How to Evict a Family Member in New York State: Notice, Court, Warrant

To evict a family member in New York, you have to go through court, even if that person never signed a lease and never paid you a cent. New York law treats anyone who has lived in your home with your permission as an occupant with legal rights, and the only lawful way to remove them is with a judge’s order and a warrant executed by a law enforcement officer. Expect the process to take anywhere from about two months to well over six, depending on how long the person has lived there and whether they fight it.

You Cannot Change the Locks or Force Them Out Yourself

Under RPAPL Section 768, it is a crime to evict or try to evict anyone who has lawfully occupied a dwelling for 30 consecutive days or more without a court order.¹ That means no changing the locks without giving a key, no shutting off heat, water, or electricity, no removing the person’s belongings, no taking the door off its hinges, and no threats of force.²

Each act of unlawful eviction is a Class A misdemeanor. On top of that, the person you locked out can pursue civil penalties of $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, plus $100 per day if you refuse to let them back in (capped at six months).¹ Under RPAPL Section 853, a person forcibly or unlawfully removed can recover three times their actual damages.³ The shortcut almost always costs more than the legal process.

First, Figure Out If They Are a Tenant or a Licensee

The whole process turns on this classification. It determines what notice you serve and how long it has to be.

Tenant

A family member is a tenant if they pay rent or if any agreement, written or spoken, gives them the right to live there. An adult child who kicks in a fixed amount each month toward the mortgage or utilities can qualify, even without a signed lease. The exchange of money for the right to occupy the space is what matters. Tenants get the fuller set of protections under New York landlord-tenant law and a longer notice period.

Licensee

A licensee is someone living in your home with your permission but without any rental agreement and without paying rent.⁴ The most common example is an adult child who never moved out and never paid for the privilege. A licensee’s right to stay lasts only as long as you allow it, and once you revoke permission, the notice period is much shorter.

Serve the Written Notice

You cannot file in court without first delivering a proper written notice. Get this wrong and the case comes back dismissed.

10-Day Notice to Quit for a Licensee

For a licensee, serve a 10-day Notice to Quit. It tells the family member that their permission to live there is revoked and that they need to leave within ten days.⁵ If they stay past that deadline, you can file.

Notice of Termination for a Tenant

For a family member who qualifies as a tenant without a fixed-term lease, Real Property Law Section 226-c sets the notice period by how long they have lived there:⁶

Less than one year of occupancy: at least 30 days’ notice
One to two years: at least 60 days’ notice
More than two years: at least 90 days’ notice

The clock runs from cumulative time in the home or the length of any lease term, whichever is longer.⁶ For a relative who has lived with you for years, plan on the full 90 days.

How to Deliver It

Personal delivery to the family member is the cleanest method. If they refuse it or you cannot catch them at home, New York permits substituted service (leaving it with a person of suitable age at the residence and mailing a copy) or conspicuous-place service (affixing it to the door and mailing a copy). Keep detailed records of the date, time, and method. A defective notice is the single most common reason these cases get thrown out.

File the Eviction Case in Court

If the family member stays past the deadline in your notice, the next step is a summary proceeding.

Which Court

In New York City, residential evictions go to Housing Court in the borough where the property sits. Outside the city, the filing goes to the local court that serves the property’s location, which may be a Town Court, Village Court, City Court, or District Court. Call the clerk’s office in your area to confirm they handle summary proceedings and to get filing instructions.

The Papers

You need a Notice of Petition and a Petition. The Petition sets out who you are, who the occupant is, the property address, the basis for eviction, and what happened with the notice. You verify it, meaning you sign under oath that the contents are true. Attach a copy of the notice you served and an affidavit of service showing how and when it went out. Standardized forms are on the New York State Unified Court System website.

File the paperwork with the clerk and pay the filing fee. The clerk assigns an index number and a hearing date, and returns a stamped Notice of Petition with the date, time, and location.

Serving the Court Papers

Once you have the stamped Notice of Petition, copies of it and the Petition must be served on the family member. RPAPL Section 733 requires service at least 10 days but no more than 17 days before the hearing.⁷ Miss that window and you have to get a new date and serve again. You cannot serve these papers yourself. Use a professional process server or another adult who is not a party to the case.

Expect Them to Push Back

Do not assume the hearing is a formality. A family member who shows up, especially one who has spoken with a lawyer, can slow the case down or beat it.

