New York security deposit return

This is a verified absence, not an oversight: no forwarding-address condition appears anywhere in § § 7-103, 7-107 or 7-108, or in the Attorney General’s own statement of the law. Do not confuse New York with Texas, where the landlord’s duty genuinely is suspended until a written address arrives. In New York the clock runs even if the tenant vanishes. There is a claim circulating online that a missing forwarding address pauses the 14 days; it traces back to a landlord’s own policy document filed as an exhibit in a settlement, not to any law.

The entire amount of the deposit or advance shall be refundable to the tenant upon the tenant’s vacating of the premises except for an amount lawfully retained for the reasonable and itemized costs due to non-payment of rent, damage caused by the tenant beyond normal wear and tear, non-payment of utility charges payable directly to the landlord under the terms of the lease or tenancy, and moving and storage of the tenant’s belongings. The landlord may not retain any amount of the deposit for costs relating to ordinary wear and tear of occupancy or damage caused by a prior tenant.

The list is closed. “Payable directly to the landlord” is a real limit: if the tenant’s unpaid electricity bill was owed to the utility company rather than to you under the lease, it is not deductible. Legal fees are not on the list, and a separate statute independently bars charging a tenant for them without a court order. Cleaning is the one genuinely unresolved case: the closed list omits it, yet the inspection paragraph tells landlords to itemize “repairs or cleaning”, and no court has resolved the tension. The safe course is to charge cleaning only where it is putting right damage beyond normal wear and tear, never as a flat turnover fee. And note what New York does not have: any definition of “normal wear and tear”, statutory or from an appellate court. Anyone offering you a confident rule about faded paint or nail holes is inventing it, including one widely-cited case that does not exist.

No deposit or advance shall exceed the amount of one month’s rent, unless the deposit or advance is for a seasonal use dwelling unit as provided for in subdivisions four and five of this section, or unless the deposit or advance is for an owner-occupied cooperative apartment as provided for in subdivision six of this section.

The cap covers a “deposit or advance”, so last month’s rent taken up front counts against the same one month. On a renewal at a higher rent, the state housing agency says you may collect the difference to bring the deposit up to the new monthly rent.

Landlords can only charge up to one month of rent for a security deposit or "advance payment."

Be clear about what this is. The statute caps a “deposit or advance” and does not contain the words “in the aggregate”, and no court has resolved it, so a landlord could argue each is capped separately. Both state agencies reject that reading, and because the Attorney General is the official who enforces this law, its reading is the one that will be applied to you in practice. Follow it. Separately, a different statute (Real Property Law § 238-a) is the cleaner basis for saying that pet deposits, key money and move-in fees are not allowed.

After initial lease signing but before the tenant begins occupancy, the landlord shall offer the tenant the opportunity to inspect the premises with the landlord or the landlord’s agent to determine the condition of the property. If the tenant requests such inspection, the parties shall execute a written agreement before the tenant begins occupancy of the unit attesting to the condition of the property and specifically noting any existing defects or damages. Upon the tenant’s vacating of the premises, the landlord may not retain any amount of the deposit or advance due to any condition, defect, or damage noted in such agreement. The agreement shall be admissible as evidence of the condition of the premises at the beginning of occupancy only in proceedings related to the return or amount of the security deposit.

Landlords assume that documenting defects protects them. Here it does the opposite: every defect written into a signed move-in agreement is a deduction permanently destroyed, and you can never charge for it at move-out. What the agreement protects is the rest of the unit, because the tenant signed to say it was fine. Most landlords never make the offer at all. Two things the statute simply does not answer: what happens if you cannot agree on the condition report, and whether you can charge for a noted defect that got worse.

