Understanding Your Lease Rights in New York

New York law gives every tenant in the state lease rights that a lease clause cannot take away. If you are the only tenant on the lease, you can live with your immediate family and one roommate even if the lease forbids it, and in a building with four or more apartments you can sublet with the landlord's consent. A late fee is allowed only after rent is more than five days late and cannot exceed $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less. Before raising your rent 5% or more or declining to renew, a landlord must give you 30, 60, or 90 days' written notice, depending on how long you have lived there.

Which lease clauses are void in New York?

A lease term that conflicts with these laws cannot be enforced, even if you signed it. The fee limits, the duty to re-rent, and the renewal notice rule came from the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) and cover tenants statewide.

Example: on $2,400 monthly rent, 5% is $120, so the most a landlord can charge for late rent is $50. On $800 rent, 5% is $40, so the cap is $40.

New York security deposit rights covers how much a landlord can collect as a deposit and when it must come back. For how common clauses work in any state, see understanding your lease terms.

Can you have a roommate if your lease says no?

Yes. Under New York's Roommate Law, RPL 235-f, a lease term limiting occupancy to the tenant, or to the tenant and immediate family, is unenforceable. How many people you can add depends on how many tenants signed the lease:

• One tenant on the lease: you can live with your immediate family, one additional occupant, and that occupant's dependent children, as long as you or your spouse lives in the apartment as a primary residence.
• Two or more tenants on the lease: each tenant can live with immediate family, but the total number of tenants and occupants, not counting occupants' dependent children, cannot exceed the number of tenants named on the lease. If one of two tenants moves out, the remaining tenant can bring in one occupant. At least one tenant or a tenant's spouse must live there as a primary residence.

You must tell the landlord the occupant's name within 30 days after the person moves in, or within 30 days after the landlord asks. The occupant gets no right to stay if you move out unless the landlord agrees in writing, and a landlord can still cap the number of residents to meet housing code occupancy limits. If a landlord blocks a roommate the law allows, you can sue for a court order, your actual damages, and court costs.

In a rent-stabilized apartment, one where rent regulation caps yearly increases, New York State Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), the state agency that runs rent stabilization, limits what you collect from a roommate to the roommate's proportionate share, so one roommate pays at most half the rent. An overcharged roommate can complain to HCR.

When can you sublet or assign your lease?

A sublet lets someone live in your apartment for a set period while you stay responsible under the lease; an assignment hands your whole lease to someone else.

Subletting. Under RPL 226-b, in a building with four or more apartments, you can sublet with the landlord's advance written consent, and the landlord cannot unreasonably refuse. In buildings with three or fewer apartments, the Attorney General says there is no such right, so the lease controls. To use the right:

1. Send a written request by certified mail, return receipt requested. Include the sublet term, the subtenant's name and home and business addresses, your reason for subletting, where you will live during the sublet, written consent from any co-tenant or guarantor, and a copy of the proposed sublease, with your lease attached if you have it. You and the proposed subtenant must acknowledge that the submitted sublease is a true copy.
2. Answer follow-up questions. Within 10 days after you mail the request, the landlord can ask for more information, as long as the request is not unduly burdensome.
3. Wait up to 30 days for an answer. The landlord must consent or give its reasons for refusing within 30 days after your request or the added information, whichever is later. No answer counts as consent.

If the landlord refuses for a reasonable reason, you cannot sublet and the lease still binds you. If the refusal is unreasonable, you can sublet anyway, though a court decides any dispute over whether the refusal was reasonable, and if the landlord acted in bad faith, the court can award you legal costs and attorney's fees. The statute treats a sublet that skips these steps as a substantial breach of your lease.

Rent-stabilized tenants face added limits: the Attorney General says you cannot sublet for more than two years in any four-year period, and the subtenant's rent cannot exceed the legal stabilized rent plus a 10% surcharge if you leave the apartment furnished. You must also show that you have maintained the apartment as your primary residence at all times and intend to return when the sublet ends.

Assignment. A landlord can refuse an assignment without giving a reason. If the refusal is unreasonable, you can ask to be released from the lease on 30 days' notice, and that release is your only remedy. Subletting your apartment covers what to put in a sublease agreement.

