New York Landlord-Tenant Law for DIY Landlords (2026)

New York security deposits, the $50 late-fee cap, 30/60/90-day rent increase notices, good cause eviction and the eviction timeline, in plain English for landlords who manage their own rentals.

Last updated September 23, 2026

New York rewrote its rental rules in June 2019. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) capped deposits at one month, capped late fees, set notice periods for rent increases, and made a lockout a crime. Then April 2024 added good cause eviction on top.

If your lease template predates 2019, it is almost certainly wrong. Here is what a small New York landlord has to get right, with the statute behind each rule.

Note that New York City layers its own rules over all of this, on rent stabilization, access and broker fees. This guide stays statewide.

Security deposits

The cap is one month's rent. No deposit or advance can exceed one month's rent, with a carve-out for seasonal use units (GOL § 7-108(1-a)(a)). Pet deposits and last month's rent count toward the same one month.

You have 14 days to return it. Within fourteen days after the tenant vacates, send the deposit back with an itemized statement of anything you kept (GOL § 7-108(1-a)(e)). Miss the deadline and you forfeit the right to keep any of it.

Offer the walk-through. Before move-out, tell the tenant in writing that they may request an inspection and be present for it. After that inspection you give an itemized list of the repairs or cleaning you plan to charge for, and the tenant gets the chance to fix those items first (GOL § 7-108(1-a)(d)).

The burden of proof is yours. In any dispute, you have to show the amount you kept was reasonable (GOL § 7-108(1-a)(f)).

Willful violation costs double. A landlord found to have willfully violated the section owes punitive damages of up to twice the deposit (GOL § 7-108(1-a)(g)).

Hold it in trust. The money stays the tenant's. It cannot be mixed with your own funds or treated as your asset, and you have to tell each tenant in writing the name and address of the bank holding it (GOL § 7-103(1), (2)).

Six or more units means interest. For a building with six or more family dwelling units, the deposit goes in an interest-bearing account at a New York banking organization at the prevailing rate. You may keep 1% per year as your administrative fee. The rest belongs to the tenant (GOL § 7-103(2-a)). Any lease clause waiving these rules is void.

Late fees and grace period

Rent is not late for five days. You cannot charge a late fee until payment is more than five days past the due date (RPL § 238-a(2)).

The cap is $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less. That is a hard ceiling, per month, on unregulated and regulated units alike.

Application fees cap at $20. You may charge the actual cost of a background and credit check, up to $20 (RPL § 238-a(1)(b)).

Send the five-day certified letter. If rent has not arrived within five days of the due date, you have to mail the tenant a written notice of non-receipt by certified mail. Skipping it hands the tenant an affirmative defense in a nonpayment case (RPL § 235-e(d)).

Give receipts. Rent paid in cash, or by anything other than the tenant's personal check, needs a signed written receipt with the date, amount and period covered (RPL § 235-e(a)).

Rent increases

There is no statewide cap on rent for unregulated units. What New York controls is notice.

Raise rent 5% or more and you owe advance notice. The same applies if you decide not to renew. Give 30 days if the tenant has lived there under a year, 60 days for one to two years, and 90 days for more than two years or a lease term of two years or longer (RPL § 226-c). Miss the notice and the tenancy simply continues on the existing terms until the full notice period has run.

Rent stabilization is local. It covers much of New York City plus localities under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act. HSTPA removed the old geographic limit in 2019, so any municipality can opt in after a survey showing a vacancy rate under 5% for a class of housing. Check whether your town has done so.

Good cause eviction

New York's good cause eviction law, RPL Article 6-A, took effect April 20, 2024. It applies automatically in New York City (RPL § 212) and elsewhere only where a local government has adopted it by local law (RPL § 213).

Covered units need a listed ground. Nonpayment, a substantial lease violation left uncured, nuisance, illegal use, unreasonable refusal of access, a good-faith owner move-in, demolition or withdrawal from the market (RPL § 216).