Within a reasonable time after notification of either party’s intention to terminate the tenancy, unless the tenant terminates the tenancy with less than two weeks’ notice, the landlord shall notify the tenant in writing of the tenant’s right to request an inspection before vacating the premises and of the tenant’s right to be present at the inspection. If the tenant requests such an inspection, the inspection shall be made no earlier than two weeks and no later than one week before the end of the tenancy. The landlord shall provide at least forty-eight hours written notice of the date and time of the inspection. After the inspection, the landlord shall provide the tenant with an itemized statement specifying repairs or cleaning that are proposed to be the basis of any deductions from the tenant’s deposit. The tenant shall have the opportunity to cure any such condition before the end of the tenancy. Any statement produced pursuant to this paragraph shall only be admissible in proceedings related to the return or amount of the security deposit.

The window is only seven days wide and both edges bind: no earlier than two weeks, no later than one week before the tenancy ends. Landlords instinctively walk through on the last day or when the keys come back, and that is outside the window. The 48-hour notice is a separate requirement, not the window itself: you need both. The trigger includes YOUR OWN non-renewal letter, not just the tenant’s notice. Unlike some states, skipping this inspection does not forfeit the deposit: an appellate court held that only the 14-day rule carries that penalty. But it is not a free pass, because the court expressly left open what other remedies might follow.

In any action or proceeding disputing the amount of any amount of the deposit retained, the landlord shall bear the burden of proof as to the reasonableness of the amount retained.

If the tenant disputes what you kept, you have to justify it; they do not have to disprove it. The statute puts the burden on you as to the reasonableness of the amount retained. Court decisions add that you must also show the damage went beyond ordinary wear and tear and prove the reasonable value of the repairs, though that half rests on lower-court authority, not on the statute. The odd phrasing in the quote above (“the amount of any amount”) is a drafting error in the enacted law, not a typo of ours. We print the statute as the Legislature wrote it.

Any agreement by a lessee or tenant of a dwelling waiving or modifying his rights as set forth in this section shall be absolutely void.

“Absolutely void”, not merely voidable: a signed lease is no defence, and a court applied exactly that to hold a tenant cannot waive the right to a 14-day itemized statement. Worse for you: relying on a void clause is precisely the kind of conduct a court could call willful, which is what unlocks punitive damages.

A dwelling unit shall qualify as a seasonal use dwelling unit for the purpose of paragraph (a) of subdivision one-a of this section if it meets all of the following conditions: (a) The lease expressly provides that: (i) the dwelling unit is registered as a seasonal use dwelling unit, indicating the local or county government agency with which it is registered; (ii) the occupancy of the tenant is only for seasonal use not to exceed one hundred twenty days or a shorter period provided for in the lease; and (iii) such tenant has a primary residence to return to, the address of which is expressly provided in the lease. (b) Such dwelling unit is registered with the appropriate local government or county registry as a seasonal use dwelling as provided for in subdivision five of this section. (c) Such dwelling unit is not rented as a seasonal use dwelling unit for more than one hundred twenty days during each calendar year.

Nearly every landlord blog says seasonal rentals are exempt from the security deposit law. That is false, and the statute says so in terms, twice: the exception is to the CAP alone. A qualifying seasonal rental still owes the 14-day itemized statement and still forfeits the entire deposit if it is late. An appellate court applied the 14-day rule to a two-month summer rental.

In order for a dwelling unit to qualify as a seasonal use dwelling unit for the purpose of paragraph (a) of subdivision one-a of this section, the local government with jurisdiction for building administration over such unit or the county in which such unit is located shall have adopted a seasonal use dwelling unit registry and such unit shall be registered by filing a copy of the seasonal use lease and such additional information as the local government or county that administers such registry may require. Such local government or county shall revoke the seasonal use dwelling unit registration of any dwelling unit that does not adhere to the conditions provided for in subdivision four of this section.

The registry has to exist before your unit can be on it, and most localities have never adopted one, so for most summer rentals the one-month cap simply applies. This is why the question to ask is whether the unit is REGISTERED, not whether it is seasonal.

