{ "meta": { "name": "Deposit Record ruleset: New York", "description": "The verified New York security-deposit rules that https://deposit.orygn.tech/new-york is built from: each rule as a machine payload, its plain-English summary, its exact citation, the verbatim text of its source where quoted (sourceType says when that is not statute text), the official source URL it was verified against, and the date a human last checked it.", "state": "NY", "page": "https://deposit.orygn.tech/new-york", "dataUrl": "https://deposit.orygn.tech/data/new-york.json", "lastReviewed": "2026-07-11", "citeAs": "Deposit Record, New York Security Deposit Return (verified July 11, 2026), https://deposit.orygn.tech/new-york", "publisher": { "name": "Orygn LLC", "url": "https://orygn.tech/" }, "license": "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): free to reuse and quote with attribution to Deposit Record and a link to the page. The statutes themselves are public law.", "disclaimer": "General information, not legal advice. Every rule cites the source it was verified against; rely on the source, and on a lawyer for your situation.", "fields": { "summary": "plain-English statement of the rule, as rendered on the page", "value": "the machine payload the calculator uses (days, triggers, caps, multipliers); its keys are named for what they hold and explained by the summary", "citation": "exact pin-cite for the rule: a statute, an enacting act, a case or agency guidance (see sourceType)", "statuteQuote": "verbatim text quoted from the document at sourceUrl. Despite the name, not every quote is statute text: sourceType says what it is. An automated weekly check compares each quote with its source.", "statuteQuoteCitation": "pin-cite for statuteQuote alone, when the quote is narrower than the rule's citation", "sourceType": "what statuteQuote is. Absent or 'codified': codified statute text. 'session-law': a clause of the enacting act that was never codified. 'case': a court's words. 'agency': an agency's reading of the statute, which shows how the law is enforced in practice but is not what the statute says.", "sourceUrl": "the official source the rule was verified against, and where its quote is found. Some official hosts block automated clients.", "readableUrl": "an unofficial, easier-to-read copy of the same text, for people; rely on sourceUrl", "derivation": "'verbatim' for a literal statutory rule; 'synthesized' for our reading across sections, which the page labels as our interpretation. Absent means the rule is not labelled either way.", "effectiveDate": "when the rule's current text took effect, recorded as provenance. Read effectiveDateIsFloor before using it.", "effectiveDateIsFloor": "true means effectiveDate is only the earliest date we could prove this text was already in force. The real effective date is earlier and unverified, so do not present it as 'effective '.", "lastVerified": "the date a human last checked this rule against sourceUrl", "confidence": "'high', 'medium' or 'low': our confidence in the rule as stated", "amendedBy": "the most recent notable amending act", "notes": "traps and edge cases, as rendered on the page" }, "stateFields": { "stateCode": "two-letter state code", "stateName": "state name", "slug": "the state page is https://deposit.orygn.tech/{slug}", "lastReviewed": "when a human last reviewed this ruleset as a whole. Single rules are re-verified between reviews, so a rule's lastVerified can be later.", "summary": "plain-English summary of the state's return rules, as on the page", "letterFooter": "the source line printed at the foot of the generated letter", "cities": "city-level records; see meta.cityFields", "localLaw": "the state's position on local deposit rules. preempted is true only where a statute forecloses them, and citation then carries it; summary says what we have and have not read.", "sources": "the primary sources the page is built on", "pendingLegislation": "law signed but not yet in force (status 'enacted-not-in-force') or a bill a reader deciding today should know about ('pending'). The rule objects describe the law as it stands; this is the one forward-looking field. citySlug is set when the act is a city ordinance.", "stabilized": "New York only: the separate Gen. Oblig. Law 7-107 rules for rent-stabilized units, which reach leases entered into on or after appliesToLeasesFromISO. Each member that has a citation is a rule object." }, "cityFields": { "city": "city name", "citySlug": "stable machine key for the city", "applies": "true if the city adds a rule on top of state law. false is an explicit record that we found no city rule, and only for the kinds of rule listed in checkedFor.", "summary": "plain-English statement of the city rule, as rendered on the page", "coverageQuestion": "asked before any city math: whether the ordinance covers this rental at all. Absent means it applies citywide.", "interest": "the city deposit-interest rule and its rate data (machine payload)", "cap": "a city ceiling on the deposit. Absent means not recorded, which is not the same as none: see checkedFor.", "checkedFor": "the kinds of deposit rule we actually searched for in this city ('interest', 'cap', 'deadline', 'itemization'). A row says nothing about kinds it does not list.", "citation": "exact pin-cite for the city rule", "sourceUrl": "the official source the city rule was verified against", "lastVerified": "the date a human last checked this city rule against sourceUrl", "confidence": "'high', 'medium' or 'low': our confidence in the city rule as stated", "notes": "what to re-check and where the rule stops, as rendered on the page" }, "schema": "Every published key is described here: meta.fields for rule objects, meta.stateFields for the other keys of rules, meta.cityFields for each entry of rules.cities. Every key of rules not in meta.stateFields is one rule object, named for what it governs (deadline, cap, penalty and so on).", "version": "465c340", "dataHash": "8733656367ba8916", "about": "version is the git commit these files were built from, ending in -dirty if the tree had uncommitted changes. dataHash is a fingerprint of a state's rules object and changes when, and only when, that object changes: poll it, not version or lastReviewed, to detect new data." }, "rules": { "stateCode": "NY", "stateName": "New York", "slug": "new-york", "lastReviewed": "2026-07-11", "summary": "New York gives a landlord fourteen days after the tenant moves out to send an itemized statement AND return the rest of the deposit. Miss it and the landlord forfeits every