To become a landlord in New York, you need to choose how you’ll hold title, bring the property into compliance with state and city housing laws, follow strict rules on screening, deposits, and disclosures when you sign a tenant, and plan for the ongoing duties that run through the entire tenancy. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 rewrote much of what used to be routine, so the margin for winging it is small. Get the foundation right and the rental income is yours to keep; miss a step and the penalties can swallow it.
Set Up an Ownership Entity
Most new landlords hold rental property through a limited liability company rather than in their own name. An LLC puts a legal wall between your personal assets and anything that goes wrong at the property. You file Articles of Organization with the New York Department of State for $200, then publish a formation notice in two newspapers for six consecutive weeks in the county where the LLC is located, and file a Certificate of Publication with the state for another $50. Skip the publication step within 120 days and the LLC loses its authority to do business in New York.1New York Department of State. Forming a Limited Liability Company in New York
An operating agreement is required within 90 days of filing, even for a single-member LLC. It spells out management duties, financial procedures, and how profits flow. You’ll also need a federal tax identification number from the IRS, and possibly local business licenses depending on the municipality.1New York Department of State. Forming a Limited Liability Company in New York
Get the Property Legally Rentable
Every residential lease in New York, written or oral, carries an implied warranty of habitability. Before a tenant moves in, the unit needs working plumbing, heat, hot water, electricity, and sound structural conditions. Landlords of multiple dwellings must also keep common areas clean and free of vermin and maintain any appliances they provided. A lease clause asking the tenant to waive this warranty is void.2New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 235-B – Warranty of Habitability
Detectors
Owners of multiple dwellings must install an approved, operational smoke detector in each unit.3New York State Senate. New York Code Multiple Dwelling Law 68 – Smoke Detecting Devices Carbon monoxide detectors are required in all residential dwellings with fuel-burning appliances or an attached garage, under Executive Law ยง 378(5-a), known as Amanda’s Law.4New York State Department of State. Installation of Carbon Monoxide Alarms in Residential Buildings In New York City, detectors must sit within 15 feet of each sleeping-room entrance, and carbon monoxide detectors must also be installed where the fuel-burning device is located.5NYC Housing Preservation and Development. Detectors
NYC-Only Safety Items
In New York City buildings with three or more apartments, you must install window guards in any unit where a child age 10 or younger lives, or whenever any tenant requests them for any reason. Guards also go in common-area windows in buildings where young children live. Fire escape windows, first-floor secondary exit windows, and windows with permanently installed air conditioners are the only exceptions.6NYC.gov. Window Guards – What Building Owners Need to Know
NYC landlords must also send tenants an annual notice offering stove safety knobs or knob covers for front-facing knobs on gas stoves. If a tenant with a child under six requests them, you have 30 days to provide them, and you cannot refuse a written request regardless of whether the law technically requires it for that unit.7New York City Administrative Code. New York City Code 27-2046.4 – Stovetop Protection
Registration and Certificate of Occupancy
In New York City, owners of multiple dwellings must register with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, listing the owner, managing agent, and basic property details. Failing to register triggers civil penalties and can limit your ability to bring legal actions against tenants.8New York City Administrative Code. New York City Code 27-2097 – Registration Time to File
Statewide, if your property has three or fewer rental units, you must give prospective tenants conspicuous notice before lease signing of whether a valid certificate of occupancy exists for the unit. Handing over a copy of the certificate satisfies the requirement.9New York State Senate. New York Code Real Property Law 235-BB – Certificates of Occupancy
Know the Fair Housing Rules Before You Advertise
Federal, state, and city anti-discrimination laws all apply, and New York’s go well beyond the federal floor. The federal Fair Housing Act covers race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status. New York’s Human Rights Law adds age, marital status, military status, sexual orientation, lawful source of income, domestic violence status, gender identity or expression, arrest records resolved in the complainant’s favor, and citizenship or immigration status.10Homes and Community Renewal. Fair Housing Information New York City’s Human Rights Law stacks on top and adds partnership status and other protections.11NYC.gov. What Is Fair Housing?
These rules reach advertising, screening, lease terms, and maintenance decisions. Write your screening criteria down before you accept the first application and apply them identically to every applicant.
Screening Limits
New York prohibits application fees. You may charge only the actual cost of a credit or background check, capped at $20, and if the applicant hands you their own report from the past 30 days, you must accept it instead of running a new one.12NYC.gov. Protections for All Tenants You also cannot deny an applicant based on their prior involvement in an eviction proceeding, regardless of outcome.
Write a Lease That Meets New York’s Rules
Several disclosures must appear at or before lease signing:
- Lead-based paint. For pre-1978 buildings, federal law requires you to disclose any known lead-based paint hazards and give the tenant the EPA’s lead hazard information pamphlet before they are obligated under the lease.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property
- Bed bug history. NYC owners of multiple dwellings must annually survey tenants about infestations, file a Bedbug Annual Report with HPD, and provide the report to tenants at lease commencement or renewal.14New York City Administrative Code. New York City Code 27-2018.1 – Notice of Bedbug Infestation History
- Certificate of occupancy, for properties with three or fewer units, as noted above.9New York State Senate. New York Code Real Property Law 235-BB – Certificates of Occupancy
You must also provide a written receipt for any rent paid in cash or by non-personal-check payment, listing the date, amount, unit, and signature of the person collecting the money. Tenants who pay by personal check can request receipts too.
