Owners who rent to Columbia students try to oust regulated tenants

Common technique motivated by vacancy decontrol: 

NY Press
In Columbia Apartment Battle, It's the Long-Term Renters Who Pay 
(The whole article is worth reading - not just this excerpt.)

Excerpt: Mejia told The West Side Spirit that this summer, the landlord refused to renew her lease, and sent her a 30-day vacate notice in July. When she didn’t budge, the landlord used images from the hidden camera as the basis of an eviction suit that was launched against her in housing court. She often leaves the apartment to visit her elderly mother, who lives next door, and if the landlord could convince the court she wasn’t using her rent-stabilized apartment as a primary residence, Mejia could be evicted.

She hired a lawyer for about $1,500 and the case was dropped, she said. A few weeks later a new lease arrived in the mail. Then in September a man dropped by the apartment and offered to pay her $75,000 to move out. She didn’t bite.
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End vacancy decontrol, end harassment.