New York Roommate Law: Rights, Rent Limits, and Evictions

Under New York roommate law, codified at Real Property Law § 235-f, almost every tenant in a privately owned rental has the right to share the apartment with at least one additional person who is not on the lease, regardless of what the lease says.¹ The right comes with occupancy limits, a notification duty, rent-sharing rules in stabilized apartments, and a formal process you have to follow if you ever need the roommate to leave.

The Right the Statute Gives You

A lease clause banning roommates is unenforceable as a matter of public policy. If your lease says “no additional occupants,” that language has no legal effect.¹

When one person signs the lease, the statute lets that tenant share the apartment with immediate family members, one unrelated occupant, and that occupant’s dependent children. The tenant or the tenant’s spouse must use the apartment as a primary residence.¹

You do not need the landlord’s permission. You do, however, have to give the landlord the roommate’s name within 30 days of the roommate moving in, or within 30 days of the landlord asking. The statute doesn’t attach a penalty to missed notice, but sending the notification in writing removes any argument that the arrangement is unauthorized.

A roommate does not gain an independent right to the apartment. If the named tenant moves out, is evicted, or dies, the roommate has no legal claim to stay.² Family members in rent-stabilized or rent-controlled units may qualify for succession rights; unrelated roommates do not.

When the Law Does Not Apply

If two or more people already signed the lease, the apartment has its full roster of occupants under § 235-f. The total of tenants plus roommates cannot exceed the number of tenants named on the lease, not counting immediate family or dependent children of occupants.² Two co-tenants generally cannot add a third person unless the lease itself allows it.

There is one workaround. If a co-tenant moves out, the remaining tenant can bring in one roommate to fill the departed person’s slot.

Public housing and most subsidized housing programs sit outside the Roommate Law entirely. In those units you have to report all household members and their income to the housing authority, and mid-lease changes have to be reported too.

What You Can Charge in a Rent-Stabilized Apartment

Rent-stabilized apartments have a hard cap on the roommate’s rent. The roommate’s share cannot exceed their proportionate portion of the legal regulated rent. With one tenant and one roommate, that means half. With three adults sharing, no one can be charged more than a third.³ Spouses, family of the tenant, and dependent children of the roommate don’t count in the calculation.

The proportion runs off the legal rent, not any discounted amount the primary tenant might actually pay. A roommate who thinks they’ve been overcharged can file a rent overcharge complaint with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which can order refunds and impose treble damages for willful overcharges.³

Market-rate apartments have no equivalent cap. The tenant and roommate can agree to any split, which is one more reason to write it down.

Put the Arrangement in Writing

A roommate agreement is a private contract between the people sharing the apartment. The landlord has no role in it, and nothing in New York law requires one. Skipping it is a reliable way to end up in a dispute where neither side can prove what was agreed.

At minimum, cover:

The exact rent each person pays and when it is due to the tenant on the lease.
Which person holds each utility account and how the bills are divided. The account holder is who the utility pursues for nonpayment, whatever the side arrangement says.
How much the roommate contributed to the security deposit, and what happens to that money if they leave before the lease ends.
How much advance notice either person must give to end the arrangement, and whether the departing roommate has to find a replacement.
Guest, quiet-hours, cleaning, and shared-space rules.

If a financial dispute lands in small claims court, a signed agreement gives you something concrete to point to. New York small claims courts hear individual claims up to $10,000, which covers most disagreements over unpaid rent or damage. Without a written agreement, both sides are arguing about what was said.

The Trap of Joint and Several Liability

When two or more people sign the lease together, most New York leases make each signer individually responsible for the full rent, not just an agreed-upon share. If your co-tenant stops paying, the landlord can demand the whole amount from you, and any eviction proceeding runs against everyone on the lease. Paying “your half” doesn’t insulate you.

The same principle applies to damage. If a co-tenant destroys their room and disappears, the landlord can hold you responsible for repair costs. You can sue the departed co-tenant for reimbursement, but collecting is a separate problem.

A roommate who is not on the lease does not have joint and several liability with the landlord. That roommate’s financial obligations run to the primary tenant, which is exactly why the roommate agreement matters in that setup.

Security Deposits

New York caps residential security deposits at one month’s rent, and the landlord holds a single deposit for the apartment rather than a separate one per occupant. After the tenant vacates, the landlord has 14 days to return the deposit with an itemized statement of any deductions. Miss that 14-day window and the landlord forfeits the right to keep any of it.⁴

Deductions are limited to four categories: unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, unpaid utilities owed to the landlord under the lease, and moving-and-storage costs for belongings left behind. A landlord cannot deduct for damage that existed on move-in, which is why the statute gives tenants the right to request a pre-occupancy inspection and a written record of the unit’s condition.⁴

When a roommate leaves mid-lease, the landlord does not refund any share of the deposit. The full deposit stays put until the lease ends and the apartment is empty. In practice, an outgoing roommate is paid back their contribution by the incoming replacement. The agreement should say so, and it should say what damages can be deducted from that handoff.

