New York Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in New York
New York expressly authorizes local rent regulation — a city, town, or village may opt into rent stabilization under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act by declaring a housing emergency for a class of housing whose rental vacancy rate is five percent or less, an option the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act extended statewide. New York City is the exception: as a city of one million or more, it may not adopt or amend its own rent or eviction laws except to review the continued need for the existing regulation or to remove a class of housing from it (Local Emergency Housing Rent Control Act, section 1, subdivision 5).
- New York City — Rent Regulation (Rent Stabilization, Rent Control, and Good Cause Eviction)
- Emergency Tenant Protection Act (opt-in rent stabilization)
- Rochester — Good Cause Eviction (local opt-in law)
- Yonkers — Rent Stabilization (Emergency Tenant Protection Act)
Cited to Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 § 3 (Unconsol. Laws § 8623) , Local Emergency Housing Rent Control Act (L. 1962, ch. 21) § 1(5) · Verified October 1, 2026 · Full New York rent-increase rules →
New York landlord-tenant laws by topic
New York security deposits
New York caps security deposits at one month's rent for most units outside rent stabilization (rent-controlled units and certain licensed senior and care residences are excluded), and the landlord must return the deposit with an itemized statement within 14 days of the tenant vacating — miss the deadline and the entire deposit must be returned.
New York rent increase notice
New York landlords must give written notice before raising rent 5% or more (or declining to renew): 30 days for tenancies under one year, 60 days at one to two years, and 90 days at two years or more, counting the longer of occupancy or lease term.
New York late fees
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.
New York entry notice
New York has no statute requiring a specific number of hours' notice before a landlord enters an occupied unit; the statewide standard is reasonable prior notice, at a reasonable time, with the tenant's consent, except in emergencies.
New York eviction process
New York's eviction process — a 'summary proceeding' under RPAPL Article 7 that is anything but summary since the 2019 HSTPA — starts, for nonpayment, with a certified-mail notice once rent is five days late and then a written 14-day rent demand (the old 3-day/oral demand is gone).
New York application & screening fees
New York bans rental application and processing fees outright and allows only one application-stage charge: reimbursement for a background check and a credit check, capped for both together at the actual cost or twenty dollars, whichever is less.
New York deposit interest
New York requires interest on a security deposit whenever the property has six or more family dwelling units: the money must sit in an interest-bearing account at a New York banking organization, and the interest belongs to the tenant.
New York habitability & repairs
New York implies into every written or oral residential lease a warranty that the premises and the areas within the landlord's control are fit for human habitation, match the uses the parties reasonably intended, and subject nobody to conditions endangering or detrimental to life, health or safety.
New York lease termination
In New York a landlord ending or declining to renew a residential tenancy must give at least 30, 60 or 90 days' written notice, set by how long the tenant has lived there rather than by a flat month.
New York lease disclosures
Every residential lease in New York must carry three statements: a bold-face sprinkler statement with the last maintenance date, a four-part flood notice with the renter's flood-insurance paragraph the statute writes out, and the good cause eviction notice whose full text the Real Property Law prints and which every landlord in the state must give at signing, at renewal and with a rent demand or non-renewal notice.
New York pets & assistance animals
New York has no pet-deposit, pet-fee or pet-rent statute, so a pet deposit is an ordinary security deposit and counts inside the one-month cap rather than on top of it.
New York mobile home park laws
New York regulates lot tenancies in manufactured home parks under Real Property Law § 233, one of the most detailed manufactured housing acts in the country: lot rent may rise only once a year, on at least 90 days' written notice, and by no more than three percent unless the park owner can point to higher operating expenses, higher property taxes or capital improvement costs.
New York Fair Market Rents (FY 2027) — HUD's benchmark rents for every New York metro area and county.
Editable New York deposit kit · Editable New York disclosure packet — editable documents built on the verified New York rules on this page, in Word, fillable PDF and Excel.
Changes since last full verification
The Verified date above (October 1, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).
- Correction, October 8, 2026 — Illinois: the Rent Concession Act's legend ("Concession Granted" across the face and text of the lease) applies to a concession the written lease does not expressly mention (765 ILCS 730/2 and /3). Oregon: ORS 90.245 bars a rental agreement from making the tenant waive chapter 90 rights; it protects the tenant and does not bar the landlord from agreeing to a longer notice. Ohio: a written lease must give an entity owner's or agent's principal place of business in the county or, failing one there, in Ohio (section 5321.18(A)). Delaware: any lease term that conflicts with the Code is unenforceable unless the Code allows it (section 5101(a)). Colorado: section 38-12-106 calls the $300 pet deposit an additional security deposit and section 38-12-102.5 caps a security deposit at two months' rent; neither says whether the pet deposit counts inside the cap, and the pages now say so. New York: the good-cause page no longer names a fixed list of opted-in localities; the state housing agency publishes the current list and the Attorney General keeps its own. Maine: the Attorney General's Total Price Disclosure Statement is listed as a document (14 M.R.S. § 6030-J).
- Correction, October 2, 2026 — New York City (correction): the habitability page had said the indoor allergen duties run only to owners of multiple dwellings. The general duty to keep the premises free of pests and other indoor allergen hazards is written for the owner of any dwelling (Administrative Code 27-2017.1), and the exclusion for owner-occupied co-operative and condominium units leaves health department violations in place (27-2017.12). An uncertified hazardous mold violation becomes immediately hazardous only where the department reinspected within seventy days of the certification date (27-2017.3). The $250 settlement of a heat or hot water violation is closed where any of the heating, hot water or space-heater sections was violated in the prior calendar year (27-2115(k)). On the pets page, two Council bills introduced January 29, 2026 are now listed as pending: Int. No. 305-2026, on no-pet lease clauses in unsubsidized multiple dwellings, and Int. No. 435-2026, on pet restrictions in city-assisted rental projects.
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). October 1, 2026: every section the security deposit, rent increase, late fee and entry answers rest on was read again in the State Senate's legislation database (legislation.nysenate.gov), which carried law updates through September 25, 2026: GOL 7-103, 7-107, 7-108 and 5-328; RPL 226-c, 235-b, 238-a and article 6-A (sections 210 to 218); sections 3 and 14 of the Emergency Tenant Protection Act; section 1 of the Local Emergency Housing Rent Control Act; and RPAPL 702. Chapters 431 and 436 of the Laws of 2025 are the only acts of the 2025-2026 session that amended any of them, and both are stated on these pages. The Attorney General's guide was read again the same day.