New York Rent Increase Notice: Timing, Delivery, and Tenant Rights

A New York rent increase notice is required whenever a landlord plans to raise the rent by 5% or more on a market-rate apartment, and the written notice must be delivered 30, 60, or 90 days in advance depending on how long the tenant has lived in the unit. The rule comes from Real Property Law 226-c and applies statewide.¹ Miss the notice, and the increase can’t be enforced until the clock has run properly from the date the tenant actually receives it.

How Much Notice You’re Entitled To

The lead time is tiered by occupancy or lease length:

30 days if the tenant has lived in the unit less than one year and doesn’t have a lease of at least one year.
60 days if the tenant has been there one to two years, or has a lease of at least one year but under two.
90 days if the tenant has been there two or more years, or has a lease of two years or longer.

The same tiers apply when a landlord decides not to renew the tenancy at all. Both triggers, a 5%-or-greater increase and a non-renewal, come from the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, which added statutory notice periods where none existed before for market-rate apartments.²

An increase under 5% doesn’t trigger the statute. It still can’t be imposed mid-lease without the tenant’s agreement, but the 30/60/90-day rule doesn’t apply.

What the Notice Has to Say

A one-line “your rent is going up” isn’t enough. New York’s court forms for a 226-c notice list what belongs on the page: the tenant’s name, the address and unit number, the date of the rental agreement, the current monthly rent, the new monthly rent, the effective date of the increase, and a reference to the tenant’s length of occupancy or lease term that supports the notice period being used.³

Since August 2024, the notice must also include a Good Cause Eviction disclosure. The landlord has to state whether the unit is covered by the Good Cause Eviction law (Real Property Law Article 6-A), and if the unit is exempt, explain why.¹ For covered units, if the proposed increase is above the local rent standard, the landlord must also state a justification for going higher.⁴

How the Notice Should Be Delivered

The statute requires the notice in writing but doesn’t dictate the delivery method. In practice, the method matters a lot, because a landlord who can’t prove timely receipt can’t enforce the increase.

Certified mail with a return receipt is the standard route. It produces a dated record showing when the notice was sent and when the tenant signed for it. Personal delivery works too, with the person who handed it over ready to sign an affidavit describing the delivery: who served it, when, where, and a physical description of the person served. Some landlords use both.

Email and text are risky. New York law allows electronic execution of a lease only with the tenant’s voluntary written consent, and that provision addresses lease signing, not the delivery of a legally required notice.⁵ Courts have generally been reluctant to treat digital messages as sufficient service for statutory notices, so relying only on an email or text is a real gamble.

What Happens If the Landlord Skips or Botches the Notice

If the landlord fails to give the required notice, or gives it late, the tenancy simply continues at the old rent until the full notice period runs from the date proper written notice is delivered.¹ The increase isn’t just postponed on paper. It is unenforceable until the clock has fully run.

Practically, that means a tenant who receives a defective notice can keep paying the previous rent. If the landlord then files a nonpayment proceeding for the unauthorized amount, the tenant can raise the defective notice as a defense in Housing Court.

If Your Apartment Is Rent-Stabilized or Rent-Controlled

The 30/60/90-day notice rule is a market-rate rule. Rent-stabilized and rent-controlled units have their own frameworks that cap what the increase can be in the first place, so the questions look different.

For rent-stabilized apartments, the New York City Rent Guidelines Board sets the maximum increase each year. For leases starting between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, the board approved 3% on a one-year renewal and 4.5% on a two-year renewal.⁶ Landlords of stabilized units must offer a renewal lease between 150 and 90 days before the current lease ends. If the offer comes late, the tenant can pick between the date the new lease would have started with a timely offer, or the first rent-payment date at least 90 days after the late offer, effectively adding months at the old rent.⁷

Rent-controlled units follow the Maximum Base Rent system, recalculated every two years, and the landlord has to certify that code violations have been cleared and required operating expenses spent before any increase takes effect.⁸

Rent stabilization applies broadly in New York City and, through the Emergency Tenant Protection Act, in parts of Nassau, Westchester, and Rockland counties, plus Kingston, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, and Nyack.⁹ If you’re unsure whether your unit is regulated, the notice itself now has to tell you: the Good Cause disclosure covers this.

Good Cause Eviction and the Rent Increase Cap

The Good Cause Eviction law took effect April 20, 2024 and applies in New York City and a growing list of municipalities, including Albany, Ithaca, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Beacon, and Newburgh.¹⁰ Where it applies, a rent increase is presumptively unreasonable if it exceeds the lower of 10% or 5% plus the annual change in the local Consumer Price Index. In the New York City area, the local rent standard was most recently 8.79%, based on a 3.79% CPI reading.¹¹ DHCR publishes updated figures each year by August 1.

“Presumptively unreasonable” doesn’t mean automatically void. The tenant can challenge the increase in court, and the landlord then bears the burden of justifying the higher amount, typically pointing to something concrete like a sharp rise in operating costs or a completed renovation.

Several categories of units are exempt from Good Cause coverage:

Buildings owned by small landlords, defined in New York City as owners of 10 or fewer total units statewide. Ownership through an LLC still counts if any person with a direct or indirect interest owns more than 10 units.¹⁰
Units already covered by rent stabilization or rent control.
Units in buildings that received a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2009.
High-rent units above 245% of the HUD Fair Market Rent for the county. In Manhattan, a two-bedroom above $6,321 per month is exempt.¹²
Condos, co-ops, and income-restricted housing.
Subletters, dormitories, and seasonal dwellings.

What You Can Do About an Improper Increase

The right remedy depends on the type of unit.

For a market-rate apartment where the 226-c notice was defective, the direct move is to keep paying the old rent. The increase can’t be enforced until proper notice runs, and if the landlord brings a nonpayment case, the defective notice is the defense.

For a rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartment, the tenant can file an overcharge complaint with DHCR’s Office of Rent Administration. DHCR can lower the legal rent, order a refund of excess rent, and freeze future increases until the landlord complies.¹³

A tenant who proves retaliation can recover damages, attorney’s fees, and injunctive relief. A landlord who tries to charge a fee or penalty against a tenant for filing a good-faith housing-conditions complaint is liable for triple that fee. In an eviction proceeding, retaliation is an affirmative defense: if the court finds the landlord acted in retaliation, the tenant wins. The statute applies to all residential rentals except owner-occupied buildings with fewer than four units.

1
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 226-C – Notice of Rent Increase or Non-Renewal of Residential Tenancy
2
State of New York. Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019
3
NYCourts.gov. Landlord’s Rent Increase of At Least 5% (Residential)
4
New York State Unified Court System. Good Cause Eviction Law Notice
5
Rent Guidelines Board. Leases FAQs
6
New York City Rent Guidelines Board. 2025-26 Apartment/Loft Order 57
7
Homes and Community Renewal. Renewal Lease Form (RTP-8) Instructions
8
New York State Homes and Community Renewal. Fact Sheet 22 – Maximum Base Rent Program
9
Homes and Community Renewal. Rent Stabilization and Emergency Tenant Protection Act
10
New York State Attorney General. New York State Good Cause Eviction Law
11
NYC Housing Preservation and Development. Good Cause Eviction
12
Homes and Community Renewal. Good Cause Eviction Law Required DHCR Notice
13
Homes and Community Renewal. New York Real Property Law 223-B – Retaliation by Landlord Against Tenant