Removing a Roommate the Legal Way

If the roommate is a co-tenant named on the lease, you cannot force them out. Only the landlord can bring eviction proceedings against a co-tenant, and those proceedings typically involve everyone on the lease.⁵

If the roommate is not on the lease, the primary tenant is treated as that roommate’s landlord and must follow New York’s formal eviction process. It begins with a written Notice of Termination. The required notice period depends on how long the roommate has lived there:⁶

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

If the roommate has a written agreement with you and its term hasn’t expired, you generally can’t start a holdover until the term runs out.⁷ If the arrangement was verbal, you serve the Notice of Termination and wait out the notice period.

If the roommate still refuses to leave, you file a roommate holdover case in Housing Court by submitting a Notice of Petition and Petition.⁵ If the court rules in your favor, it issues a warrant of eviction, which only a city marshal or sheriff can execute.

Do Not Change the Locks

This is where tenants create serious legal problems for themselves. Changing the locks, moving a roommate’s belongings out, or shutting off utilities to force someone out is an illegal eviction under RPAPL § 768, even when the person you’re removing has no lease and hasn’t paid rent in months.⁸ Anyone who has legally occupied an apartment for at least 30 days can only be removed through the court process.⁹

An illegal lockout is a Class A misdemeanor, and it applies to tenants who lock out roommates, not just landlords. Civil penalties run from $1,000 to $10,000 per violation, plus up to $100 per day the locked-out person is kept out, capped at six months.¹⁰ However bad the situation feels, the court process is the only legal route.

Choosing and Advertising for a Roommate

Federal fair housing law gives people sharing a home more latitude to choose a roommate than landlords have to choose tenants. Under the Mrs. Murphy exemption in 42 U.S.C. § 3603(b)(2), owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units are exempt from most fair housing prohibitions on discrimination.¹¹

The exemption stops at advertising. Even if you can legally decline a roommate for a protected reason, you cannot post a listing that states a preference based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability.¹¹ There is a narrow gender exception in true shared-living situations where residents share a bathroom, kitchen, or bedroom, and a same-gender preference is generally permitted in that context for privacy reasons. Cross-gender preferences and preferences in any other protected class are not.

New York City’s Human Rights Law protects broader categories than federal law, including lawful source of income, criminal history, and immigration status. The safest listing describes the space, the rent, and the living arrangement, without referring to who the ideal applicant is.

Rent You Collect Is Taxable Income

Money you collect from a roommate is generally taxable, and the IRS expects it to be reported. If you rent out part of your home for 15 or more days during the tax year, all of that rental income belongs in your gross income.¹² A year-round roommate clears that threshold easily.

You can offset the income with a proportionate share of qualifying expenses. Mortgage interest, property taxes, utilities, insurance, and depreciation on the rented portion of the home can all be deducted. Split expenses between personal use and rental use on a reasonable basis, such as number of rooms or square footage assigned to the roommate.¹² These are reported on Schedule E (Form 1040).

Many roommate setups are pure cost-splitting, with no profit to the primary tenant. Reporting is still technically required, though offsetting deductions often leave little or no net tax. And if a roommate pays one of your expenses directly, such as covering a utility bill in your name, the IRS treats that payment as rental income too.¹³

1
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law RPP 235-F – Unlawful Restrictions on Occupancy
2
NYC Rent Guidelines Board. Roommates FAQs
3
New York Homes and Community Renewal. Rent Increases and Rent Overcharge
4
New York State Senate. New York General Obligations Law 7-108 – Deposits Made by Tenants
5
New York City Housing Court. Starting a Roommate Holdover Case
6
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law Section 226-C – Notice of Rent Increase or Non-Renewal
7
New York City Housing Court. Roommate Holdover Termination Notices
8
NYC.gov. Unlawful Evictions or Lockouts
9
NYCOURTS.GOV. Illegal Lock-Outs
10
New York Attorney General. Guidance on Unlawful Evictions Under RPAPL 768
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 U.S. Code 3603 – Effective Dates of Certain Prohibitions
12
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 527 – Residential Rental Property
13
Internal Revenue Service. Rental Income and Expenses – Real Estate Tax Tips