dollar, including money genuinely owed for unpaid rent and real damage. The clock starts when the tenant actually vacates, not when the lease ends, and there is no forwarding-address excuse for sitting on the money. Deposits are capped at one month, only four kinds of deduction are allowed, and the deposit is the tenant’s money held in trust: mixing it with your own funds forfeits it a second, separate way.", "letterFooter": { "label": "New York General Obligations Law §§ 7-103 and 7-108", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108" }, "deadline": { "summary": "Within 14 calendar days after the tenant vacates, the landlord must give the tenant an itemized statement AND return whatever is left of the deposit. Both, within the same 14 days. The clock starts on the day the tenant actually moved out, not on the day the lease ended.", "value": { "days": 14, "dayType": "calendar", "triggerBasis": "single", "triggerEvents": [ "vacate" ], "suspendUntilForwardingAddress": false, "rollsForwardOnHolidays": false, "complianceRequires": [ "itemized-statement", "deposit-balance" ] }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e)", "statuteQuote": "Within fourteen days after the tenant has vacated the premises, the landlord shall provide the tenant with an itemized statement indicating the basis for the amount of the deposit retained, if any, and shall return any remaining portion of the deposit to the tenant. If a landlord fails to provide the tenant with the statement and deposit within fourteen days, the landlord shall forfeit any right to retain any portion of the deposit.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25; paragraph (e) not subsequently amended", "notes": "The clock starts on the day the tenant actually vacated. If your tenant left on the 10th of a month whose lease ran to the 30th, your clock started on the 10th, and a landlord who diaries off the lease-end date has already forfeited. The day they moved out is not counted, so a July 24 move-out means the statement is due August 7. Weekends and holidays inside the fourteen days ARE counted, and there is no reliable extension if day 14 lands on a weekend, so treat the strict date as the real one. One more thing landlords miss: the statute says only that you must “provide” the statement and the money, with no postmark rule. Whether posting on day 13 counts when the letter lands on day 16 has never been decided, and the risk is yours. Send early." }, "forwardingAddress": { "summary": "New York has NO forwarding-address rule. The 14-day clock runs from the day the tenant vacated whether or not the landlord knows where the tenant went, and whether or not the tenant ever asks for the money. A lease clause that conditions the refund on a forwarding address is void.", "value": { "required": false, "mustBeWritten": false, "suspendsObligation": false, "forfeitsRightIfNotProvided": false }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law §§ 7-103, 7-107, 7-108 (no such condition appears in any of them)", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "synthesized", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "itemization": { "summary": "The landlord must give the tenant a written itemized statement showing the basis for anything kept out of the deposit. It has to go out within the same 14 days as the money.", "value": { "required": true, "mustBeWritten": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e)", "statuteQuote": "Within fourteen days after the tenant has vacated the premises, the landlord shall provide the tenant with an itemized statement indicating the basis for the amount of the deposit retained, if any, and shall return any remaining portion of the deposit to the tenant.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "The statement must be in writing, though that rests on trial-court decisions rather than a settled appellate rule. The statute prescribes no delivery method at all: no certified mail, no email rule, nothing. Do not confuse this statement with the different one produced by a pre-move-out inspection, which lists PROPOSED deductions so the tenant can fix them. One does not discharge the other, and only missing this one forfeits the deposit." }, "deductions": { "summary": "New York allows exactly four deductions and nothing else: unpaid rent, damage the tenant caused beyond normal wear and tear, unpaid utility charges the lease makes payable directly to the landlord, and moving and storing the tenant’s belongings. Everything must be reasonable and itemized. Turnover and administrative fees, legal fees, repainting for wear and a prior tenant’s damage are all off the list. Cleaning is the one genuinely unresolved case: the closed list omits it, the inspection paragraph mentions it, and no court has resolved the tension.", "value": { "allowed": [ "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", "moving and storage of the tenant’s belongings" ], "disallowed": [ "ordinary wear and tear of occupancy", "damage caused by a prior tenant", "flat cleaning fees, turnover fees and administrative fees", "repainting or carpet replacement for wear", "legal fees", "utility bills the tenant owed to a utility company rather than to the landlord", "anything noted in a signed move-in condition agreement" ], "documentationThresholdUsd": null, "photosRequiredWhenDeducting": false }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(b)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "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." }, "interest": { "summary": "New York does not require interest on every deposit. It is mandatory only for buildings with six or more family dwelling units. But there is a trap in the other direction: a landlord of ANY size who chooses to put the deposit in an interest-bearing account now owes the tenant that interest, less a 1% fee. The rate is whatever the account actually earned, New York publishes no rate anywhere.", "value": { "required": false, "mandatoryAtFamilyUnitCount": 6, "triggeredByInterestBearingAccount": true, "rateSource": "landlord-actual-bank-rate" }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-103(2-a)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-103", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "cap": { "summary": "A deposit may not exceed one month’s rent. The statute caps a \"deposit or advance,\" so last month’s rent taken up front counts against the same one month. Two narrow exceptions lift the cap: a REGISTERED seasonal-use unit, and an owner-occupied co-op.", "value": { "hasCap": true, "capMonths": 