Illegal Lockouts
1,814
Housing Court Cases
Illegal Evictions
54
NYPD Criminal Court Summons
Unlawful evictions are a widespread yet under-enforced problem in many gentrifying and Black and brown communities where housing insecurity, speculation, and poor conditions are prevalent. Unlawful evictions are a Class A misdemeanor and the NYPD are even supposed to arrest owners who illegally evict their occupants. However, landlords rarely, if ever, face accountability because tenants often feel disempowered or lack the time and resources to bring their landlord to court. Unlawful evictions further erode tenants’ rights, concentrate power among unscrupulous property owners, and increase housing instability and homelessness. Anyone can be unlawfully evicted, but most often it is people living in informal situations, e.g. roommates, subletters, renting a room, illegal basements, etc.
A yearly data review (August 2024–August 2025) highlights key trends in unlawful and enforced evictions across the city and which communities are most impacted.
- Between Aug 2024 and Aug 2025, there were 1,814 illegal lockouts, 54 illegal evictions, and 18,620 enforced evictions.
- Council Districts 15 (987 evictions), 14 (922 evictions), and 17 (857 evictions) had the highest number of enforced evictions.
- Council Districts 20 (5 evictions), 46 (5 evictions), and 48 (4 evictions) had the highest number of illegal evictions.
The Committee on Housing & Buildings will be introducing a package of bills called the Stop Illegal Evictions Act, sponsored by Councilmember Sandy Nurse. The legislation seeks to tie unlawful evictions to the City’s harassment code, guarantee due process for all legal occupants and ensures they are able to re-enter their homes, and increases penalties. A resolution is also being introduced calling on the State to compel the courts to hear unlawful eviction cases within 5 days.
What is an illegal eviction?
An illegal eviction is when a lawful occupant, which includes an individual with permission of the owner, a tenant or licensee, that has been living in a dwelling for more than thirty days is forced out by unlawful means.
Forceful evictions are a misdemeanor per the NYC Administrative Code 26-521. There are only 3 lawful ways for a lawful occupant to leave:
- an eviction by a marshal;
- an agency vacate order; or
- voluntary departure.
What to do if illegally evicted?
An individual or family who has been forcefully evicted can seek to return to their home, retrieve their possessions and/or sue for money damages. Legal options available are to file an illegal eviction lockout case or a harassment case in housing court.
Source: TakeRoot Justice
Unlawful Means of Eviction
Include But Not Limited To
Belongings removed without permission
Unit made unusable by damage
Another person is moved in
Force or threat of force
Threat to call police
Lock changed
Historical Trends
Illegal Lockouts & Evictions Since 2018
From 2018 to right before COVID-19 in March of 2020, OCA housing court records show that illegal lockout cases in NYC hovered between 100 & 200 cases per month. Following the New York State Eviction Moratorium in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which came into effect on March 20, 2020, the number of cases plummeted by April 2020. Over the next year, the number of cases returned to its previous trend.
NYPD illegal eviction summons were on a downward trend before COVID. During COVID and the Eviction Moratorium, summons continued to decrease, with an average of about 4 per month. Once the moratorium was lifted, summons increased while not surpassing previous levels.
Compared to enforced evictions, which have averaged approximately 1,021 per month since 2018, there are much fewer illegal lockout cases and even fewer NYPD summons for illegal evictions. Due to the unlawful nature of illegal evictions, these metrics are likely undercounting the extent of illegal evictions occurring in NYC.
Mapping Illegal Lockouts and Evictions in NYC
The interactive dashboard below explores illegal lockout cases, illegal eviction summonses, and enforced evictions across zip codes and Council Districts in NYC. The dashboard contains a map, time plot, and table, all of which can be filtered to investigate Council Districts of interest. To create these spatial visualizations, the dashboard has filtered the original data sources to a subset of observations that contained complete geographic information. Also note that illegal lockout cases are only available at the zip code level, so for that tab the dashboard will show zip codes that overlap with the selected Council District. See the More Info tab for more background information on the data. A standalone version of the dashboard can be found here.
From the dashboard, there were 1,813 illegal lockout cases, 54 illegal eviction summonses, and 17,705 enforced evictions in NYC between Aug 2024 and Aug 2024. The difference in magnitude between illegal lockout cases and illegal eviction summons indicates that summonses are rarely issued despite the large number of cases.
In order to better compare geographic areas of varying sizes, the data for each zip code and Council District is normalized by the number of residential units in that area. The map shows that illegal lockout cases, illegal eviction summonses, and enforced evictions are spread across all boroughs but are concentrated in neighborhoods within the boroughs.
The zip codes with the highest number of illegal lockout cases are: 10456 (Council Districts 15, 16, 17) with 48 cases, 11226 (Council Districts 40, 45) with 45 cases, and 11207 (Council Districts 37, 42) with 44 cases.
Legislation
-
Expanding the definition of tenant harassment to include unlawful evictions Int. 0621-2024
Additionally, the bill requires the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) to include, as part of a report due on February 27, 2026, a recommendation as to whether an owner’s history of unlawful eviction is a reliable criterion for the certificate of no harassment program.“When a person is illegally evicted from their home, their whole world is upended, often for years,” said Council Member Sandy Nurse. “With the passage of Int. 621, the harm of unlawful evictions will no longer be felt solely by the tenants, but also by bad landlords who exploit a system that lacks accountability. Illegal eviction is abuse and our city’s definition of harassment must reflect that. This is the first in my No Lockouts Act to ensure every tenant’s right to a safe and stable home.” Press Release
-
Increasing penalties for unlawful evictions. Int. 0623-2024
This bill would substantially increase civil penalties for unlawful evictions, raising fines from $1,000–$10,000 to $5,000–$20,000 per violation, and increase daily penalties for failure to restore a tenant to their home. It would also prohibit building owners who commit unlawful evictions from participating in any city subsidy, tax abatement, or tax exemption program for 5 years. To cure violations, owners may be required to set aside a portion of their buildings for low-income housing, ensuring accountability and restitution. -
Posting rent stabilization notices in multiple dwellings. Int. 1037-2024
This bill, now enacted as Local Law 86 of 2025, requires the owner of a multiple dwelling containing rent stabilized units to post a sign, stating that the building contains rent stabilized units and providing information about how tenants can submit inquiries to New York State Homes and Community Renewal (DCHR) to find out if their units are rent stabilized. The sign would be required to be in English and Spanish, and placed in the common area at such building’s entrance.
For feedback, comments, and questions please email DataInfo@council.nyc.gov.
Created by the NYC Council Data Team.