A dwelling unit shall qualify as an owner-occupied cooperative apartment for the purpose of paragraph (a) of subdivision one-a of this section if it meets all of the following conditions: (a) the tenant is the dwelling unit owner, purchaser or shareholder of such a cooperative housing corporation; (b) such tenant has or will have after purchase exclusive occupancy of such dwelling unit individually and with the permitted occupants pursuant to a proprietary lease or occupancy agreement and established and delimited rights under such lease or agreement; and (c) such dwelling unit is not subject to the provisions of article two, article four, article five, or article eleven of the private housing finance law.

This is narrow. It is not a general “co-ops are exempt” rule: it needs three cumulative conditions and it lifts the cap only. Money that is part of the purchase price of the unit or the shares is not a deposit at all. If you are a shareholder who SUBLETS, our reading is that this does not help you, because it requires the tenant to BE the owner with exclusive occupancy, so the one-month cap should bind the sublease. That reading is untested.

Except in dwelling units subject to the city rent and rehabilitation law or the emergency housing rent control law, continuing care retirement communities licensed pursuant to article forty-six or forty-six-A of the public health law, assisted living providers licensed pursuant to article forty-six-B of the public health law, adult care facilities licensed pursuant to article seven of the social services law, senior residential communities that have submitted an offering plan to the attorney general, or not-for-profit independent retirement communities that offer personal emergency response, housekeeping, transportation and meals to their residents:

Rent control is not rent stabilization, and most guidance online gets this wrong: it says the 2019 reforms cover “rent stabilized and rent controlled” tenancies. They do not. Stabilized units land in § 7-107; rent-controlled units are excepted from this package and were never reached by § 7-107 either, so they get neither 14-day regime. But being excepted from these rules is not the same as being outside the law: § § 7-103 and 7-105 have no exceptions at all, so the trust duty and the rules on selling the building still bind you.

This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to actions and proceedings commenced on or after such effective date; provided, however, that sections three, six and seven shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after this act shall have become a law; provided, further, that section twenty-five of this act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after this act shall have become a law and shall apply to any lease or rental agreement or renewal of a lease or rental agreement entered into on or after such date; and, provided, further, section five of this act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after this act shall have become a law.

The 2019 package is tied to the date the lease was entered into, not to when the tenant moved out. In practice almost every live tenancy today rests on a lease or renewal signed since then. The genuine edge case is an old month-to-month holdover never renewed since before July 14, 2019, and whether a month-to-month continuation counts as a renewal is unsettled.

Whenever a lease of residential property shall provide that in any action or summary proceeding the landlord may recover attorneys’ fees and/or expenses incurred as the result of the failure of the tenant to perform any covenant or agreement contained in such lease, or that amounts paid by the landlord therefor shall be paid by the tenant as additional rent, there shall be implied in such lease a covenant by the landlord to pay to the tenant the reasonable attorneys’ fees and/or expenses incurred by the tenant as the result of the failure of the landlord to perform any covenant or agreement on its part to be performed under the lease or in the successful defense of any action or summary proceeding commenced by the landlord against the tenant arising out of the lease, and an agreement that such fees and expenses may be recovered as provided by law in an action commenced against the landlord or by way of counterclaim in any action or summary proceeding commenced by the landlord against the tenant. A landlord may not recover attorneys’ fees upon a default judgment. Any waiver of this section shall be void as against public policy.

New York follows the American Rule and the deposit statute gives neither side attorney fees. The exposure comes from your own lease: if it lets you recover legal fees from the tenant, § 234 implies the mirror-image right in the tenant’s favour and the waiver of it is void. We say “assume fee exposure” rather than “the statute says they can”, deliberately: § 234 is keyed to breaches of the lease, while the 14-day duty is statutory, and no controlling appellate decision has bridged that gap. Practitioners assume it does. In a fight over a small deposit the fees can dwarf the money.

Whenever the person receiving money so deposited or advanced shall deposit such money in a banking organization, such person shall thereupon notify in writing each of the persons making such security deposit or advance, giving the name and address of the banking organization in which the deposit of security money is made, and the amount of such deposit. Deposits in a banking organization pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision shall be made in a banking organization having a place of business within the state.