1, "notes": "The two exceptions lift the CAP ONLY. A qualifying seasonal rental or owner-occupied co-op still owes the 14-day statement and still forfeits the entire deposit if it is late." }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(a)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25; seasonal-use exception added by L.2021 c.428 and narrowed by L.2022 c.111; co-op exception added by L.2021 c.789 and renumbered to subdivision 6 by L.2022 c.93", "notes": "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." }, "penalty": { "summary": "Two very different consequences, and they must not be confused. Missing the 14-day deadline forfeits the deposit AUTOMATICALLY, whether or not the landlord meant any harm. Punitive damages of up to twice the deposit are NOT automatic: they require a court to find the violation WILLFUL, and even then the award is discretionary and capped at \"up to\" twice.", "value": { "standard": "mixed", "badFaithFlatUsd": null, "multiplier": 2, "multiplierBase": "whole-deposit", "multiplierIsDiscretionaryCeiling": true, "attorneyFees": false, "forfeitureForFailureToItemize": true, "deadlinePresumptionDays": null, "burdenOnLandlord": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(g)", "statuteQuote": "Any person who violates the provisions of this subdivision shall be liable for actual damages, provided a person found to have willfully violated this subdivision shall be liable for punitive damages of up to twice the amount of the deposit or advance.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "Punitive damages are measured against the WHOLE deposit, not the disputed slice: wrongly keeping $200 of a $3,000 deposit exposes you to up to $6,000, on top of actual damages. But do not let anyone tell you a late landlord simply “owes 2x”. It requires a court to find the violation willful, the award is discretionary, and in one case where a court DID find willfulness it awarded half the deposit, reasoning that a landlord who at least phoned the tenant was less culpable than one who said nothing. What “willful” means is genuinely unsettled: there is no binding definition, and the trial courts contradict each other: one found an attorney-landlord willful for taking an unreasonable legal position, another declined to find a real-estate broker willful even though she admitted she did not know the law." }, "mailboxRule": { "summary": "New York has no mailbox rule for the deposit statement. Nothing in the statute says a letter counts as \"provided\" on the day it is mailed, so a landlord who posts it on day 13 and whose letter arrives on day 16 has no safe harbour.", "value": { "applies": false }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e)", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "synthesized", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "Because there is no postmark rule, a letter posted on day 13 that arrives on day 16 has no safe harbour. No case has decided whether “provide” means sent or received, so the risk sits with you. Build in a buffer instead of aiming at day 14." }, "scope": { "summary": "Section 7-108 reaches every residential dwelling unit in New York, with no minimum building size and no requirement that the lease be in writing, unless the unit is rent stabilized (those are governed by § 7-107 instead).", "value": { "residentialOnly": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1)", "statuteQuote": "This section shall apply to all dwelling units in residential premises, unless such dwelling unit is specifically referred to in section 7-107 of this title.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "Section 7-108 reaches small landlords, oral leases and month-to-month tenancies alike. There is no minimum building size and no requirement that the lease be in writing." }, "depositDefinition": { "summary": "New York does not allow a pet deposit, key money, a move-in fee, or any other charge taken before or at the start of the tenancy. The only extra a landlord may charge is a background or credit check fee, capped by statute. If you took a pet deposit, it is not a lawful extra: it counts as part of the one deposit the law allows, and the safe course is to give it back.", "value": { "petDepositCounts": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(1)(a)", "statuteQuote": "Except in instances where statutes or regulations provide for a payment, fee or charge, no landlord, lessor, sub-lessor or grantor may demand any payment, fee, or charge for the processing, review or acceptance of an application, or demand any other payment, fee or charge before or at the beginning of the tenancy, except background checks and credit checks as provided by paragraph (b) of this subdivision", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/238-a", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 10", "notes": "This is the cleaner basis for the rule than the deposit cap is. A pet deposit is a charge demanded at the beginning of the tenancy, and the statute permits only one exception: a background or credit check fee. Note the carve-out at the end of the subdivision, which matches the housing types this tool does not cover, continuing care, assisted living, adult care and senior communities may charge entrance fees. Separately, the deposit cap itself covers a \"deposit or advance\", so money labelled a pet deposit counts against the same one month either way." }, "ownershipChange": { "summary": "A landlord who actually turns the deposit over to the buyer is released from liability to the tenant, and the buyer becomes responsible for returning it. That release depends on really transferring the money, not on crediting it at closing.", "value": { "liabilityShiftsToNewOwner": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-105(2)", "statuteQuote": "Any owner or lessee turning over to his or its grantee, assignee, to a purchaser of the leased premises at a foreclosure sale, or to the receiver in the foreclosure action the amount of such security deposit is hereby relieved of and from liability to the tenant or licensee for the repayment thereof; and the transferee of such security deposit is hereby made responsible for the return thereof to the tenant or licensee, unless he or it shall thereafter and before the expiration of the term of the tenant’s lease or licensee’s agreement, transfer such security deposit to another, pursuant to subdivision one hereof and give the requisite notice in connection therewith as provided thereby. A receiver shall hold the security subject to such disposition thereof as shall be provided in an order of the court to be made and entered in the foreclosure action. The provisions of this section shall not apply if the agreement between the landlord and tenant or licensee is inconsistent herewith.