New York / Housing guide
What to Establish Before Signing a New York Lease
Homzora editorial team · Updated September 13, 2026
New York housing law is more complicated than most, and the complication is not evenly distributed. Some of it protects you strongly. Some of it depends entirely on facts about the building that no general guide can know about your apartment.
This is a list of what to establish before you sign, and why each one changes what applies to you.
Whether the unit is regulated
The first question, because it changes almost everything downstream.
A rent stabilized apartment sits under a different regime from an unregulated one, including a separate set of security deposit rules at General Obligations Law section 7-107 rather than the 7-108 rules that cover most tenancies. Rent controlled units are different again and now rare.
Ask directly whether the unit is stabilized, controlled or unregulated, and get the answer in writing. If the answer is stabilized, a good deal of general guidance about New York renting, including parts of ours, does not apply to you exactly.
What is being asked for at signing
Since June 2019, a landlord may not demand or receive a deposit or advance exceeding one month rent for most residential units, under General Obligations Law section 7-108.
That is the total. Any pet deposit or other refundable advance forms part of the same one month, and non-refundable fees in place of a deposit are prohibited for covered units.
So the old demand for first month, last month and security is unlawful for most rentals. If it appears on your paperwork, ask on what basis before paying anything.
Add every refundable amount together and compare the total against one month rent. That single check catches most of what goes wrong at signing.
How many units the building has
Unit count decides several things in New York, and it is not something you can establish after the fact.
Buildings with six or more units carry an interest obligation on security deposits held. Other provisions turn on building size and age as well.
Ask how many units are in the building and, if you can, when it was built. Neither question is unusual and a straightforward landlord will answer both.
What the total monthly cost actually is
The advertised rent is the start of the figure rather than the figure.
Ask for the total amount that will appear on your statement each month, including any recurring charge beyond base rent. Then add transit, because that is a real housing cost and New York changed it materially in January 2026.
There is no monthly transit pass in New York any more. The 30 day unlimited MetroCard was withdrawn and replaced by an automatic rolling seven day fare cap, which puts a regular commuter near 150 dollars a month. An express bus commute is nearly double a subway one.
A neighborhood that saves you two hundred dollars in rent and adds an express bus is not saving you two hundred dollars.
The inspection you are entitled to
You have the right to an inspection before moving in, and to a pre move out inspection with the landlord before you leave.
Use the first one. Walk the unit with the landlord or agent, record every existing mark and defect in writing, photograph all of it dated, and keep a copy that both of you have seen.
That record is what settles a disputed deduction eighteen months later, and it costs nothing to make on the day you get the keys.
What happens at the end
Worth knowing at the start rather than discovering later.
The deposit must come back within fourteen calendar days of you vacating, with an itemized statement of any deductions inside the same window. A landlord who misses that deadline forfeits the right to retain any portion of the deposit, not just the disputed part.
Where a court finds the violation willful, it may award up to twice the deposit in punitive damages.
One thing you cannot do: apply the deposit toward your final month rent. It exists to cover what is owed after the tenancy ends, and using it as prepaid rent is treated as nonpayment.
Read these clauses specifically
- Renewal and notice terms. How much notice you must give, by when, and what happens if you miss it.
- Every recurring charge beyond base rent, and every one off charge at signing, separated into refundable and non-refundable.
- Early termination. What it costs to leave before the term ends.
- Repairs and response times. What the landlord commits to and how you report a problem.
- Subletting. Whether it is permitted and on what terms.
Where to get an answer we cannot give
More than in any other city we cover, a New York housing question often depends on facts about the specific building. Whether a unit is stabilized, when the building was constructed, how many units it contains, and what regulatory history it carries all change the answer.
A general summary cannot know those things about your apartment. If something on your paperwork looks wrong, or if a dispute has already started, that is a question for an attorney or a legal aid organization rather than a website.
The short version
Establish whether the unit is regulated, because it changes which rules apply. Check that everything refundable adds up to no more than one month rent. Ask how many units the building has. Get the total monthly cost rather than the advertised rent, and add transit to it. Do the move in inspection and photograph everything. And know that the deposit comes back in fourteen days or the landlord keeps nothing.
Our full statutory and fare references, with every provision cited, are free to download at our New York datasets.
Not legal advice. This page summarizes published provisions of New York law as of September 2026 and does not evaluate any particular lease or tenancy. New York housing law varies by building age, unit count and regulatory status, and the rules governing rent regulated units are not covered here. Consult an attorney or a legal aid organization about your own situation.