The duty is conditional: it only arises if you actually put the money in a bank. Nothing requires a small landlord to use one at all. But if you did, the notice has THREE parts and most landlords give one: the bank’s name, its address, and the amount. The account number is not required, so do not over-share. Skipping the notice is not by itself a forfeiture; courts have called it a technical violation. It is still how most landlords lose these cases, because failing to give it lets a court INFER that you commingled the money and puts the burden on you to prove you did not. One court held that a bank’s stamped name on the back of a cancelled cheque does not count as notice. The bank must also have a place of business in New York; an out-of-state account breaks the rule, though standing alone courts have not treated that as forfeiting the deposit.

Whenever the money so deposited or advanced is for the rental of property containing six or more family dwelling units, the person receiving such money shall, subject to the provisions of this section, deposit it in an interest bearing account in a banking organization within the state which account shall earn interest at a rate which shall be the prevailing rate earned by other such deposits made with banking organizations in such area.

The words are “six or more FAMILY dwelling units”, and there is no definition of that term and no authority on mixed use (say four apartments over two shops) so we ask you rather than computing it. The trap runs the other way too: the interest rules have no building-size limit at all. They trigger on the FACT of an interest-bearing account, so a three-unit landlord who opens one to be generous now owes the tenant that interest. And there is no rate to look up. Several sources claim New York sets a deposit-interest rate annually. It does not: not the Attorney General, not the state housing agency, not the Rent Guidelines Board, not any city. The statute points at what comparable accounts in your area actually earn, which means what your bank actually paid. Ask them.

If the person depositing such security money in a banking organization shall deposit same in an interest bearing account, he shall be entitled to receive, as administration expenses, a sum equivalent to one per cent per annum upon the security money so deposited, which shall be in lieu of all other administrative and custodial expenses. The balance of the interest paid by the banking organization shall be the money of the person making the deposit or advance and shall either be held in trust by the person with whom such deposit or advance shall be made, until repaid or applied for the use or rental of the leased premises, or annually paid to the person making the deposit of security money.

Two things landlords get wrong here, in opposite directions. The fee is 1% of the DEPOSIT ITSELF per year, not 1% of the interest, read it the other way and you will massively under-claim. But it is also “in lieu of all other administrative and custodial expenses”, so you cannot take the 1% and also charge an admin fee. And no interest-bearing account means no fee at all. Where the account earned less than 1% a year, this tool caps your fee at what it actually earned rather than letting it eat into the deposit. That is our reading, and we say so: the question is genuinely open and no court has decided it. We take the cautious side because the error is one-sided, taking less fee than you were entitled to is still lawful, while dipping into the tenant’s principal risks the one duty with a forfeiture behind it.

In the event that a lease terminates other than at the time that a banking organization in such area regularly pays interest, the person depositing such security money shall pay over to his tenant such interest as he is able to collect at the date of such lease termination.

This fires at exactly the moment you are using this tool. You do not wait for the bank’s next interest payment date; you pay over whatever interest is collectible as of the day the lease ended.

Any provision of such a contract or agreement whereby a person who so deposits or advances money waives any provision of this section is absolutely void.

This binds even the landlords the 14-day rules do not reach, because § 7-103 has no exceptions at all. A clause letting you hold the deposit in your operating account is void no matter what kind of housing you rent out.

Any person, firm or corporation and the employers, officers or agents thereof, whether the owner or lessee of the property leased, who or which has or hereafter shall have received from a tenant or licensee a sum of money or any other thing of value as a deposit or advance of rental as security for the full performance by such tenant or licensee of the terms of his lease or license agreement, or who or which has or shall have received the same from a former owner or lessee, shall, upon conveying such property or assigning his or its lease to another, or upon the judicial appointment and qualifying of a receiver in an action to foreclose a mortgage or other lien of record affecting the property leased, or upon the conveyance of such property to another person, firm or corporation by a referee in an action to foreclose a mortgage or other lien of record affecting the property leased if a receiver shall not have been appointed and qualified in such action, at the time of the delivery of the deed or instrument or assignment or within five days thereafter, or within five days after the receiver shall have qualified, deal with the security deposit as follows: Turn over to his or its grantee or assignee, or to the receiver in the foreclosure action, or to the purchaser at the foreclosure sale if a receiver shall not have been appointed and qualified the sum so deposited, and notify the tenant or licensee by registered or certified mail of such turning over and the name and address of such grantee, assignee, purchaser or receiver.