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-105", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "The release depends on really transferring the money, not on crediting it at closing. Note the last sentence: this section yields to an inconsistent agreement between landlord and tenant, but that escape hatch does not travel to § 7-108, where waivers are absolutely void. So a lease clause cannot buy a buyer out of successor liability." }, "inspection": { "summary": "Once EITHER party gives notice of ending the tenancy (including the landlord’s own non-renewal letter) the landlord must tell the tenant in writing that they may request a walk-through before moving out and may be present for it. If the tenant asks, it must happen no earlier than two weeks and no later than one week before the tenancy ends, with at least 48 hours’ written notice. Afterwards the landlord gives an itemized list of PROPOSED deductions and the tenant gets a chance to fix them.", "value": { "noticeHours": 48, "earliestDaysBeforeEnd": 14, "latestDaysBeforeEnd": 7, "barsUnlistedDeductions": false }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(d)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "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." }, "heldForTenant": { "summary": "The deposit is the TENANT’S money, not the landlord’s. The landlord holds it in trust. It may not be mixed with the landlord’s own money (not a personal account, not the general operating account) and it never becomes an asset of the landlord. There is no small-landlord exemption and no building-size floor.", "value": { "priorityOverCreditors": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-103(1)", "statuteQuote": "Whenever money shall be deposited or advanced on a contract or license agreement for the use or rental of real property as security for performance of the contract or agreement or to be applied to payments upon such contract or agreement when due, such money, with interest accruing thereon, if any, until repaid or so applied, shall continue to be the money of the person making such deposit or advance and shall be held in trust by the person with whom such deposit or advance shall be made and shall not be mingled with the personal moneys or become an asset of the person receiving the same, but may be disposed of as provided in section 7-105 of this chapter.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-103", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "“My building has fewer than six units, so this does not apply to me” is one of the most common New York landlord beliefs, and it is false. The six-unit threshold governs only whether an interest-bearing account is mandatory. It does not limit the trust duty. A landlord with one rented condo who parks the deposit in a personal checking account has commingled. The duty also reaches prepaid rent, not just the deposit: segregating the deposit while banking last month’s rent in the operating account is still commingling." }, "noWaiver": { "summary": "A lease cannot contract around any of this. A non-refundable cleaning fee clause, a waiver of the inspection, a waiver of interest, a clause letting the landlord hold the deposit in a general operating account, a clause conditioning the refund on a forwarding address: all absolutely void.", "value": { "waiverVoid": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(3)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "“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." }, "regulatoryExclusions": { "summary": "Rent-controlled units and five institutional categories are cut out of the entire § 7-108(1-a) package: no one-month cap, no closed deduction list, no inspections, no 14-day rule, no forfeiture, no punitive damages. This tool does not cover them. It still tells them about the trust duty and the rules on selling the building, because those bind everyone.", "value": { "refused": [ "rent-controlled", "institutional" ], "trustAndSaleDutiesStillApply": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a) (opening language)", "statuteQuote": "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:", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "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." }, "leaseDateGate": { "summary": "The 2019 package applies only to leases, rental agreements and renewals entered into on or after July 14, 2019. It is gated on the lease date, not on the move-out date.", "value": { "appliesToLeasesFromISO": "2019-07-14" }, "citation": "L.2019, c.36 (HSTPA), Part M, § 29", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/S6458", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "session-law", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "seasonalUse": { "summary": "A seasonal rental may take more than one month’s rent, but only if it meets every condition: the lease says so, the unit is actually registered, the tenant has a primary residence to return to, and it is not rented as a seasonal unit for more than 120 days a year. This lifts the CAP and nothing else.", "value": { "capExceptionOnly": true, "maxDaysPerCalendarYear": 120 }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(4)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2021-09-20", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2021 c.428; narrowed by L.2022 c.111, which struck the state-level registry option", "notes": "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." }, "seasonalRegistry": { "summary": "The seasonal exception is mostly a mirage. It requires the town or county to have ACTUALLY ADOPTED a seasonal-use registry AND the unit to be registered on it. No registry means no exception, no matter what the lease says. A landlord cannot self-certify.", "value": { "localOrCountyRegistryRequired": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(5)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2021-09-20", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2021 c.428; amended by L.2022 c.111 (struck the state-level registry option, leaving only local-government and county registries)", "notes": "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." }, "ownerOccupiedCoop": { "summary": "An owner-occupied cooperative apartment may take more than one month’s rent. This is narrow: it is not a general \"co-ops are exempt\" rule, it requires 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 or advance\" in the first place.", "value": { "capExceptionOnly": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(6)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2021-12-22", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2021 c.789 (enacted as subdivision FOUR); renumbered to subdivision SIX and given its final purchase-price sentence by L.2022 c.93", "notes": "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." }, "aggregateCap": { "summary": "Do not take \"first, last and security.