Free New York City Residential Lease Agreement
A configurable New York City residential lease agreement that generates a signable multi-page PDF. Built on verified New York State law and then on the part a statewide form never reaches — the Housing Maintenance Code, the Rent Stabilization Law and Code, the FARE Act and the Rules of the City of New York.
A New York City residential lease agreement is a New York State lease with a second body of law stacked on top of it, and almost all of that second body lives somewhere a statewide template never looks: the Administrative Code of the City of New York and the Rules of the City of New York. The State layer — the one-month deposit cap, the fourteen-day accounting, the fee ceilings, the thirty, sixty and ninety day notice scale, the statewide Good Cause notice — is set out in full on our statewide New York lease agreement page, and this page does not repeat it or contradict it. What this page does is the part that is genuinely different in the five boroughs, and the single thing that makes it hard: almost every New York City duty has a coverage test. Is the building a multiple dwelling or a one- or two-family house? Was it erected before 1960, between 1960 and 1978, before 1974, before 1947? Is the unit rent stabilized, rent controlled or free market? A rule stated without its test is not a rule — and stating city rules without their tests is exactly what every page currently ranking for this search does.
New York City Lease Rules at a Glance
Stabilization Test
6+ Units
Window Guard Age
10 and Under
Lead Coverage
Pre-1960
Unregistered Owner
Cannot Sue
Four New York City Rules That Decide More Cases Than the Lease Does
First, an unregistered owner cannot win a nonpayment case. Administrative Code 27-2107(b) denies an owner required to register with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and who has not, the right to recover possession for unpaid rent during the period of noncompliance — and the petition must set out the registration number, allege that a statement of registration was filed, and annex a copy of the receipt. Second, the sections everyone cites for New York City alarms no longer exist: 27-2046, 27-2046.1 and 27-2046.2 were each repealed by Local Law 157 of 2016 with effect from 1 May 2019, and each now reads [Repealed] in its own title. Third, a New York City landlord may not bill a tenant for legal services at all — Administrative Code 26-416 voids any agreement or assessment charging a lessee court fees, attorney fees, notary charges or the owner’s own administrative costs absent a court order. Fourth, a no-pets clause has a three-month shelf life under Administrative Code 27-2009.1, and the anti-waiver language most templates add to defend it is itself the clause subdivision (c) declares void.
How to Fill Out This New York City Lease Agreement
1. Name the parties, the managing agent and the HPD registration
Name the owner and the managing agent, each with a New York City address. Administrative Code 27-2105 requires a rent bill or receipt at the time of every rent payment carrying the managing agent’s name and New York City address on letterhead, and fifteen days’ mailed notice before a change of agent. Enter the HPD registration number: 27-2107 turns it into a precondition of suing for unpaid rent.
2. Classify the building
Class A multiple dwelling, class B multiple dwelling, or a one- or two-family house. This is the first coverage test and it moves a great deal. Administrative Code 27-2005(c) lets the owner of a one- or two-family dwelling shift Housing Maintenance Code compliance to the tenant by written lease or contract — something no multiple-dwelling owner may do — and the window guard, infestation, allergen and smoking-policy duties are all written for multiple dwellings.
3. State when the building was erected
Build date is the lead coverage test at Administrative Code 27-2056.4(a). A multiple dwelling erected before 1 January 1960 is inside Local Law 1 of 2004 wherever a child of applicable age resides. One erected on or after 1 January 1960 and before 1 January 1978 is inside only where a child of applicable age resides and the owner has actual knowledge of lead-based paint. From 1978 the building age triggers neither the city regime nor the federal disclosure.
4. State the regulatory status of the unit
Rent stabilized, rent controlled or free market. The lease cannot create or destroy that status — the unit is what the Rent Stabilization Law and the City Rent and Rehabilitation Law make it, and the registration filed with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal is the record. The answer changes the deposit rule, the renewal rule, the rent-adjustment rule and what the lease itself may contain.
5. Set rent, the late charge and the itemized fee disclosure
The State ceilings in Real Property Law 238-a still apply in the boroughs: no application fee, a screening charge of the lesser of actual cost or twenty dollars, and no late charge before day five. New York City then adds Administrative Code 20-699.22(b) — an itemized written fee disclosure the tenant signs before signing the lease, retained three years, with a copy to the tenant.
6. Take the deposit from the right source
For a non-regulated unit it is General Obligations Law 7-108. For a rent-stabilized unit it is 9 NYCRR 2525.4, which caps at one month’s rent and compels an interest-bearing account with no building-size threshold at all. A rent-controlled unit is excluded from 7-108(1-a) by name. And Administrative Code 26-511(c)(5) sets a separate one-month ceiling for a tenant aged sixty-five or older or receiving disability or supplemental security income.
7. Tick the city disclosures the building actually triggers
Lead notice and child-inquiry rider, window guard notice, infestation history notice, indoor allergen notice, stove knob notice, detector notice, gas leak notice, smoking polic