Two things sellers get wrong. A credit on the closing statement is NOT a turn-over: deals routinely credit the buyer instead of moving the money, and the statute only releases a seller who actually turns the deposit over. And the notice must go by registered or certified mail, email, a portal message, a note under the door and ordinary first-class mail all fail. Most landlords get the money right and blow the notice. The five days run from delivery of the deed, not from whenever is convenient after closing. Note also that the Attorney General’s guidance says a seller may transfer the deposits OR return them to the tenants; we could not find any basis for the second option in the statute, which prescribes exactly one.

In circumstances where any sum of money or any other thing of value deposited as security for the full performance by a tenant of the terms of his lease is not turned over to a successor in interest pursuant to section 7-105 of this chapter, the grantee or assignee of the leased premises shall also be liable to such tenant, upon conveyance of such leased premises, for the repayment of any such security deposit, plus accrued interest, as to which such grantee or assignee has actual knowledge.

The “actual knowledge” limit protects buyers far less than it sounds, because simply reading the leases before closing is usually enough to create that knowledge, and buyers always read the leases. So a buyer can be liable for a deposit it never received. This applies to residential premises only: on a commercial building sale the seller still owes the turn-over and the certified-mail notice, but this buyer-liability rule does not apply.

If it appears to the attorney general that any person, association, or corporation has violated or is violating any of the provisions of this title, an action or proceeding may be instituted by the attorney general in the name of the people of the state of New York to compel compliance with such provisions and enjoin any violation or threatened violation thereof. In connection with the institution of any such action or proceeding, the attorney general is authorized to take proof and make a determination of the relevant facts and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules. If in such action or proceeding, the court finds that a respondent has committed such violation the court in its discretion may award to the attorney general a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars with respect to each such respondent as costs of investigation.

The $2,000 is the Attorney General’s costs of investigation. It is not a fine ceiling and not a cap on damages: it does not limit what the tenant can recover, does not cap restitution, and does not limit an injunction. Reading it as “the worst that happens is a $2,000 fine” badly understates the exposure.

This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law and shall apply to any lease or rental agreement or renewal of a lease or rental agreement entered into on or after such date.

Ask yourself when the lease or renewal was actually signed. If it predates November 15, 2025, nobody can tell you yet whether these rules cover a tenant who moves out afterwards: no court, no agency has said. Look at the two sides of that uncertainty: over-complying costs you nothing, while under-complying forfeits the entire deposit. Comply with the 14-day rule either way. One case we genuinely cannot answer: a renewal offer SIGNED before November 15, 2025 for a term STARTING after it. Stabilized renewals go out months ahead, so this affects a lot of tenancies. “Entered into” most naturally means signed, but that is our reading and it is untested.

This section shall apply only to dwelling units subject to the New York city rent stabilization law of nineteen hundred sixty-nine or the emergency tenant protection act of nineteen seventy-four.

Rent stabilization is not New York City only. The Emergency Tenant Protection Act has always reached Nassau, Westchester and Rockland, and since 2019 any municipality may opt in after declaring a housing emergency, Kingston and Newburgh among them. A stabilized landlord in Yonkers, White Plains, Hempstead or Kingston is squarely inside this section. Beware of stale sources: some legal websites still serve the repealed 1984 version of § 7-107, so anyone checking us against them may try to “correct” us back to dead text.

No deposit or advance shall exceed the amount of one month’s rent, under any contract for the lease or tenancy of a dwelling unit subject to this section.

