New York Landlord-Tenant Laws 2026: What Renters and Landlords Need to Know
New York Landlord-Tenant Laws 2026: What Renters and Landlords Need to Know
Most guides to New York rental law stop at rent stabilization. They miss a law that reaches further. The Good Cause Eviction Law, Real Property Law Article 6-A, took effect April 20, 2024. It caps rent increases on most market-rate apartments in New York City and at least fourteen other opted-in municipalities — not just stabilized units. It also requires a stated reason for non-renewal. Separately, a claim circulates that a tenant sued over a lease violation gets a 10-day notice to fix it. That inverts what the statute actually says. RPAPL 753(4) gives a 30-day stay after judgment, not a 10-day notice before one. Getting that backwards can cost a tenant 20 extra days they didn’t know they had.
What This Page Covers
New York State’s core tenant-protection statutes — Real Property Law, General Obligations Law, and RPAPL — apply the same way from Buffalo to Montauk. NYC rent stabilization, and Good Cause Eviction in its home-rule opt-in localities, layer additional rules on top of that statewide floor; where NYC or an opt-in locality changes the answer, this guide says so.
Security Deposits in New York
| Requirement | New York Law |
|---|---|
| Maximum Deposit | 1 month’s rent, all advances counted together (GOL § 7-108(1-a); seasonal-use dwellings are exempt) |
| Return Deadline | 14 days after the tenant vacates (GOL § 7-108) |
| Missed-Deadline Penalty | Landlord forfeits the right to retain any part of the deposit — the full amount is owed back, deductions or not |
| Interest Required? | Only in buildings with 6 or more residential units, in an interest-bearing account at the prevailing rate (GOL § 7-103(2-a)); landlord may keep 1% annually as an administration fee |
| Itemized Statement | Required for any amount withheld |
| Normal Wear and Tear | Cannot be deducted from deposit |
The forfeiture rule is the part most guides leave out, and it’s the one with teeth. A landlord who blows the 14-day window doesn’t just owe interest, or a doubled amount like some neighboring states. Under GOL § 7-108, they lose the entire argument over deductions. They owe the deposit back in full. The interest requirement, by contrast, only bites in larger buildings. A landlord with a four-unit walkup has no interest obligation on the deposit at all.
Lease Agreements and Disclosures
New York’s statute of frauds threshold is General Obligations Law § 5-703(2). A lease running longer than one year has to be in writing to be enforceable. A lease for exactly one year or less can be oral and still binding. The cutoff is “longer than,” not “one year or more.” Guides that round that off in either direction get the wrong answer for a term right at the line.
Required disclosures before or at signing include:
- Lead-based paint disclosure for housing built before 1978 (federal requirement)
- Bedbug infestation history for the unit and the building, going back one year (NYC)
- Window guard notice, where children ten and under live in a multiple dwelling
- Sprinkler system disclosure (NYC, for buildings without one)
- The name and address of the owner or an authorized managing agent
Rent Increases and Good Cause Eviction
| Rule | New York Law |
|---|---|
| Notice of Increase (5%+) or Non-Renewal | 30 days under 1 year of occupancy, 60 days for 1–2 years, 90 days for more than 2 years (RPL § 226-c) |
| Below 5% Increase | RPL § 226-c’s tiered notice does not apply; landlords still owe whatever notice the lease itself sets |
| Good Cause Eviction Coverage | Most market-rate units in NYC and 14 opted-in municipalities as of this writing (Albany, Ithaca, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Beacon, Newburgh, Nyack, Hudson, New Paltz, Fishkill, Catskill, Croton-on-Hudson, Binghamton), effective 2024-04-20 (RPL Article 6-A, §§210–218); the opt-in list can grow as more localities adopt it |
| Good Cause Rent-Increase Standard | An increase above the “local rent standard” — 5% plus the change in CPI, capped at 10% total — is presumed unreasonable and can be challenged |
| Good Cause Exemptions | Small landlords (10 or fewer units statewide, aggregated across ownership structures); owner-occupied buildings with 10 or fewer units (4 in Albany); buildings certificated for occupancy on or after 2009-01-01; co-ops and condos; rent-regulated and income-restricted units |
Rent-increase notices tied to RPL § 226-c now have to carry a second disclosure alongside the 30/60/90-day timeline. That disclosure covers three things: whether the unit is covered by Good Cause Eviction, the reason for any exemption claimed, and the legal justification for a non-renewal or an above-standard increase on a covered unit. A tenant outside the covered municipalities, or in an exempt building inside one, still gets the § 226-c notice-period protection. They just don’t get the rent-increase cap. The two protections travel together on paper, not in coverage.
