ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Rochester City Council approved updated Good Cause Eviction protections Tuesday night. The legislation aims to protect renters from rate hikes, unfair evictions, and guarantee lease renewals to anyone who pays on time. Landlords will have to provide proof that a tenant did not pay rent and that it did not result from an unreasonable rent increase. They would also have to prove if the tenant violated a lease obligation, was doing illegal activity, and/or unreasonably refused to give a landlord access. City Council announced Tuesday after the vote that these are the only acceptable reasons someone should be evicted: Non-payment of rent provided the unpaid rent did not result from an unreasonable rent increase. Violation of a substantial obligation of the lease. Nuisance on the property committed or allowed by the tenant. Occupancy violates or causes a violation of law. Use of the property for an illegal purpose. Unreasonably refusing landlord access. Recovering possession of the unit for the personal use of a principal residence of the landlord. Demolition or withdrawal of the unit from the housing market. Tenant refusal to agree to reasonable changes or reasonable rent increases. City Council President Miguel Meléndez introduced an amendment to the bill and some legislative items — including changing the definition of small landlord, who would be exempt, from someone who owns ten units to just one. "Hearing stories of residents and the impacts of rent gouging and what it has had on the Rochester housing market, I have learned to understand the importance of the tenants of Good Cause," Meléndez said. The following exemptions were also included in the legislation: Units exceeding 245% of the fair market rent for Monroe County. Buildings for which a certificate of occupancy was issued on or after Jan. 1, 2009. Units already subject to local, state or federal rent regulations. Owner-occupied buildings containing fewer than 10 units. Manufactured homes located in manufactured home parks. Units occupied as an incident to the tenant’s job that is being lawfully terminated.  Hotel rooms and other transient uses. Religious facilities or institutions; seasonal use units; units within hospitals; and dormitories. Rochester City Council first introduced the bill two and a half years ago. It did not pass. But coming back through the state level, and getting passed Tuesday, Lisle Coleman with the Citywide Tenant Union of Rochester said it was because people came together to pursue the bill. "We went to the state. We did our work. We did what we needed to do. And now we're back here being the 12th municipality in New York to opt into this. It is unusual, but it's because the people fought so hard," Coleman said. For local advocate Oscar Brewer, Good Cause Eviction means hope. "It gives me hope that I'm able to move back into the city and not be priced gouged out of the city that I was born in in 1979," Brewer said. "It gives my children hope." The legislation also called for the creation of a task force to oversee its implementation, and a citywide education campaign. Under the updated legislation, it is required tenants be provided with a written notice of their rights under GCE upon their lease signing. The protections are expected to go into effect "in the coming weeks," according to City Council. Only two city councilmembers voted no, those two were Michael Patterson and Vice President LaShay Harris. "This is not a silver bullet to our housing process. This legislation will not correct for housing prices. In fact, this will be a triple governing effect. This will ultimately increase the cost of rent in our market where people are already struggling to pay rent," Vice President Harris said. Rochester is among five other municipalities (Albany, Poughkeepsie, Ithaca, Beacon and Newburgh) to have accepted this version of the legislation.