New York Landlord-Tenant Law: Rights, Rules, and Leases

New York landlord-tenant law is built mainly from Article 7 of the Real Property Law, the security-deposit rules in the General Obligations Law, and the eviction procedure in the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law. This reference covers residential tenancies across the state: how leases work, what a landlord must provide, how rent and fees are limited, the notice required to end or change a tenancy, and how the eviction process runs. It does not cover commercial leases or the detailed rent-stabilization rules that apply to roughly one million regulated apartments, mostly in New York City.

What New York landlord-tenant law covers

Most of the statewide rules sit in Real Property Law Article 7, titled “Landlord and Tenant.” It governs written and oral residential leases, the warranty of habitability, notice requirements, and limits on fees. Security deposits are governed separately by the General Obligations Law, and the court process for removing a tenant lives in the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law.

The 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act changed these rules substantially. It capped security deposits, limited application and late fees, extended notice periods, and slowed the eviction timeline. A tenant or landlord working from older guidance will often find the current rule is different. The New York Attorney General publishes a plain-language overview of these protections through its tenants and homeowners resource page.

Two layers sit on top of the statewide baseline. Rent-stabilized and rent-controlled units, concentrated in New York City and a few other localities, follow additional rules administered by the state’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal, and the Attorney General’s office handles related tenant rights and harassment complaints. And the Good Cause Eviction Law, effective in New York City since 2024 and available for other municipalities to adopt, restricts non-renewal and large rent increases for covered units.

Key terms used across the topic

A few terms recur throughout New York landlord-tenant law, and the spoke articles linked below assume a reader knows them.

A lease is the agreement, written or oral, that creates the tenancy. A month-to-month tenancy has no fixed end date and renews each month until either side gives proper notice. The warranty of habitability is the landlord’s non-waivable promise that the unit is fit to live in. A holdover is a tenant who stays after the lease term or after a proper termination notice; removing one requires a court proceeding, not a lockout. A summary proceeding is the fast-tracked eviction case a landlord files in housing or district court. Rent stabilization is the regulatory system that caps rent increases and grants renewal rights for about one million units.

Leases, rent, and fees

A residential lease can be written or oral, though a lease for more than one year must be in writing to be enforceable. The lease sets the rent, the term, and the responsibilities of each side, but it cannot waive rights the law makes non-waivable, such as the warranty of habitability.

New York limits several upfront and recurring charges. Under N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a, a landlord may not charge an application fee above the actual cost of a background and credit check, capped at $20, and a late fee cannot exceed $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less, and cannot be charged until rent is more than five days late. These caps took effect with the 2019 reforms and apply to most residential units statewide, as the Attorney General’s tenant guidance describes.

Rent increases on a market-rate lease are not capped by a dollar figure during the lease term, but the timing of any increase at renewal is regulated. A landlord who wants to raise the rent 5% or more must give advance written notice, and the required notice grows with the length of the tenancy. Rent-stabilized units follow a separate increase schedule set each year by a local rent guidelines board and administered through the state’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal; the Attorney General summarizes these protections in its tenant guidance.

The warranty of habitability

Every residential lease in New York includes an implied warranty of habitability, and it cannot be waived. N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 235-b provides that the landlord warrants the premises are fit for human habitation and free of conditions dangerous to life, health, or safety. The warranty covers the apartment itself and the common areas tenants use.

The warranty reaches the conditions tenants most often dispute: lack of heat or hot water, pest infestations, mold, broken plumbing, and unsafe wiring. Statewide heating standards require landlords to maintain set indoor temperatures during the cold-weather months. When a landlord breaches the warranty, a court may award a rent abatement measured by the reduced value of the apartment during the period the condition existed, and under § 235-b the court need not require expert testimony to do so.

A breach of the warranty does not let a tenant stop paying rent without consequence. The remedy runs through the courts or through documented repair-and-deduct steps, not self-help. The New York Attorney General and the courts both publish guidance on how a habitability claim is raised and proven, available through the court system’s self-help center.

Ending or changing a tenancy: notice rules

Notice is where many disputes begin, because the 2019 law lengthened the periods substantially. The required notice depends on how long the tenant has lived in the unit.

Under N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-c, when a landlord plans to raise the rent 5% or more or to decline to renew, the landlord must give written notice of at least 30 days for a tenant of less than one year, 60 days for a tenant of one to two years, and 90 days for a tenant of more than two years. The same tiered schedule applies whether the dispute is about a rent increase or a non-renewal.

These notice rules set the clock before any court case. A landlord who serves a defective or short notice generally has to start over, which is a frequent reason eviction petitions are dismissed.

How eviction works in New York

A landlord cannot remove a tenant directly. Removal requires a summary proceeding filed under Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law Article 7, decided by a judge, and carried out by a marshal or sheriff. The two main types are a non-payment proceeding, used when rent is unpaid, and a holdover proceeding, used when the tenant stays past the lease or a proper termination notice.

A non-payment case ordinarily begins with a written rent demand giving the tenant at least 14 days to pay before the petition is filed. A holdover case begins with the appropriate termination notice for the tenancy type. After the petition is served, the tenant has a chance to answer and raise defenses, including breach of the warranty of habitability and improper notice. If the court issues a warrant of eviction, the law requires a further 14-day notice before a marshal or sheriff can carry it out. The court system’s CourtHelp center walks self-represented tenants and landlords through each step of a housing case.

Courts also have discretion to pause an eviction. A judge may grant a stay of up to one year in cases of extreme hardship, and a tenant in a non-payment case can usually stop the eviction by paying the full amount owed before the warrant is executed.

Security deposits

A security deposit on a non-rent-stabilized unit may not exceed one month’s rent. N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 sets that cap and governs how the deposit is handled at move-out. The landlord must return the deposit, minus lawful itemized deductions, within 14 days after the tenant moves out, along with a written statement explaining any amount kept.

Deductions are limited to unpaid rent, the cost of repairing damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, unpaid utility charges owed directly to the landlord, and moving and storage costs. A landlord cannot keep any part of the deposit for ordinary wear and tear. If the landlord fails to provide the itemized statement and refund within 14 days, the landlord forfeits the right to keep any of the deposit. A tenant also has the right to request a move-in and a pre-move-out inspection, and a landlord who willfully violates these rules can be liable for up to twice the deposit amount.

Where to get help and resolve disputes

Most landlord-tenant disputes that reach a court are heard in housing court in New York City or in a local city, town, or district court elsewhere in the state. The court system’s self-help resources explain how to start or respond to a case and include do-it-yourself forms for common filings.

Money disputes that do not involve possession, such as a fight over a withheld security deposit, can often go to small claims court instead, where the procedure is simpler and lawyers are not required. The New York Attorney General accepts complaints about tenant harassment, illegal evictions, and security-deposit violations through its tenants and homeowners office, and the state’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal handles rent-regulation questions and overcharge complaints for rent-stabilized tenants.

Specific procedures and topics