The strongest defense is improper notice. A notice that was too short, sent to the wrong address, missing required information, or served incorrectly will usually mean dismissal and a fresh start. Another common defense is that the person is actually a tenant, not a licensee, which means you served the wrong notice for the wrong period. Informal contributions toward household expenses can be reframed as rent if a judge sees them that way. Accepting any payments after you served the termination notice invites the argument that you renewed the tenancy by accepting rent. Habitability defenses (serious code violations) and retaliatory eviction claims come up less often in family situations but courts will still hear them.

The Hearing and the Judgment

Bring everything to the hearing: the original notice, proof of service for the notice, the filed court papers, proof of service for those papers, and documents establishing your ownership and the occupant’s status. If you are calling the person a licensee, be ready to explain why any money that changed hands was not rent.

Judges often push the parties toward a settlement, called a stipulation, which might give the family member extra time in exchange for dropping defenses. A signed and approved stipulation binds both sides. If the family member does not appear, you can request a default judgment. If the judge rules for you, the court enters a judgment of possession. That judgment on its own does not authorize you to remove anyone. There is one more step.

The Warrant of Eviction and the Removal

After the judgment, request a warrant of eviction from the clerk. The warrant is what authorizes a law enforcement officer to physically remove the occupant, and it is directed to the county sheriff, a city marshal in New York City, or a constable.⁸

The officer must give the family member at least 14 days’ written notice before executing the warrant.⁸ That is their last chance to leave on their own. If they are still there after 14 days, the officer returns during business hours and removes them and their belongings. Only a law enforcement officer can carry out the eviction. Doing it yourself, or having someone else do it, drops you back into the criminal and civil exposure described above.

Belongings Left Behind

Family members often leave furniture, clothing, and other personal items. New York does not have a single comprehensive statute setting exactly how long you have to store abandoned property. The safe practice is to document what was left, store it reasonably, and make a good-faith effort to tell the person they can retrieve it. Throwing everything to the curb the same day, especially if any of it has real value, invites a damages claim. A written notice giving them a reasonable deadline, typically 30 days, protects you if a dispute follows.

Situations That Change the Rules

Active-Duty Military

If the family member is on active military duty, the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act adds requirements. A court cannot enter a default judgment without an affidavit about the person’s military status. If the occupant is serving, the court must appoint an attorney to represent their interests and can postpone the case by 90 days if the servicemember cannot appear.⁹ These protections apply whether the person is a tenant or a licensee.

Occupants With Disabilities

The federal Fair Housing Act requires housing providers to grant reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities when the accommodation is necessary and does not impose an undue burden. During an eviction, that might mean extra time to relocate or a change in how the removal is carried out. The accommodation has to be requested, has to relate to the disability, and has to be reasonable. It does not create a permanent right to stay.

Tax Fallout From Charging Family Rent

If you have been collecting rent from the family member, the IRS treats that as rental income. When the rent is below fair market value, the IRS counts the days your family member occupies the property as personal-use days rather than rental days, which limits the expenses you can deduct.¹⁰ The eviction itself is not the tax problem, but if you have been deducting rental expenses based on below-market payments, talk with a tax professional.

How Long This Actually Takes

Plan on at least two to three months from the day you serve the first notice to the day an officer can execute the warrant. A smooth licensee case looks like this: 10 days for the notice to quit, a few days to prepare and file papers, 10 to 17 days between service of the petition and the hearing, the hearing, and then 14 more days after the warrant is served. That is the best case, with no adjournments and no real defense.

For a tenant who has lived with you more than two years, the notice period alone is 90 days before you can file. Add contested proceedings, adjournments, and the post-judgment 14-day window, and six months or longer is realistic. Courts in New York, especially in New York City, carry heavy eviction caseloads, and scheduling delays are routine. That timeline is the strongest argument for trying to work something out before anyone files anything.

1
New York State Senate. New York RPAPL 768 – Unlawful Eviction
2
New York State Attorney General. Unlawful Evictions RPAPL Section 768
3
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 853 – Action for Forcible or Unlawful Entry or Detainer; Treble Damages
4
NY CourtHelp. Licensee Holdover Case as a Tenant
5
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 713 – Grounds Where No Landlord-Tenant Relationship Exists
6
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 226-C – Notice of Rent Increase or Non-Renewal of Residential Tenancy
7
New York State Senate. New York RPAPL 733 – Time of Service
8
New York State Senate. New York RPAPL 749 – Warrant
9
U.S. Department of Justice. Financial and Housing Rights
10
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 415, Renting Residential and Vacation Property