, the tenants then have to be served court papers (which can be difficult) , then they have to wait for a court date and after all that a judge has to rule on it and it’s not guaranteed to go in the LL’s favor.
Makes sense it’s so low given how long and drug out the process is.
A lot of speculation on reasons why eviction rates are low when OP explains in the rather lengthy article. A couple of notes…
1) The eviction filing rate for New York (based on OPs data) is 10x the actual evictions. Compare this to Florida which has an eviction filing rate of 6-7% but an eviction rate of 3-4% (Eviction Labs)
2) I expect that the eviction rates should be a little higher for larger landlords mainly because going through the eviction process in NY takes a large amount of time and money.
3) Just because the eviction rate is low doesn’t mean people aren’t moving. It just means that you have to bribe tenants to move out or hope that they will leave before the actual eviction warrant is in place.
A lot of posts talking about the high standards for renters in NY, I believe that the high standards are an effect, not a cause of the low eviction rates. Personally my mom rented to folks during the Covid period who just decided not to pay rent towards the end of their lease. Those people are also the same ones whose credit sucked and didn’t have a stable income but we’re a former tenants recommendation or just sounded like they were in desperate need for a place. Since then I’ve set some rules for her to only take good tenants with great credit.
Evictions can be low due to how tenant friendly the laws are (near impossible to evict someone).
9 comments
I created this data visualization. Data sources and tools are in the preview image, and all datasets are linked in the related post.
Dataset: NYC’s OpenData portal on evictions, and NYS court system dashboard on eviction actions.
Data viz tool: Datawrapper
Government has a vested interest in avoiding evictions since many could end up homeless. This way the burden is shifted to the property owner who has to deal with non-paying renters. It’s cynical, but logical.
I’m in Florida and we only process a small amount of evictions each month. A person in the business told me if they actually processed them all within a 6 month span it would devastate the state economy and likely majorly impact the national economy
NYC also has very high standards for most renters.
A minimum of 40x rent for your yearly income, 80x for guarantors (who generally must be from NY or an adjacent state), and 700+ credit is the most common set of requirements.
Considering that those with exactly a 700 credit score are already less than 2% likely to be delinquent on their credit card payments, and credit card payments are usually prioritized behind rent payments, this isn’t surprising to me.
What is the unpaid rent statistics?
This is really interesting data. I’d be curious to see this plotted against the number of evictions cases filed (not executed). I suspect the filing rate is astronomically high, but the execution rate is low due to legal challenges and city programs. The real story might be in the gap between those two numbers.
Tbf, It’s insanely hard to evict someone in NYC. There’s a lot of tenant protections and the system is super regulated.
If a tenant doesn’t pay, LLs have to give notice of non payment, wait 14 days, then they have to file with the civil court, the tenants then have to be served court papers (which can be difficult) , then they have to wait for a court date and after all that a judge has to rule on it and it’s not guaranteed to go in the LL’s favor.
Makes sense it’s so low given how long and drug out the process is.
A lot of speculation on reasons why eviction rates are low when OP explains in the rather lengthy article. A couple of notes…
1) The eviction filing rate for New York (based on OPs data) is 10x the actual evictions. Compare this to Florida which has an eviction filing rate of 6-7% but an eviction rate of 3-4% (Eviction Labs)
2) I expect that the eviction rates should be a little higher for larger landlords mainly because going through the eviction process in NY takes a large amount of time and money.
3) Just because the eviction rate is low doesn’t mean people aren’t moving. It just means that you have to bribe tenants to move out or hope that they will leave before the actual eviction warrant is in place.
A lot of posts talking about the high standards for renters in NY, I believe that the high standards are an effect, not a cause of the low eviction rates. Personally my mom rented to folks during the Covid period who just decided not to pay rent towards the end of their lease. Those people are also the same ones whose credit sucked and didn’t have a stable income but we’re a former tenants recommendation or just sounded like they were in desperate need for a place. Since then I’ve set some rules for her to only take good tenants with great credit.
Evictions can be low due to how tenant friendly the laws are (near impossible to evict someone).
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