\" The Attorney General and NYS Homes and Community Renewal both read the one-month ceiling as all-in: if you are taking a security deposit, you may not also charge last month’s rent up front. Follow that. But be clear about what it is: it is how the agencies read the statute, not something the statute says.", "value": { "agencyReadingIsAllIn": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Att’y Gen., Changes in New York State Rent Law (HSTPA guidance); NYS HCR Fact Sheet #9", "statuteQuote": "Landlords can only charge up to one month of rent for a security deposit or \"advance payment.\"", "sourceUrl": "https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/changes-in-nys-rent-law.pdf", "derivation": "synthesized", "sourceType": "agency", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "medium", "notes": "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." }, "moveInInspection": { "summary": "After the lease is signed but before the tenant moves in, the landlord MUST OFFER a walk-through. Taking it is the tenant’s choice; making the offer is the landlord’s obligation. If the tenant accepts, both sign a written condition agreement, and anything written into it can never be deducted from the deposit at move-out.", "value": { "offerRequired": true, "inspectionIsTenantsOption": true, "notedDefectsPermanentlyUndeductible": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(c)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "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." }, "burdenOfProof": { "summary": "If the tenant disputes what the landlord kept, the LANDLORD must prove the amount kept was reasonable. The tenant does not have to prove the landlord was wrong.", "value": { "onLandlord": true, "statutoryScope": "reasonableness-of-amount-retained" }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(f)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "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." }, "depositForfeiture": { "summary": "A landlord who is even one day late loses the right to keep ANY part of the deposit. Not a portion of it. All of it, including money genuinely owed for unpaid rent and real damage. There is no good-faith exception, and paying the money back late does not undo it.", "value": { "forfeitsEntireDeposit": true, "goodFaithEscape": false, "curedByLateReturn": false }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e)", "statuteQuote": "If a landlord fails to provide the tenant with the statement and deposit within fourteen days, the landlord shall forfeit any right to retain any portion of the deposit.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA) Part M § 25", "notes": "Forfeiture is total, not proportional: the words are “any portion”. One court case involved a landlord who returned most of the deposit WITH a written breakdown and was only late, she still forfeited the part she had kept. Her explanation, that she did not have the tenant’s forwarding address, spared her punitive damages but did not spare her the forfeiture. Note also that the deadline covers the statement AND the money: a perfect itemization on day 12 with a cheque posted on day 18 is a forfeiture on the face of the text. And one thing nobody can tell you yet: whether missing the fourteen days ALSO destroys your separate claim for rent or damage beyond the deposit. The Appellate Term expressly refused to decide it and no Appellate Division has. Do not assume the answer is the same as it is for commingling, where the landlord’s separate claim does survive." }, "commingling": { "summary": "This is the second forfeiture, and it is the one nobody sees coming. A landlord can send a perfect itemized statement inside the 14 days and STILL lose the entire deposit for having mixed it with their own money. It applies even if the TENANT breached the lease first, and nothing about 14-day compliance cures it.", "value": { "forfeitsEntireDeposit": true, "survivesTenantBreach": true, "curedBy14DayCompliance": false, "reachesAdvanceRent": true }, "citation": "Paterno v. Carroll, 75 A.D.3d 625, 626 (2d Dep’t 2010); see also LeRoy v. Sayers, 217 A.D.2d 63 (1st Dep’t 1995)", "statuteQuote": "As a result of such commingling, Paterno forfeited his right to avail himself of the deposit for any purpose, and the Carrolls have an immediate right to return of the funds notwithstanding that they may have breached the lease", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2010/2010_06234.htm", "derivation": "synthesized", "sourceType": "case", "effectiveDate": "2010-07-27", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "This is the exposure New York landlords never see coming, and it is why a tool that only checks the 14-day clock is missing half the picture. It is not written on the face of the statute: it is how New York courts have construed the trust duty, and it is binding in both the First and Second Departments. In one case a landlord had to return $63,500: a $13,500 deposit plus $50,000 of prepaid rent. In another, the landlord swore the money sat in a special account he kept exclusively for the property, and still lost, because that did not establish the account held no other funds. One consolation: forfeiting the deposit is not the same as losing the case. The courts have been clear that a commingling violation does not wipe out the tenant’s obligation to pay rent, your separate claim survives. Landlords think they are wiped out and tenants think they have won a windfall, and both are wrong. But do not carry that consolation across to the 14-day rule. Whether missing the fourteen days ALSO destroys your separate claim for rent or damage beyond the deposit is genuinely unresolved: the Appellate Term expressly refused to decide it and no Appellate Division has. Nobody can tell you the answer, and it is not safe to assume the two forfeitures work alike." }, "trustNoWaiver": { "summary": "No lease can waive the trust duty. A clause letting the