New York State Lease Agreement: Disclosures, Deposits, and Fees

A residential lease in New York must identify the landlord and tenant, the rental unit, the term, the monthly rent, and the payment due date, and it must be printed legibly. Beyond those basics, state law loads every lease with requirements the landlord cannot contract around: specific written disclosures, a one-month cap on the security deposit, limits on late fees and application fees, an implied warranty of habitability, and set notice periods for ending a tenancy. Understanding the full set of New York lease agreement requirements matters because several of them give tenants rights that survive whatever the paper lease actually says.

What the Lease Itself Must Contain

There is no mandatory template. A valid lease clearly names the parties, states the address of the unit, sets the term, and fixes the rent and when it is due. Vague or missing terms are a common source of housing court disputes, so specificity protects both sides.

Print size is a genuine legal requirement, not a formatting preference. Under the Civil Practice Law and Rules, a residential lease printed in type smaller than eight points (or five and a half points for uppercase) cannot be admitted as evidence on behalf of the party who prepared it, and no clause in the lease can waive that rule.¹ Fine-print provisions buried at the back of a form lease may simply be unenforceable if the landlord tries to rely on them.

Whenever rent is paid in cash or by any method other than a personal check, the landlord must give a written receipt showing the date, the amount, the address and rental period covered, and the signature of the person who accepted the payment.²

Disclosures the Landlord Must Include

Several disclosures are mandatory in every residential lease. Skipping them isn’t just a technical lapse; missing disclosures can affect what the landlord is able to enforce later.

Sprinkler System

Every lease must state in bold type whether the building has a working sprinkler system. If one is installed, the lease must also give the date it was last inspected and maintained.³

Flood History and Flood Risk

The lease must disclose whether any part of the unit sits in a FEMA-designated floodplain, a Special Flood Hazard Area (100-year floodplain), or a Moderate Risk Flood Hazard Area (500-year floodplain). It must also disclose any prior flood damage the landlord knows about or reasonably should know about, along with a notice that standard renter’s insurance typically does not cover floods and that separate flood insurance is available through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program.⁴

Lead-Based Paint

For housing built before 1978, federal law requires the landlord to disclose known lead-based paint hazards before you sign, provide an EPA-approved lead hazard information pamphlet, and share any lead inspection reports the landlord has.⁵

Bedbug History in New York City

In New York City, owners of multiple dwellings file an annual bedbug report with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development covering any infestations during the prior year. The filing receipt must go to each tenant at the start of a new lease and with every renewal, or be posted somewhere visible in the building, and owners must distribute the city’s bedbug prevention guide.⁶

Security Deposit Limits

Security deposits are capped at one month’s rent for most residential units. Landlords cannot collect additional deposits, pet deposits, or last month’s rent upfront on top of that single month.⁷

Deposits must be held in trust, separate from the landlord’s personal funds. In buildings with six or more units, the deposit goes into an interest-bearing account; the interest belongs to the tenant, though the landlord may retain one percent of the deposit per year as an administrative fee.⁸

Before you move out, the landlord must offer a pre-move-out inspection and give you an itemized list of any proposed deductions, so you have a chance to fix the issues before the tenancy ends. Once you vacate, the landlord has 14 days to return the deposit along with an itemized statement of any deductions. Miss that deadline and the landlord forfeits the right to keep any portion of it, even where there was legitimate damage.⁷

Late Fees and Application Fees

A landlord cannot impose a late fee until rent is at least five days overdue. Even then, the fee cannot exceed $50 or five percent of the monthly rent, whichever is less. On a $1,500 apartment, the maximum is $50; on a $900 apartment, it drops to $45.⁹

Application fees are similarly restricted. A landlord can charge only the actual cost of a background check and credit check, up to a maximum of $20, whichever is less.⁹

Warranty of Habitability

Every residential lease in New York, whether written or oral, carries an implied warranty that the apartment is fit for human habitation. It exists by operation of law, cannot be waived, and covers the unit itself along with common areas like hallways, lobbies, and laundry rooms.¹⁰

The warranty prohibits conditions dangerous or harmful to a tenant’s life, health, or safety. Persistent leaks, no heat or hot water, rodent infestations, broken locks on entry doors, and mold from structural deficiencies all qualify as breaches. The warranty does not apply where the tenant caused the problem. When a landlord fails to fix a legitimate habitability issue, a tenant can seek a rent abatement in housing court, and no expert testimony is required for the court to assess damages.¹⁰

