Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in New York?

Yes — in New York a late fee must be stated in the lease.

Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in New York?

Daily fees are effectively prohibited beyond the cap, because total late charges for one late payment can never exceed the lesser of $50 or 5% of monthly rent.

What late fees can a landlord charge in New York?

Verified August 12, 2026 All New York topics →

Check your municipality. New York does not preempt local rent regulation — city or county ordinances may impose rent caps, notice rules, and fee limits that are stricter than the state-level rules on this page and are not covered here. Verify your municipality's ordinances before relying on any figure below. Verified local pages: New York City , New York municipalities outside NYC .

What the state record says

New York runs several rent-regulation regimes at once. Rent-controlled and rent-stabilized units follow DHCR rules with annual increases set by Rent Guidelines Boards, and a separate 2024 Good Cause Eviction law limits increases in covered units. The stabilization regimes are the NYC Rent Stabilization Law and the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, administered by DHCR and significantly strengthened by the 2019 HSTPA. The Good Cause Eviction law (RPL Article 6-A) applies in NYC and in localities that opt in. For covered units, a rent increase above the lesser of 5% plus CPI or 10% is presumptively unreasonable and can defeat an eviction for nonpayment of the increase.

Legislative changes ahead — not yet in force. The rules on this page reflect the law in force today. The following measure would change it:

S4856 (2025-2026 session) — Would amend GOL 7-108(1-a)(e) to extend the security-deposit return/itemized-statement deadline from 14 days to 30 days after the tenant vacates.Status: In Senate Judiciary Committee. Referred 2025-02-13; re-referred 2026-01-07 for the second year of the 2025-2026 session (routine). Assembly same-as: A2652. Not enacted as of the checked date. (checked 2026-07-08).

New York caps residential late fees at $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less, and no fee may be demanded unless rent remains unpaid five days after its due date — a statutory grace period that applies statewide.

Cited to RPL 238-a (2), (2-a), (3) and 1 more New York statute · Verified August 12, 2026

Any lease provision waiving or limiting these protections is void as against public policy, and courts have struck down workarounds such as inflated rents with 'on-time discounts' as disguised late fees. Late fees also cannot be recovered as 'rent' in a summary nonpayment eviction proceeding (RPAPL 702), so they must be pursued separately. Cooperative housing corporations have a limited carve-out allowing up to 8% of the monthly maintenance fee where the proprietary lease provides for it. Bounced-check fees run on their own track since October 16, 2025: no charge at all unless the lease provides for one, capped at the greater of the landlord's actual returned-check cost or $20, with substantiation owed on request above $20 (RPL 238-a(2-a)).

New York late fees at a glance

Statutory cap	$50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less
Mandatory grace period	5 days
Must be in the lease	Yes
Daily fees	Daily fees are effectively prohibited beyond the cap, because total late charges for one late payment can never exceed the lesser of $50 or 5% of monthly rent. Disguised structures, such as 'discounts' for on-time payment, have been struck down as illegal late fees.
Reasonableness standard	Not addressed by statute

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, New York Late Fee Laws (verified August 12, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/late-fees/new-york/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Every figure above is cited to the New York statute in the citations section below.

Check a late fee against the New York rules — free, no signup, built on the same verified New York rules as this page.

Notes and caveats

The cap and the grace period both date to the 2019 HSTPA — New York's $50-or-5% ceiling and its five-day grace period were created by the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act.
The lease requirement is contract law — and the cap beats the lease — A late fee the lease does not provide for cannot be demanded at all, which is ordinary contract law rather than a late-fee statute. The statutory cap then applies even to fees the lease does spell out.
No reasonableness test — the hard cap supersedes it — The blank reasonableness field reflects that New York's fixed cap displaces any general reasonableness analysis of the fee, rather than meaning no standard exists.
Bounced-check fees got their own rule in late 2025 — Since October 16, 2025, RPL 238-a(2-a) (added by Ch. 431 of the Laws of 2025) bars any charge for a rent check dishonored for insufficient funds unless the lease provides for one, and caps a lease-based charge at the greater of the landlord's actual returned-check costs or the $20 figure in GOL 5-328(3) — with the landlord obliged, on the tenant's request, to substantiate any charge above $20 against its actual costs. A companion amendment, GOL 5-328(3)(b), gives landlords express authority to collect the charge on those same terms, resolving the old uncertainty about residential-rent NSF fees. The rule does not apply to a co-op shareholder's own maintenance, but does protect a shareholder's tenants and subtenants. This is a separate clock and cap from the $50-or-5% late-fee ceiling.

Common questions: New York late fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

Is there a legal limit on late fees in New York?: $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less.
Is there a grace period before rent is late in New York?: 5 days.
Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in New York?: Yes — in New York a late fee must be stated in the lease.
Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in New York?: Daily fees are effectively prohibited beyond the cap, because total late charges for one late payment can never exceed the lesser of $50 or 5% of monthly rent.

Statute citations

RPL 238-a (2), (2-a), (3) (verified 2026) Official source
GOL 5-328(3) (dishonored-check charge; subdivision (3)(b) added by Ch. 431 of the Laws of 2025, A56-B) (3)(a)-(b) (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official NY Senate legislation site (nysenate.gov): GOL 7-108 (full text), GOL 7-103 (full text read 2026-07-08 — confirmed subdivision structure: (1) trust/no commingling, (2) bank notice + 1% admin fee when interest-bearing, (2-a) 6+ unit interest-bearing mandate, (3) waiver void), RPL 238-a and RPL 226-c (official-source text confirmed via nysenate.gov), cross-checked against the NY Attorney General's Residential Tenants' Rights Guide (ag.ny.gov) and NYC Rent Guidelines Board guidance.