9 Things New York Landlords Can Legally Do That Renters Assume Are Illegal

New York’s Good Cause Eviction law has spread to more than a dozen cities since it passed in 2024.

Renters hear that and assume the whole state now works in their favor.

It doesn’t.

These are the moves New York landlords can legally make that many renters assume are against the law.

Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Landlord-tenant rules differ between New York State and New York City, and both are subject to change.

1. Raise Your Rent With No Cap

New York landlords can raise the rent on a market-rate apartment by any amount they want at renewal.

Any amount, any year.

Outside rent-stabilized buildings, the only statewide rule is a notice requirement: New York’s landlord-tenant statute (RPL) section 226-c gives a tenant 30, 60, or 90 days’ warning, based on how long they’ve lived there, once an increase reaches 5% or more.

Even the state’s Good Cause Eviction law, automatic in New York City since 2024, doesn’t set a hard ceiling for covered units.

It only creates a presumption that an increase above 5% plus inflation, capped at 10%, is unreasonable.

A presumption, nothing more.

A landlord can still push past that number by showing the increase reflects higher operating costs, something a landlord outside city limits never has to prove at all.

2. Decline to Renew Your Lease

New York’s landlord-tenant law lets a lease lapse at renewal with zero explanation, as long as the building sits outside good cause protections.

Silence is enough.

New York State’s Good Cause Eviction law, in effect since April 2024 and automatic inside New York City, made that the exception there instead of the rule.

Even so, many ordinary buildings are exempt, and only 17 municipalities elsewhere in the state, among them Albany, Ithaca, and Kingston, have adopted any version of the law.

A landlord almost anywhere outside city limits can still send a market-rate tenant packing at lease’s end, provided they give proper notice.

3. Keep a Cut of Your Deposit’s Interest

A security deposit in New York can’t top one month’s rent, but state law never says the landlord hands over every cent it earns.

One percent, gone.

A landlord managing a building with six or more units has to hold that deposit in an interest-bearing New York bank account.

Even so, the landlord can keep 1% of the annual interest as an administrative fee before the rest goes to the tenant.

A landlord managing a smaller building doesn’t owe any interest at all.

4. Charge You a Late Fee

New York’s late-fee rules let a landlord bill a tenant for paying rent late.

Legal, within limits.

The same landlord-tenant statute (RPL), this time section 238-a, permits it, up to $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever amount is smaller.

The charge can’t start early, either.

A tenant gets a five-day grace period after the due date before the clock starts running on any charge.

Waive that grace period in a lease, and the waiver itself is void, so a landlord can’t sign it away either.

5. Demand a High-Earning Guarantor

A guarantor’s income bar in New York, especially in New York City, is entirely the landlord’s call.

No cap exists.

A tenant usually needs to show around 40 times the monthly rent in annual income to qualify alone, but a guarantor is commonly asked to clear 80 to 90 times that same rent.

On a $3,200 apartment, that puts the bar above $250,000 a year.

Six figures, easily.

A parent with a solid salary can still fall short.

6. Pass You a Broker’s Fee

New York’s broker-fee rules still let a landlord bill a tenant across most of the state, and even in some New York City deals.

The city’s Fairness in Apartment Rental Expenses (FARE) Act, in effect since June 2025, only bars charging a tenant for a broker the landlord hired.

One exception only.

Hire your own broker to help you hunt for a place, and you’re still on the hook for their fee.

Landlords outside city limits face no such rule at all.

They can pass along a broker’s cost however the lease sets it up.

7. Require Renters Insurance

Renters insurance can be a signing condition on a New York lease, entirely the landlord’s call.

Written right into the lease.

A tenant who skips buying a policy, or lets one lapse, can end up in violation of their lease, separate from anything owed on rent.

The landlord’s own building insurance never covers a tenant’s furniture, electronics, or clothes.

That gap is exactly why so many leases require a policy before handing over the keys.

8. Hold Your Deposit for 14 Days

New York gives a landlord two full weeks after a tenant moves out before that deposit has to come back.

Fourteen days, not forty-eight hours.

State law gives them that 14-day window to send back whatever’s left, along with an itemized statement explaining any deduction.

A landlord can deduct unpaid rent and damage that goes beyond normal wear and tear, but nothing else.

Miss that window with no itemized list attached, and the tenant can demand the whole deposit back.

9. Enter Without a Set Notice

No New York statute ever made a landlord promise a tenant an exact number of hours before walking through the door.

No 24-hour rule.

Whatever counts as reasonable.

State guidance only requires reasonable notice at a reasonable time, a standard the lease itself usually spells out.

Whatever the lease calls reasonable tends to hold up.