Eviction Laws in White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city of approximately 61,000 residents and the county seat of Westchester County, located approximately 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan. The city serves as the commercial, governmental, and legal center of Westchester County — the Westchester County Courthouse, County Office Building, and numerous federal, state, and county agencies are headquartered here. White Plains has a robust corporate presence including major offices for companies in financial services, healthcare, and technology, and its downtown has undergone significant redevelopment with luxury apartment towers, retail, and mixed-use projects over the past decade. The demographics are approximately 44 percent White, 33 percent Hispanic, 11 percent Black, and 9 percent Asian. The median household income is approximately $111,000, but the poverty rate is about 11 percent — reflecting economic stratification between the affluent northern neighborhoods and the more working-class southern and eastern sections. Approximately 48 percent of housing units are renter-occupied, totaling roughly 11,600 renter households. The median gross rent is approximately $2,151 — one of the highest in Westchester County. The vacancy rate is approximately 7.6 percent. The median construction year is 1960, with about 30 percent of homes built before 1940. White Plains is served by Metro-North Railroad (Harlem Line) with direct service to Grand Central Terminal in approximately 40 minutes.
New York eviction law — the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL) Article 7 — requires landlords to serve a written notice before filing suit. For nonpayment of rent, a 14-day written rent demand is required under RPAPL § 711(2), specifying the exact amount owed and the time period covered. For lease violations, a 10-day notice to cure is required under RPAPL § 753(4). Month-to-month tenancies require 30 days’ notice if the tenancy is under one year, 60 days if between one and two years, and 90 days if the tenancy exceeds two years (RPL § 232-b as amended by HSTPA 2019). Once the notice period expires without compliance, the landlord files a summary proceeding (nonpayment or holdover petition) with the court. A critical protection added by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA): tenants may cure a nonpayment at any time until the marshal or sheriff physically executes the warrant of eviction — payment of all rent and fees owed stops the eviction entirely. Self-help eviction — changing locks, removing belongings, or shutting off utilities without a court order — is a criminal misdemeanor under RPAPL § 768.
As of August 18, 2024, all landlords statewide must include the Good Cause Eviction Law notice (RPL § 231-c) on every lease, every rent demand, every petition, and every notice — even for units that are exempt from the substantive Good Cause protections. Failure to include this notice can result in dismissal of the proceeding.
White Plains & Westchester County — Local Rules That Affect Landlords
Rent Stabilization — ETPA Applies. White Plains adopted the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA). The ETPA applies to buildings with six or more units built before 1974 in municipalities that have declared a housing emergency. White Plains has a smaller concentration of ETPA-covered units than Yonkers, Mount Vernon, or New Rochelle, but pre-1974 multifamily buildings in the downtown and southern sections of the city are covered. Rent increases for ETPA-covered units are set annually by the Westchester County Rent Guidelines Board. Landlords with ETPA-covered units must register with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), file annual registration statements, and comply with DHCR regulations on rent increases, lease renewals, and services. Under HSTPA 2019, apartments can no longer be deregulated based on rent amounts or tenant income levels — once stabilized, always stabilized. White Plains’ significant new luxury apartment construction (post-2009) is market-rate and falls outside ETPA.
Good Cause Eviction — OPTED IN (June 2025). The White Plains Common Council unanimously adopted Good Cause Eviction protections on June 10, 2025, making White Plains the second Westchester County municipality to do so (after Croton-on-Hudson). The law requires landlords to have a “good cause” — such as nonpayment of rent or violation of the lease — to evict a tenant or refuse to renew a lease. Tenants can challenge rent increases that exceed the lower of CPI + 5 percent or 10 percent. Buildings issued a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2009, remain exempt under state law for 30 years from construction. For ETPA-covered units, the existing rent stabilization framework already provides comparable protections, so Good Cause primarily expands coverage to market-rate units not covered by ETPA.
Dual Regulatory Framework — ETPA + Good Cause. White Plains joins Yonkers, New Rochelle, and Mount Vernon as Westchester cities where landlords must navigate two overlapping tenant-protection frameworks. For pre-1974 buildings with six or more units, ETPA governs. For market-rate units not covered by ETPA, Good Cause now provides just-cause eviction requirements and rent-increase caps. Landlords must determine which framework applies to each unit before setting rents, serving notices, or pursuing evictions.
County Seat and Legal Infrastructure. As the county seat, White Plains hosts the Westchester County Courthouse (111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.), the Westchester County Clerk’s Office, and the Ninth Judicial District Court Help Center — which provides free procedural assistance to self-represented litigants in Supreme Court and other matters. The Westchester County Office of Housing Counsel (OHC) is also based in White Plains, providing free legal representation for qualifying tenants facing eviction across the county. Landlords filing eviction proceedings in White Plains should expect a well-organized legal infrastructure and the possibility of represented tenant opposition through the OHC or Legal Services of the Hudson Valley.
Downtown Redevelopment and Luxury Market. White Plains’ downtown has seen significant luxury apartment development over the past decade, with several high-rise and mid-rise buildings offering units at $2,500 to $4,000+ per month. These post-2009 buildings are exempt from both ETPA and Good Cause for 30 years from construction, creating a distinct luxury tier that operates under standard market conditions. Landlords of these newer properties have more flexibility in setting rents and managing tenancies, but must still comply with statewide HSTPA protections including the right-to-cure provision, security deposit limits, and the Good Cause notice requirement on all documents.
Security Deposits. New York State law (HSTPA 2019, General Obligations Law § 7-108) governs all deposit handling. Maximum deposit is one month’s rent. Must be returned within 14 days of move-out with an itemized statement of deductions. Must be held in an interest-bearing account — tenant receives interest minus a 1 percent administrative fee. Application fees are capped at $20 total. Late fees are capped at the lesser of $50 or 5 percent of monthly rent, with a 5-day grace period.
White Plains City Court — Where White Plains Landlords File
White Plains landlords file summary proceedings (nonpayment petitions and holdover petitions) at White Plains City Court, located at 77 South Lexington Avenue, White Plains, NY 10601. General phone: (914) 824-5675. Fax: (914) 824-5858. The court is part of the Ninth Judicial District of the New York State Unified Court System. The building is ADA accessible with public parking available nearby. The filing fee for a summary proceeding is approximately $45. After judgment, the Westchester County Sheriff executes the warrant. The sheriff must give the tenant 14 days’ written notice before physical removal (RPAPL § 749(2)). For ETPA-covered units, the court will verify the unit’s regulatory status. For Good-Cause-covered units (effective June 2025), landlords must establish a valid “good cause” ground for eviction. An uncontested nonpayment eviction typically takes 6 to 10 weeks from demand to physical removal. Contested proceedings — particularly those involving rent-stabilized units, Good Cause defenses, DHCR complaints, habitability defenses, or adjournment requests — can extend to 12 to 16 weeks or significantly longer. Self-help eviction is a criminal misdemeanor under RPAPL § 768, and only the Westchester County Sheriff is authorized to physically remove a tenant.
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