Eviction Process in New York
| Eviction Type | Notice/Cure Period | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Non-Payment of Rent | 14-day written rent demand (RPAPL § 711(2)) | The demand must now attach the RPL § 231-c Good Cause notice; paying everything demanded before the demand period runs stops the case before it starts |
| Lease Violation (Holdover) | 30-day stay to cure, granted after judgment (RPAPL § 753(4)) | This is not a pre-suit notice period — it’s a court-ordered stay of the eviction warrant, issued once a landlord has already won the case, giving the tenant 30 days to fix the breach and keep the tenancy |
| No-Cause / Non-Renewal | 30/60/90 days by tenure (RPL § 226-c); barred outright for Good Cause-covered units absent a listed statutory ground | Outside Good Cause coverage, non-renewal at the end of a term needs no cause, only the § 226-c notice |
New York courts don’t publish one official average for how long a contested case takes, filing to warrant. It depends on the county’s Housing Court docket. It depends on whether the tenant answers. It depends on whether Good Cause coverage gets contested. A guide handing readers a single week-range for “how long eviction takes” is estimating, not citing law. Self-help eviction — lockouts, utility shutoffs, removing belongings without a court order — is illegal statewide, no matter how much rent is owed.
Maintenance and Repair Obligations
Implied Warranty of Habitability
RPL § 235-b requires every residential lease, written or oral, to carry an implied covenant of habitability. The premises must be fit for human habitation. They must be free of conditions dangerous to life, health, or safety. The statute voids any lease clause that tries to waive it. It also lets a court award damages without expert testimony.
The Nonpayment Defense — Not Rent Withholding
Multiple Dwelling Law § 302-a (current text as revised 2014-09-22) is narrower than most guides let on, in three ways at once. It applies only in cities with a population of 400,000 or more. In practice, that means New York City, not the state generally. Within that footprint, it lets a tenant in a “multiple dwelling” — a building of three or more units — raise nonpayment of rent as a defense, once a “rent-impairing” violation has gone uncorrected for six months. A rent-impairing violation is a fire hazard or a serious threat to health or safety, logged in the local housing agency’s official records. This is not self-help. It’s a defense the tenant has to raise in the landlord’s nonpayment case, and raising it costs money up front: § 302-a(3)(c) requires the tenant to plead the facts and also deposit the full amount of rent being sought with the clerk of the court when they answer. Skip that deposit, and the defense fails along with the case — a tenant who just stops paying rent and waits to explain why in court hasn’t preserved this right. Four situations take the defense off the table under § 302-a(3)(b): the landlord proves the violation didn’t actually exist despite being logged in the department’s records, it’s already been fixed, the tenant, another occupant of the dwelling, or either one’s family or guests caused it, or the tenant refused the landlord entry to make the repair. A tenant who raises the defense in bad faith can also be on the hook for up to $100 in costs under § 302-a(3)(e). None of this carries a fixed dollar or month-of-rent ceiling on the withheld amount itself. This guide isn’t going to describe a separate self-help “repair-and-deduct” right on top of it without a named New York case establishing one — a tenant who deducts rent outright, without depositing it with the court, risks losing both the defense and the apartment.
Tenant Rights and Protections
| Protection | New York Law |
|---|---|
| Entry Notice | No statewide statute; the Attorney General’s guidance treats one week as reasonable for repairs and 24 hours for a code-compliance inspection in NYC. Nassau County has no equivalent city rule — the lease controls. |
| Retaliation Protection | One-year rebuttable presumption of retaliation after a good-faith habitability or code complaint (RPL § 223-b) — extended from six months by the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act |
| Domestic Violence | Early lease termination on 30 days’ written notice to the landlord and any co-tenants, stating that the tenant or a household member experienced domestic violence and can’t safely remain (RPL § 227-c). A protective order is one way to support the notice, not the only route the statute names. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a security deposit capped at one month’s rent in New York? Yes, statewide, under GOL § 7-108(1-a). Every advance counts toward that cap. A landlord can’t add prepaid rent on top of a full month’s deposit to get around it.
Does a lease-violation notice give a tenant 10 days to fix the problem? No. RPAPL § 753(4) gives 30 days. And only after a landlord has already won a holdover judgment in court. It’s a stay of eviction, not an advance warning.
Does Good Cause Eviction cover my apartment? Only if the building is in NYC or one of the 14 opted-in municipalities as of this writing, isn’t owner-occupied with 10 or fewer units (4 in Albany), wasn’t first certified for occupancy on or after January 1, 2009, and isn’t a co-op, condo, or already rent-regulated unit. Outside those municipalities, Good Cause doesn’t apply at all yet.
How long does a landlord have to return a security deposit? 14 days after move-out. An itemized statement covers anything withheld. Miss the deadline, and the landlord forfeits the right to keep any of it.