landlord hold the deposit in a general operating account, or waiving the tenant’s right to interest, is absolutely void, and this binds every landlord in New York, including the ones outside the 14-day rule.", "value": { "waiverVoid": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-103(3)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-103", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "bankNotice": { "summary": "IF the landlord puts the deposit in a bank, the landlord must then tell the tenant in writing: the bank’s NAME, the bank’s ADDRESS, and the AMOUNT. The bank must have a place of business in New York State. Skipping this notice does not by itself forfeit the deposit, but it is how most landlords lose these cases.", "value": { "onlyIfDepositedInBank": true, "requiredElements": [ "the name of the banking organization", "its address", "the amount of the deposit" ], "bankMustHaveNewYorkPlaceOfBusiness": true, "standaloneForfeiture": false, "raisesComminglingInference": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-103(2)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-103", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "interestAdminFee": { "summary": "A landlord who used an interest-bearing account may keep, as an administration fee, 1% per year OF THE DEPOSIT ITSELF, not 1% of the interest. The rest of the interest belongs to the tenant. That 1% is instead of every other administrative or custodial charge, so a landlord cannot take it and also charge an admin fee. No interest-bearing account means no 1% fee.", "value": { "percentPerYear": 1, "base": "principal", "inLieuOfAllOtherAdminCharges": true, "cappedAtInterestEarned": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-103(2)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-103", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "medium", "notes": "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." }, "interestOnTermination": { "summary": "If the lease ends at a time other than when the bank normally pays interest, the landlord does not wait for the next interest cycle. They pay over whatever interest is collectible as of the termination date.", "value": { "payWhatIsCollectibleAtTermination": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-103(2-b)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-103", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "saleTransfer": { "summary": "Sell the building (or assign the lease) and the landlord must TURN THE DEPOSIT OVER to the buyer within FIVE DAYS of delivery of the deed, and notify the tenant BY REGISTERED OR CERTIFIED MAIL of the transfer and the buyer’s name and address. This binds every landlord, including the ones this tool cannot otherwise answer for, and it reaches commercial property too.", "value": { "days": 5, "tenantNoticeMethod": "registered-or-certified-mail", "returnToTenantIsAnOption": false }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-105(1)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-105", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "saleTransferIsCrime": { "summary": "Failing to comply with the rules on transferring a deposit when the property is sold is a MISDEMEANOR. Not a fine. A crime.", "value": { "misdemeanor": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-105(3)", "statuteQuote": "Any failure to comply with this section is a misdemeanor.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-105", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "That is the entire provision, quoted in full. It is worth saying plainly: landlords selling a building routinely treat handing over the deposits as a bookkeeping detail, and it is the one duty here that carries criminal exposure." }, "successorLiability": { "summary": "If the deposit was never turned over, the BUYER can still be liable to the tenant for it, but only for deposits the buyer has \"actual knowledge\" of. In practice that limit protects buyers far less than it sounds, because reading the leases is enough to create the knowledge.", "value": { "actualKnowledgeRequired": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(2)(a)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2019-07-14", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "agEnforcement": { "summary": "The Attorney General can sue to force compliance with any part of the deposit law and to stop violations, and a court may award the AG up to $2,000 per respondent as costs of investigation.", "value": { "investigationCostsCapUsd": 2000 }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-109", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-109", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "attorneyFees": { "summary": "The deposit statute gives neither side attorney fees. But if your own lease lets you recover legal fees from the tenant, Real Property Law § 234 implies the mirror-image right in the tenant’s favour, and it cannot be waived. Whether that right reaches a purely statutory deposit claim has never been decided by a controlling appellate court, so this is our reading, not something the statute says. Assume fee exposure: in a fight over a small deposit the fees can dwarf the money.", "value": { "underDepositStatute": false, "impliedFromLandlordSideLeaseClause": true, "reachesStatutoryDepositClaim": "our-reading-unsettled" }, "citation": "N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 234(1)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/234", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2014-09-22", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "medium", "notes": "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." }, "stabilized": { "appliesToLeasesFromISO": "2025-11-15", "applicability": { "summary": "The rent-stabilized package applies only to leases, rental agreements and renewals entered into on or after November 15, 2025. This is decisive and nearly every competitor gets it wrong: a stabilized tenant vacating in 2026 on an older lease is not covered by the new 14-day rule.", "value": { "appliesToLeasesFromISO": "2025-11-15" }, "citation": "L.2025, c.436 (S952-B), § 2", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S952", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "session-law", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "notes": "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." }, "scope": { "summary": "These rules apply to units covered by the New York City Rent Stabilization Law of 1969 or the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974. The ETPA is NOT New York City only.", "value": { "includesEtpaOutsideNyc": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(1)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "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. A stabilized landlord in Yonkers, White Plains or Hempstead is squarely inside this section. Which municipalities have opted in is a live list rather than a settled one, and some adoptions have been struck down in court after the fact, so confirm a unit’s status with NYS Homes and Community Renewal instead of relying on any published list, this one included. 