The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 rewrote New York’s landlord-tenant law, creating permanent statewide protections for renters and closing off the main pathways landlords had used to push rent-stabilized apartments out of regulation. Some pieces apply to every residential lease in the state. Others target the rent-stabilized system directly, capping the increases that had steadily eroded affordable stock. Taken together, the law limits what landlords can charge upfront, stretches out notice periods, slows evictions, and gives tenants meaningful leverage they did not have before.
Caps on Deposits, Application Fees, and Late Charges
Residential landlords anywhere in New York can collect no more than one month’s rent as a security deposit.1New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Fact Sheet 9 – Renting an Apartment – Security Deposits and Other Charges That applies to every rental, stabilized or market-rate. Extra deposits from guarantors or third parties are not allowed, and separate pet deposits are prohibited.
After move-out, the landlord has 14 days to return the deposit. Any amount withheld has to come with an itemized statement showing what was repaired and what each item cost.2Rent Guidelines Board. Security Deposits FAQs Miss the 14-day window with that breakdown, and the landlord forfeits the right to keep any of it.
Application fees are capped at $20 or the landlord’s actual cost for a background and credit check, whichever is less. If a prospective tenant hands over their own background or credit report from within the past 30 days, the fee must be waived entirely. Landlords charging the fee have to give the applicant a copy of the report and the receipt for what the check cost.3New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 238-A – Limitation on Fees
Late fees are restricted too. No fee can be charged until rent is at least five days overdue, and the fee itself cannot exceed $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less.3New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 238-A – Limitation on Fees
Notice Before Rent Increases or Non-Renewal
A landlord planning to raise rent by 5% or more, or planning not to renew a lease, must give written notice in advance. How much notice depends on how long the tenant has lived in the unit or the length of the lease term, whichever is longer:4New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 226-C – Notice of Rent Increase or Non-Renewal of Residential Tenancy
- Under one year: at least 30 days.
- One to two years: at least 60 days.
- Two years or more: at least 90 days.
If a landlord fails to provide proper notice, the existing lease terms continue until the required notice period runs from the date written notice is actually delivered. A three-year tenant who receives a non-renewal letter 15 days before the lease ends has effectively bought another 90 days at the current rent.
End of Vacancy and High-Income Deregulation
Before 2019, a rent-stabilized apartment could permanently lose its status two ways. If the legal rent crossed a deregulation threshold (roughly $2,774 per month in New York City at the time) when the unit went vacant, the landlord could pull it out of stabilization. The same could happen without a vacancy if the legal rent exceeded the threshold and the tenants’ combined household income topped $200,000 for two consecutive years.5New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Strengthening New York State Rent Regulations
The HSTPA repealed both. No apartment can be deregulated based on high rent or high income anymore. Once a unit is rent-stabilized, it stays that way regardless of what the legal rent reaches or what the tenant earns. This one change preserved tens of thousands of regulated apartments that would otherwise have cycled into the market-rate pool.
Limits on Rent Increases in Stabilized Apartments
The law also cut back on several mechanisms that had been pushing legal rents upward inside the stabilization system.
Vacancy and Longevity Bonuses Eliminated
Landlords previously collected a vacancy bonus of up to 20% when a rent-stabilized tenant moved out, raising the legal rent before the next tenant signed anything.6NYC.gov. Protections for Rent-Regulated Tenants A separate longevity bonus tacked on more based on how long the prior tenant had stayed. The HSTPA eliminated both. When a stabilized unit turns over, the new starting rent is now the prior legal rent plus any Rent Guidelines Board adjustment, with nothing layered on top.
Individual Apartment Improvements
When a landlord renovates a specific unit, the cost can be passed through as a rent increase called an Individual Apartment Improvement, or IAI. The HSTPA initially capped IAI spending at $15,000 over any rolling 15-year period. The FY24 state budget then raised that cap to $30,000 over 15 years and made the resulting rent increases permanent instead of temporary.7New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Changes to NYS Housing Laws Enacted in the FY24 Budget The $30,000 figure is the current ceiling. Landlords also face tighter documentation rules and must get tenant consent for work done while the apartment is occupied.