Big increases lose you the nonpayment ground. Rent owed that came from an unreasonable increase does not support eviction. An increase at or below the local rent standard is never unreasonable. That standard is the lower of 10% or CPI plus five percentage points, and DHCR publishes the current figure each year (RPL § 211, § 216).

Exemptions are wide. Small landlords owning ten or fewer units statewide (or a smaller number set locally), owner-occupied buildings with ten or fewer units, co-ops and condos, buildings within 30 years of their certificate of occupancy, rent-regulated units, and units renting above the fair market rent threshold (RPL § 214).

The notice is mandatory. Covered or not, you attach the DHCR good cause notice to every initial lease, renewal lease, § 226-c notice and eviction petition, saying whether the unit is covered (RPL § 231-c).

Entering the unit

New York has no statewide statute setting an entry notice period. The Attorney General's tenants' guide describes the standard as reasonable prior notice, at a reasonable time, with the tenant's consent, with emergencies excepted. Write a clear entry clause into your lease and give 24 hours in writing.

Ending a month-to-month tenancy

A tenant outside New York City ends a month-to-month by giving one month's notice before the end of the term (RPL § 232-b). Inside the city the tenant gives 30 days (RPL § 232-a).

A residential landlord no longer gets that one-month route. You use the RPL § 226-c schedule, 30, 60 or 90 days by length of occupancy. Where good cause applies, you need a listed ground on top of the notice.

When rent isn't paid

Serve a written rent demand giving at least fourteen days to pay or give up possession, served the way RPAPL § 735 requires (RPAPL § 711(2)). Where Article 6-A applies, that demand carries extra disclosures.

The eviction timeline

14-day rent demand. Pay or vacate (RPAPL § 711(2)).
File and serve. The notice of petition and petition go out at least 10 and not more than 17 days before the hearing date (RPAPL § 733).
Court. In a lease-breach case the court grants a 30-day stay for the tenant to cure (RPAPL § 753(4)). In any dwelling case the court can stay the warrant up to one year for extreme hardship (RPAPL § 753(1)).
Payment still stops it. In a nonpayment judgment the court vacates the warrant on tender of the full rent due at any time before execution, except where you prove bad-faith withholding (RPAPL § 749(3)).
The warrant. Only a sheriff, marshal or constable executes it, after at least fourteen days' written notice to the tenant (RPAPL § 749(2)).

Two lines you do not cross. Locking out a tenant, removing a door, shutting off services or moving their belongings is a class A misdemeanor per violation, with civil penalties of $1,000 to $10,000 each (RPAPL § 768). And a notice to quit or eviction action within a year of a good-faith habitability complaint is presumed retaliatory, with damages, fees and costs against you (RPL § 223-b).

Repairs and habitability

Every New York residential lease carries a warranty that the place is fit to live in, and any waiver of it is void as against public policy (RPL § 235-b). If a tenant breaks a lease early, you have a duty to take reasonable, customary steps to re-rent at fair market value, and a lease clause excusing that duty is void (RPL § 227-e).

The short version

Deposit cap of one month, returned in 14 days with an itemized statement
Written offer of a move-out inspection, or you lose deductions
Late fee only after 5 days, capped at $50 or 5% of rent
30, 60 or 90 days' notice for an increase of 5% or more, or non-renewal
No statewide entry notice statute, so your lease has to cover it
14-day rent demand, then a court case, then 14 days on the warrant
Never change the locks yourself

Let Taz handle the paperwork

New York runs on deadlines and paper. Taz is an AI property manager that tracks the 14-day deposit clock and the 226-c notice windows, sends rent reminders, takes maintenance requests day and night, and keeps the records a New York housing court judge will ask for. See how Taz works.

Where this guide says a state has no rule on something, that means we found no statute setting one, which is not the same as none existing. Local ordinances and court practice can add requirements. Confirm anything you plan to rely on.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws change, and New York City and other localities add rules of their own. Talk to a New York attorney before acting on a specific situation. Last checked September 2026.