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." }, "cap": { "summary": "A rent-stabilized deposit may not exceed one month’s rent. This cap is ABSOLUTE: there is no seasonal exception, no co-op exception, and no institutional carve-out.", "value": { "hasCap": true, "capMonths": 1, "notes": "Absolute. Do NOT port the § 7-108 seasonal-use or owner-occupied-co-op exceptions across." }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(2)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "No exceptions at all. The seasonal-use and owner-occupied co-op exceptions that exist for other rentals do not apply here." }, "deductions": { "summary": "The same closed list of four as the market-rate branch: unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear, unpaid utility charges payable directly to the landlord, and moving and storage of the tenant’s belongings. Ordinary wear and tear and a prior tenant’s damage may never be charged.", "value": { "allowed": [ "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", "moving and storage of the tenant’s belongings" ], "disallowed": [ "ordinary wear and tear of occupancy", "damage caused by a prior tenant", "flat cleaning fees, turnover fees and administrative fees", "legal fees", "anything noted in a signed move-in condition agreement" ], "documentationThresholdUsd": null, "photosRequiredWhenDeducting": false }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(3)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "The same closed list of four as everywhere else in New York, and the same absence of any definition of “normal wear and tear”." }, "moveInInspection": { "summary": "Same as the market-rate branch: after the lease is signed but before the tenant moves in, the landlord must OFFER a walk-through, and anything noted in a signed condition agreement can never be deducted at move-out.", "value": { "offerRequired": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(4)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)" }, "inspection": { "summary": "Same shape as the market-rate branch: written notice of the right to a pre-move-out inspection, a window only seven days wide (no earlier than two weeks, no later than one week before the end), at least 48 hours’ written notice, an itemized list of proposed deductions, and a right to cure.", "value": { "noticeHours": 48, "earliestDaysBeforeEnd": 14, "latestDaysBeforeEnd": 7, "barsUnlistedDeductions": false }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(5)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "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." }, "deadline": { "summary": "The same 14-day rule, word for word: an itemized statement AND the remaining deposit, within fourteen days after the tenant vacates, or the landlord forfeits the right to retain any portion of it.", "value": { "days": 14, "dayType": "calendar", "triggerBasis": "single", "triggerEvents": [ "vacate" ], "suspendUntilForwardingAddress": false, "rollsForwardOnHolidays": false, "complianceRequires": [ "itemized-statement", "deposit-balance" ] }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(6)", "statuteQuote": "Within fourteen days after the tenant has vacated the premises, the landlord shall provide the tenant with an itemized statement indicating the basis for the amount of the deposit retained, if any, and shall return any remaining portion of the deposit to the tenant. If a landlord fails to provide the tenant with the statement and deposit within fourteen days, the landlord shall forfeit any right to retain any portion of the deposit.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "Word for word the same rule as for other rentals, but it is a different statute, and it reaches your unit only if the lease or renewal was entered into on or after November 15, 2025." }, "burdenOfProof": { "summary": "If the tenant disputes what was kept, the landlord must prove the amount kept was reasonable.", "value": { "onLandlord": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(7)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "If the tenant disputes what you kept, you must justify it." }, "penalty": { "summary": "Actual damages for any violation, and punitive damages of up to twice the deposit if a court finds the violation willful. The forfeiture for missing the 14 days is automatic; the punitive damages are not.", "value": { "standard": "mixed", "badFaithFlatUsd": null, "multiplier": 2, "multiplierBase": "whole-deposit", "multiplierIsDiscretionaryCeiling": true, "attorneyFees": false, "forfeitureForFailureToItemize": true, "deadlinePresumptionDays": null, "burdenOnLandlord": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(8)", "statuteQuote": "Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be liable for actual damages, provided a person found to have willfully violated this section shall be liable for punitive damages of up to twice the amount of the deposit or advance.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "This provision is worded more broadly than the one covering other rentals: it hooks liability to a violation of the whole SECTION, not just one subdivision. So an inspection violation is more clearly actionable here. It also reaches “any person who violates”, which on its face includes a managing agent, not just the owner. As everywhere in New York, punitive damages need a finding of willfulness and are capped at “up to” twice the deposit: they are not automatic." }, "successorLiability": { "summary": "A buyer of a rent-stabilized building is liable for deposits it has actual knowledge of. The old strict rule (liable whether or not you ever received the money) was DELETED by the 2025 act.", "value": { "actualKnowledgeRequired": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(9)(a)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "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." }, "noWaiver": { "summary": "A rent-stabilized lease cannot