How much notice do you get before a rent increase or non-renewal?

Under RPL 226-c, a landlord that plans to raise your rent by 5% or more, or not to renew your tenancy, must tell you in writing. The required notice depends on how long you have lived in the apartment or the length of your lease, whichever gives you more time:

If the notice comes late, your current rent and lease terms continue until the full notice period has run from the date the landlord actually gave written notice. Example: you have lived in the apartment for three years, your lease ends September 30, and your landlord gives you written notice of an 8% increase on September 1. You are owed 90 days, so your current rent continues through November 30.

The notice must come with a Good Cause Eviction notice, the state form that says whether the 2024 Good Cause Eviction law, explained in the next section, covers your apartment and, if so, the landlord's reason for not renewing or for an increase above the local rent standard. The same form must come with every new lease and renewal.

If your lease renews for another term unless you give notice that you are leaving, General Obligations Law section 5-905 lets that automatic renewal take effect only if the landlord reminds you of the clause in writing 15 to 30 days before your notice deadline, delivered in person or by registered or certified mail. Without that reminder, the lease does not renew on its own.

Can a New York landlord refuse to renew your lease?

The answer depends on the type of apartment:

• Market-rate apartment not covered by Good Cause Eviction: yes. The landlord needs no reason but must give the written notice above. What happens when your lease expires covers your choices at the end of the term.
• Market-rate apartment covered by Good Cause Eviction: the landlord can end your tenancy or refuse to renew only for a listed reason, such as unpaid rent (unless an unreasonable increase caused it), a substantial lease violation you fail to correct within ten days after receiving written notice to do so, a nuisance, your refusal of reasonable lease changes offered in writing 30 to 90 days before the lease ends, or the owner or a family member moving in. That last ground cannot be used against a tenant who is 65 or older or has a disability.
• Rent-stabilized apartment: you have a right to a renewal lease. In New York City, the landlord must send the renewal offer 90 to 150 days before your lease expires, you choose a one- or two-year term, and you have 60 days to accept. For leases starting October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027, the NYC Rent Guidelines Board set the increase at 0% for both one- and two-year leases.

Good Cause Eviction covers market-rate apartments across New York City unless an exemption applies. Outside the city, rely on the Good Cause notice described above, which must state whether the law covers your apartment. Under the law, a housing court judge can find a rent increase above the local rent standard unreasonable and makes the final decision, though a landlord can try to justify a larger increase, for example with higher property taxes or major repairs. The standard is inflation plus 5%, with a 10% maximum. In New York City it is 8.38% as of May 4, 2026.

In New York City, the law does not cover:

• apartments whose owner has 10 or fewer units in New York State;
• owner-occupied buildings with 10 or fewer apartments;
• buildings completed on or after January 1, 2009, for 30 years after the certificate of occupancy;
• rent-regulated and other government-regulated apartments, condos, and co-ops; and
• apartments renting for more than 245% of fair market rent, a federal benchmark for local rents.

The Good Cause notice must say which exemption the landlord claims, so check it against this list. New York eviction protections explains the court process a landlord must use to remove you.

Can you end a New York lease early?

The Attorney General's guide lists three groups that can end a lease early under state law:

• Tenants 62 or older, or with a disability, who either move in with family after a physician certifies they can no longer live independently and need help with daily activities, or receive notice of admission to a qualifying care facility or housing. Give the landlord written notice with the physician's certification for a family move (seniors also need a notarized family statement confirming the relationship and a stay of at least six months), or a signed lease or contract documenting admission or pending admission for a facility or housing move. The lease ends no earlier than 30 days after the next rent due date following notice delivery. Mailed notice counts as delivered five days after mailing.
• Domestic violence survivors, who give written notice at least 30 days before leaving that they reasonably believe they cannot safely stay, then provide documentation, such as an order of protection or a law enforcement complaint, within 25 days.
• Tenants entering active military service after signing the lease, who give written notice. With monthly rent, the lease ends 30 days after the next rent due date.

Anyone else who leaves early still benefits from the landlord's duty to re-rent; breaking a lease early covers the costs.