Occupants and Roommates

Lease clauses restricting the apartment to the named tenant and immediate family are unenforceable. A tenant living alone on a lease has the right to have one additional occupant plus that occupant’s dependent children, as long as the tenant or the tenant’s spouse uses the apartment as a primary residence.¹¹

When two or more tenants sign the lease, the total number of tenants and occupants, not counting dependent children, cannot exceed the number of named tenants. The tenant must give the landlord the occupant’s name within 30 days of the occupant moving in, or within 30 days of the landlord asking. Occupants do not gain tenancy rights simply by living there; if the named tenant leaves, the occupant has no independent right to stay unless the landlord grants one in writing.¹¹

Notice to End or Not Renew a Tenancy

How much notice a landlord must give before ending or declining to renew depends on how long you have lived in the unit. Many older form leases still don’t reflect the current rule.

Less than one year of occupancy, and no lease term of at least one year: at least 30 days’ notice.
One to two years of occupancy, or a lease term of one to two years: at least 60 days’ notice.
More than two years of occupancy, or a lease term of at least two years: at least 90 days’ notice.

The notice period is based on whichever is longer, cumulative occupancy or lease term.¹² Fixed-term leases end on the date stated unless renewed. Rent-stabilized units follow a separate renewal system that runs alongside these rules and is beyond the scope of general lease requirements.

Attorney’s Fees Cut Both Ways

Standard lease forms often let the landlord recover attorney’s fees if the tenant breaches. New York law makes those clauses reciprocal by operation of law: if the lease gives the landlord a right to fees, the tenant automatically gets the same right when the landlord breaches or when the tenant successfully defends against the landlord’s legal action. This implied right cannot be waived, and a landlord cannot collect attorney’s fees on a default judgment.¹³

Subletting and Assignment

Subletting temporarily rents the apartment to someone else while the lease stays in your name. Assignment transfers the lease entirely to a new tenant.

Tenants in buildings with four or more residential units have a statutory right to sublet with the landlord’s written consent, and the landlord cannot unreasonably refuse. The request goes by certified letter and must include the proposed subtenant’s name and address, the reason for subletting, the sublease term, the tenant’s address during the sublease, and a copy of the proposed sublease. The landlord has 10 days to ask for more information and then 30 days from the original request or the additional information, whichever is later, to consent or explain a refusal in writing. Silence past that window counts as consent. Even after a permitted sublet, the original tenant stays responsible for all lease obligations, and if a court later finds consent was withheld in bad faith, the tenant can recover attorney’s fees.¹⁴

Assignment is stricter. Unless the lease says otherwise, a tenant cannot assign without the landlord’s written consent, and the landlord may refuse for any reason. If the refusal is unreasonable, the tenant’s only remedy is to demand release from the lease on 30 days’ notice.¹⁴

Protection Against Retaliation

A landlord cannot evict, refuse to renew, or substantially change lease terms in retaliation for a good-faith complaint about health or safety violations, actions to enforce lease rights, or participation in a tenant organization. If the landlord starts eviction or non-renewal within one year after a legitimate complaint to the landlord or a government agency, the court presumes retaliation and the landlord has to prove otherwise. Where retaliation is found, the eviction fails.¹⁵

Self-help evictions are unlawful. A landlord who changes locks, removes belongings, or shuts off utilities without a court order faces civil liability and additional penalties, and the tenant can seek an emergency court order to regain possession.¹⁶

1
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 4544 – Contracts in Small Print
2
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 235-E – Duty to Provide a Written Receipt
3
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 231-A – Sprinkler System Notice in Residential Leases
4
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 231-B – Flood History and Risk Notice in Residential Leases
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 4852d – Disclosure of Information Concerning Lead Upon Transfer of Residential Property
6
NYC Housing Preservation & Development. Bedbugs
7
New York State Senate. New York General Obligations Law 7-108 – Deposits Made by Tenants of Non-Rent Stabilized Dwelling Units
8
New York State Senate. New York General Obligations Law 7-103 – Money Deposited or Advanced for Use or Rental of Real Property
9
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 238-A – Limitation on Fees
10
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 235-B – Warranty of Habitability
11
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 235-F – Unlawful Restrictions on Occupancy
12
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 226-C – Termination of Tenancy
13
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 234 – Right to Recover Attorneys Fees in Actions or Summary Proceedings
14
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 226-B – Right to Sublease or Assign
15
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Law 223-B – Retaliation by Landlord Against Tenant
16
NYC.gov. Protections for All Tenants