No exceptions at all. The seasonal-use and owner-occupied co-op exceptions that exist for other rentals do not apply here.

The entire amount of the deposit or advance, shall be refundable to the tenant upon the tenant’s vacating of the premises except for an amount lawfully retained for the reasonable and itemized costs due to non-payment of rent, damage caused by the tenant beyond normal wear and tear, non-payment of utility charges payable directly to the landlord under the terms of the lease or tenancy, and moving and storage of the tenant’s belongings. The landlord may not retain any amount of the deposit for costs relating to ordinary wear and tear of occupancy or damage caused by a prior tenant.

The same closed list of four as everywhere else in New York, and the same absence of any definition of “normal wear and tear”.

After initial lease signing but before the tenant begins occupancy, the landlord shall offer the tenant the opportunity to inspect the premises with the landlord or the landlord’s agent to determine the condition of the property. If the tenant requests such inspection, the parties shall execute a written agreement before the tenant begins occupancy of the unit attesting to the condition of the property and specifically noting any existing defects or damages. Upon the tenant’s vacating of the premises, the landlord may not retain any amount of the deposit or advance due to any condition, defect, or damage noted in such agreement. The agreement shall be admissible as evidence of the condition of the premises at the beginning of occupancy only in proceedings related to the return or amount of the security deposit.

Within a reasonable time after notification of either party’s intention to terminate the tenancy, unless the tenant terminates the tenancy with less than two weeks’ notice, the landlord shall notify the tenant in writing of the tenant’s right to request an inspection before vacating the premises and of the tenant’s right to be present at the inspection. If the tenant requests such an inspection, the inspection shall be made no earlier than two weeks and no later than one week before the end of the tenancy. The landlord shall provide at least forty-eight hours written notice of the date and time of the inspection. After the inspection, the landlord shall provide the tenant with an itemized statement specifying repairs or cleaning that are proposed to be the basis of any deductions from the tenant’s deposit. The tenant shall have the opportunity to cure any such condition before the end of the tenancy. Any statement produced pursuant to this subdivision shall only be admissible in proceedings related to the return or amount of the security deposit.

The same seven-day-wide window and the same 48-hour notice as for other rentals. But be careful about relying on decisions interpreting the other statute: no court has construed any of § 7-107 yet, and the damages provision here is worded more broadly, so the argument for a remedy is if anything stronger.

In any action or proceeding disputing the amount of any portion of the deposit retained, the landlord shall bear the burden of proof as to the reasonableness of the amount retained.

If the tenant disputes what you kept, you must justify it.

In circumstances where any sum of money or any other thing of value deposited as security for the full performance by a tenant of the terms of their lease is not turned over to a successor in interest pursuant to section 7-105 of this title, the grantee or assignee of the leased premises shall also be liable to such tenant, upon conveyance of such leased premises, for the repayment of any such security deposit, plus accrued interest, as to which such grantee or assignee has actual knowledge.

This is a real narrowing of buyer liability that almost nobody has noticed. The 2025 act DELETED the old rule that made a purchaser of a stabilized building liable whether or not they ever received the deposit. Two cautions. The Attorney General’s website still recites the old strict rule, so people relying on it may be applying law that no longer governs their lease. And for a lease entered into BEFORE November 15, 2025 there is a genuine gap: the old rule was deleted from the books, yet the new one does not reach older leases. If you are buying, assume the old strict rule still applies to those.

Any agreement by a lessee or tenant of a dwelling waiving or modifying their rights as set forth in this section shall be absolutely void.

Absolutely void, not merely voidable. Signing it changes nothing.

Stricter than the deposit statute: a rent-stabilized deposit needs an interest-bearing New York account however small the building, with no six-unit threshold. Note also that the state housing agency’s Fact Sheet #9, which gives the tenant a choice of three ways to take the interest, describes THIS regime, not the rules for ordinary rentals, where the statute gives only two options and does not give the tenant the choice.