Major Capital Improvements
Building-wide upgrades like a new boiler or roof produce rent increases spread across all tenants. The HSTPA capped these Major Capital Improvement (MCI) increases at 2% of a tenant’s rent per year, forcing large costs to phase in over many years instead of hitting at once.8New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Apartment IAI and Building MCI Improvements MCI increases are not permanent either. They must come off the rent 30 years after the increase becomes effective.9NYC Rent Guidelines Board. Rent Increases FAQs
Preferential Rents Locked In
A preferential rent is a rate below the maximum legal regulated rent that a landlord voluntarily agrees to charge. Before the HSTPA, landlords could revoke that discount at any lease renewal and jump straight to the full legal rent, sometimes doubling what a tenant owed overnight. The law now locks the preferential rent in for the entire duration of the tenancy.10NYC Rent Guidelines Board. Rent Laws of 2019
Standard Rent Guidelines Board percentage increases still apply at renewal, but they run off the preferential amount, not the higher legal rent. Only when the tenant moves out and the apartment is re-leased can the landlord reset to the full legal regulated rent.
A Slower Eviction Process
The HSTPA stretched out the eviction timeline in several places, which matters because speed had been the landlord’s most effective pressure tool.
14-Day Rent Demand and Right to Cure
Before filing a nonpayment case, a landlord must serve a written demand giving the tenant at least 14 days to pay the overdue rent.11New York State Unified Court System. Tenants Guide – Nonpayment Eviction Case That replaced the old three-day demand. Even after a case is filed and a judgment entered, the tenant can stop the eviction by paying the full amount owed plus court costs before the marshal, sheriff, or constable physically removes the tenant’s belongings.
Hardship Stays of Up to One Year
Courts can delay an eviction for as long as one year when losing the apartment would cause extreme hardship. Judges weigh serious health problems, worsening of ongoing medical conditions, a child’s enrollment in a local school, and other circumstances affecting the family’s ability to relocate.12New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 753 The court balances the tenant’s hardship against the landlord’s interest. The stay is not available when a tenant is being evicted for objectionable conduct the landlord proves in court.
Illegal Lockouts
No landlord in New York may use self-help eviction tactics such as changing the locks, shutting off utilities, or removing a tenant’s belongings. Civil penalties run from $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, and the tenant can sue for up to three times actual damages while retaining the right to remain in the unit.
Retaliation and Blacklisting Bans
Under Real Property Law Section 223-b, a landlord cannot serve an eviction notice, refuse to renew, or substantially change the terms of a tenancy because a tenant made a good-faith complaint about health or safety conditions, tried to enforce rights under the lease or the warranty of habitability, or joined a tenant organization.13New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 223-B – Retaliation by Landlord Against Tenant The protection covers all residential rentals except owner-occupied buildings with fewer than four units.
The HSTPA added a separate anti-blacklisting rule. Under Real Property Law Section 227-f, a landlord cannot refuse to rent to someone because that person was involved in a past or pending housing court case. If a landlord checks court records or a tenant screening report and then rejects the applicant, a rebuttable presumption of illegal blacklisting kicks in.14New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 227-F – Denial on the Basis of Involvement in Prior Disputes Prohibited Tenants no longer have to weigh whether fighting a bogus eviction case will make them unrentable for years.
Longer Lookback for Rent Overcharge Claims
Before the HSTPA, a tenant who suspected a rent-stabilized apartment had been overcharged could only look back four years when calculating the overcharge and the legal regulated rent. The law expanded the statute of limitations for filing an overcharge claim to six years and removed the cap on how far back the state can look when determining what the correct legal rent should have been. The Division of Housing and Community Renewal can now examine the full rental history of the apartment, going back as far as necessary to trace the legal rent from a reliable base date. That closed a loophole that had let some landlords launder fraudulent increases by simply waiting four years.
How the Good Cause Eviction Law Fits In
New York enacted a separate Good Cause Eviction Law in April 2024. It is not part of the HSTPA but fills a gap for tenants who are not rent-stabilized. Under Good Cause, most covered landlords cannot evict or refuse to renew simply because a lease expired, and rent increases above 5% plus CPI (capped at 10% total) are presumed unreasonable.15New York State Attorney General. New York State Good Cause Eviction Law The law carves out rent-stabilized units, buildings with a certificate of occupancy issued on or after January 1, 2009, condos and co-ops, high-rent units, and small landlords (in New York City, those owning 10 or fewer housing units statewide). Starting August 18, 2024, every lease and renewal must disclose whether the unit is covered by Good Cause and, if not, why. If you are trying to work out what protects you as a New York tenant, check the HSTPA rules first for anything statewide and stabilized, then look at Good Cause coverage for market-rate units.