contract around any of this either. Any waiver is absolutely void.", "value": { "waiverVoid": true }, "citation": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107(10)", "statuteQuote": "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.", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107", "derivation": "verbatim", "sourceType": "codified", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "high", "amendedBy": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B)", "notes": "Absolutely void, not merely voidable. Signing it changes nothing." }, "interestAccount": { "summary": "The Rent Stabilization Code is STRICTER than the deposit statute: a rent-stabilized deposit must go into an interest-bearing New York account no matter how small the building. The six-or-more-units threshold does not apply here.", "value": { "requiredRegardlessOfBuildingSize": true }, "citation": "9 NYCRR § 2525.4 (Rent Stabilization Code)", "sourceUrl": "https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-york/9-NYCRR-2525.4", "derivation": "synthesized", "effectiveDate": "2025-11-15", "effectiveDateIsFloor": true, "lastVerified": "2026-07-11", "confidence": "medium", "notes": "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." } }, "cities": [ { "city": "New York City", "citySlug": "new-york-city", "applies": true, "summary": "New York City sets no deposit cap, deadline, interest rule or account rule of its own: on all of that, state law is the whole answer. But it adds one duty that bites exactly when a deposit is being kept. If the tenant left before the lease ended, so that you have the duty to mitigate damages under Real Property Law § 227-e, the City limits what you may recover to the fair market cost of preparing the unit for rental, and requires you to give the tenant an itemized list showing how you calculated it. That is a second itemization, on top of the statement § 7-108 already requires within 14 days.", "checkedFor": [ "interest", "cap", "deadline", "itemization" ], "citation": "N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 26-3401, 26-3402 (L.L. 2021/169, eff. June 22, 2022)", "sourceUrl": "https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-137673", "lastVerified": "2026-09-06", "confidence": "high", "notes": "The limit and the itemized list are conditional on the duty to mitigate, so they apply to an early departure in breach of the lease, not to an ordinary end-of-term move-out. Where they do apply, they sit on top of everything the state statute requires, and neither replaces the other." }, { "city": "Syracuse", "citySlug": "syracuse", "applies": true, "summary": "Syracuse has its own security deposit ordinance, and this tool does not state its terms. We could not read the ordinance from an official source, and we do not publish law we have not read. What we can tell you is that it exists, that it is reported to run on a different clock from the state deadline, and that you should confirm it with the City before relying on the state rule alone.", "checkedFor": [ "interest", "cap", "deadline", "itemization" ], "citation": "Syracuse Rev. Gen. Ord. § 27-125 (Property Conservation Code)", "sourceUrl": "https://library.municode.com/ny/syracuse", "lastVerified": "2026-09-06", "confidence": "low", "notes": "Treat the state deadline as a floor here, not as the answer. A city rule that runs from a different event than the state one can fall due earlier, and this page cannot tell you which applies to your tenancy." } ], "localLaw": { "preempted": false, "summary": "New York does not stop cities from making their own deposit rules, and two have. New York City adds a limit and a second itemized list when a tenant leaves early, and Syracuse has its own ordinance that we have not been able to read from an official source. We checked about twenty-five other cities and counties, including Rochester, Yonkers, Albany, White Plains and the Nassau, Westchester, Suffolk and Rockland county codes, and found no deposit rule in any of them. That is not a promise about every municipality in the state: New York has hundreds, and some publish their codes where we cannot read them.", "citation": "N.Y. Const. art. IX, § 2(c)(ii)(10); Mun. Home Rule Law § 10(1)(ii)(a)(12)", "sourceUrl": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CNS/A9", "lastVerified": "2026-09-06" }, "sources": [ { "label": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 (deposits, non-rent-stabilized dwelling units)", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-108" }, { "label": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-107 (deposits, rent-stabilized dwelling units), as rewritten by L.2025 c.436", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-107" }, { "label": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-103 (money deposited to be held in trust; interest)", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-103" }, { "label": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-105 (landlord failing to turn over deposits on sale)", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-105" }, { "label": "N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-109 (Attorney General enforcement)", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GOB/7-109" }, { "label": "N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 234 (tenant’s reciprocal right to attorney fees)", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/RPP/234" }, { "label": "L.2019 c.36 (HSTPA), Part M: the 2019 package and its July 14, 2019 lease-date limit", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/S6458" }, { "label": "L.2025 c.436 (S952-B): the 2025 rent-stabilized package and its November 15, 2025 lease-date limit", "url": "https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S952" }, { "label": "Cohen v Abruzzo, 228 A.D.3d 724 (2d Dep’t 2024): the 14-day count, confirmed to the day", "url": "https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2024/2024_03163.htm" }, { "label": "Paterno v. Carroll, 75 A.D.3d 625 (2d Dep’t 2010), commingling forfeits the deposit; the bank-notice inference", "url": "https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2010/2010_06234.htm" }, { "label": "14 E. 4th St. Unit 509 LLC v. Toporek, 203 A.D.3d 17 (1st Dep’t 2022), only paragraph (e) carries forfeiture", "url": "https://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2022/2022_00002.htm" }, { "label": "LeRoy v. Sayers, 217 A.D.2d 63 (1st Dep’t 1995), commingling reaches advance rent; a \"dedicated\" account is not automatically compliant" } ] } }