Security Deposit
The deposit cannot exceed one month’s rent.15New York State Senate. New York Code General Obligations Law 7-108 – Deposits Made by Tenants It remains the tenant’s money and must be held in trust, completely separate from your personal or business funds. In buildings with six or more units, the deposit must sit in an interest-bearing account at a New York bank, and you must give each tenant written notice of the bank’s name, address, and deposit amount. You can keep 1% per year as an administrative fee; the rest of the interest belongs to the tenant.16New York State Senate. New York Code General Obligations Law 7-103 – Money Deposited for Use or Rental of Real Property
Within 14 days after a tenant moves out, you must return the deposit with an itemized statement of any deductions. Miss that deadline and you forfeit the right to keep any portion of it, even if the tenant left damage.15New York State Senate. New York Code General Obligations Law 7-108 – Deposits Made by Tenants
Late Fees
A late fee can only apply if rent is more than five days overdue, and it cannot exceed $50 or 5% of monthly rent, whichever is less.17New York State Senate. New York Code Real Property Law 238-A – Limitation on Fees On a $1,500 apartment, the ceiling is $50; on a $900 apartment, $45. Charging more violates state law.
Handle Entry, Maintenance, and Assistance Animals
New York City requires at least 24 hours’ advance notice for inspections and at least one week’s written notice for non-emergency repairs. Emergencies like a gas leak need no advance notice, though you should still try to reach the tenant.18Rules of the City of New York. 25 RCNY 25-101 – Owners Right of Access and Requirements for Notification Outside the city, there’s no statewide entry statute, so your lease terms govern. Spell out notice periods and permitted reasons explicitly.
Your habitability duty runs the whole tenancy. In New York City, HPD classifies housing code violations by severity:
- Class C, immediately hazardous (loss of heat, no hot water, gas leaks): correct within 24 hours.
- Class B, hazardous (leaking ceilings, pest infestations): correct within 30 days.
- Class A, non-hazardous (minor peeling paint in non-lead contexts): correct within 90 days.
Missed deadlines bring fines that accumulate daily. Outside NYC, courts apply a reasonableness standard when evaluating habitability claims.
If your property predates 1978 and you plan to do renovation or repair work yourself, federal EPA rules require both firm certification and individual renovator certification under the Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule. An employee doing the work must be a certified renovator, with firm certification in place. An outside contractor must be a Lead-Safe Certified Firm with a certified renovator directing the job.19U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lead Renovation Repair and Painting RRP Rule – Landlord Certification Requirements
A no-pets policy does not let you automatically refuse an assistance animal, including an emotional support animal. Under the Fair Housing Act, you must allow the animal unless granting the request would impose an undue financial burden, fundamentally change your operations, or the specific animal poses a direct safety threat no other accommodation can address.20U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals No pet deposit or pet fee is allowed for an assistance animal. If the disability and the need for the animal aren’t obvious, you can request reliable documentation linking the two, but not medical records or a specific diagnosis.
Renewing Leases and Raising Rent
If you own rent-stabilized apartments in New York City, a written renewal offer must go out between 90 and 150 days before the current lease expires.21Legal Information Institute. New York Code 9 NYCRR 2523.5 – Notice for Renewal of Lease and Renewal Procedure Outside the city, rent-stabilized renewal notices go by certified mail between 90 and 120 days before expiration.22Homes and Community Renewal. Leases Missing the window doesn’t end the tenancy; the tenant simply stays on existing terms.
For non-regulated units, if you plan to raise rent by 5% or more or not renew, you must give written notice based on how long the tenant has been in the unit:
- Less than one year, and no lease term of one year or more: at least 30 days.
- One to two years: at least 60 days.
- More than two years: at least 90 days.
The period is based on cumulative time in the unit or the lease term, whichever is longer.23New York State Senate. New York Code Real Property Law 226-C – Notice of Rent Increase or Non-Renewal Skip or shorten it and the increase or non-renewal is unenforceable.
Evictions Go Through Court
You cannot remove a tenant without a court order. Self-help, meaning changing locks, shutting off utilities, or removing belongings, is illegal in New York and classified as a Class A misdemeanor.
For nonpayment, the sequence runs roughly like this. Once rent is more than five days late, you send written notice by certified mail. You then serve a 14-day written demand to pay or vacate. If the tenant doesn’t pay in those 14 days, you file a nonpayment petition in court. Court papers must be served at least 10 days before the court date, and the tenant is entitled to at least one 14-day adjournment on request. After a judgment in your favor, at least 14 more days must pass before a warrant of eviction can be executed, and courts can extend that period up to a year in cases of extreme hardship.
Most eviction cases that fall apart do so on notice language or service defects. One procedural slip restarts the clock. Keeping detailed records of every communication, payment, and maintenance interaction is the single most valuable habit you can build.
Insurance and Taxes
New York doesn’t require landlord insurance, but mortgage lenders almost always do. A standard landlord policy covers the building, loss of rental income during covered repairs, and liability for injuries on the property. Many insurance professionals recommend at least $1 million in liability coverage, with an umbrella policy worth considering as your portfolio grows. Requiring tenants to carry renters’ insurance shifts the burden for their personal property losses and often includes liability coverage that heads off disputes.
Rental income goes on Schedule E of your federal return, which covers rental real estate income and losses.24Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule E (Form 1040) Deductible expenses include mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance premiums, repairs, and depreciation on the building (not the land). Mileage for property management trips is deductible at the IRS standard rate, which was 70 cents per mile for 2025. When you eventually sell, a 1031 like-kind exchange lets you defer capital gains tax by rolling proceeds into another investment property, subject to strict timelines and the requirement that a qualified intermediary hold the funds.