Free New York Notice to Remedy Lease Violation — overview

A New York Notice to Remedy Lease Violation is the standard notice for lease violations in New York. RPAPL §753(4) provides a mandatory 30-day cure stay in court, statewide. For NYC rent-stabilized apartments, Rent Stab Code §2524.3(a) requires a 10-day cure notice (15 if mailed) where the tenant is violating a substantial obligation of the tenancy – other 2524.3 grounds, and the wilful-injury prong of (a), carry no cure right at all.

Complete the Notice to Remedy Lease Violation

Complete the form below to generate a New York Notice to Remedy Lease Violation. The notice must specifically identify the violation, the lease provision violated, the deadline to cure (or notice of incurable violation), and proper service. Vague or improperly served notices can be dismissed by the court and force you to start over.

About the New York Notice to Remedy Lease Violation

New York’s lease-violation eviction process differs significantly between free-market and rent-stabilized apartments. RPAPL §753(4) provides that where the proceeding is based on a breach of the lease the court SHALL grant a THIRTY-day stay of issuance of the warrant during which the tenant may correct the breach. It is statewide, and it is mandatory. Ten days was the pre-2019 figure, replaced by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019. For NYC RENT-STABILIZED apartments, Rent Stabilization Code §2524.3(a) requires the landlord to serve a 10-day notice to cure – 15 days if served by mail – before serving a seven-calendar-day notice of termination under §2524.2(c)(2). The notice must specify the violation and give the tenant an opportunity to cure. Failure to follow the Rent Stab Code procedure invalidates the eviction. HSTPA (2019) strengthened tenant procedural rights including expanded cure opportunities. Most violations are curable; certain violations (illegal use, nuisance, drug-related activity under RPAPL §711, chronic nonpayment) may be incurable.

New York Notice Framework

• Free-market: RPAPL §753(4) (post-judgment 30-day cure stay; ten days was the pre-2019 figure, and pre-HSTPA §753 applied only in New York City)
• NYC rent-stabilized: Rent Stab Code §2524.3(a) (10-day cure notice, 15 if mailed, then a seven-calendar-day termination notice under §2524.2(c)(2))
• Stabilized OUTSIDE New York City (Nassau, Westchester, Rockland under the ETPA): 9 NYCRR Part 2504 – not Part 2524. Rent-controlled units follow 9 NYCRR 2200/2204.
• Service: RPAPL §735 (personal, substituted, conspicuous + mail)
• HSTPA (2019) strengthened tenant procedural and cure rights
• Incurable: illegal trade or business (RPAPL §711(5)); nuisance (Rent Stab Code §2524.3(b)); chronic nonpayment (case law, not statute)

Common Mistakes That Get Lease-Violation Notices Dismissed

• For NYC rent-stabilized: skipping the §2524.3 cure notice before termination
• Vague description of the violation – NY courts require specificity
• Improper service (must comply with RPAPL §735)
• Not citing the specific lease provision violated
• Confusing free-market and rent-stabilized procedures
• Treating curable violations as incurable

Curable vs. Incurable Violations

In New York, most lease violations are CURABLE. Most tenants have the RPAPL §753(4) thirty-day cure stay in court – RPAPL §753(3) withdraws it where the landlord proves by competent evidence that an occupant holding over is objectionable, and §753(1) excludes hotel, lodging-house and rooming-house rooms; the rent-stabilized tenant additionally has pre-termination cure rights under Rent Stabilization Code §2524.3(a). Grounds treated as incurable come from three different places, and conflating them is a common error: illegal trade or business is RPAPL §711(5); nuisance affecting other tenants is Rent Stab Code §2524.3(b); chronic and unexcused rent nonpayment is a judge-made holdover theory appearing in neither §711 nor §2524.3. Also often cited: and sale or use of controlled substances. For incurable violations, a 30-day notice of termination (separate form) is the appropriate procedure. Using the wrong notice type or skipping the cure procedure can dismiss the eviction.

Service Requirements

Under RPAPL §735, service must be made by: (1) personal delivery to the tenant; (2) substituted service – delivering to a person of suitable age and discretion at the premises; or (3) conspicuous service – affixing a copy to a conspicuous part of the premises, or placing a copy under the entrance door. For both (2) and (3) the statute then requires, within one day, mailing to the respondent both by registered or certified mail AND by regular first class mail – two mailings, not one. The conspicuous-service option requires that personal and substituted service be reasonably attempted first. New York courts strictly enforce RPAPL §735 – improper service is a common ground for dismissal.

What Happens If Tenant Cures Within the Deadline

If the tenant fully cures the violation within the applicable period (10 days for NYC rent-stabilized; post-judgment for free-market), the tenancy continues. Cure must be COMPLETE – partial cure does not suffice. For rent-stabilized apartments, the landlord may not serve a termination notice if the cure is timely. HSTPA (2019) expanded tenant cure opportunities including in eviction proceedings.

What Happens If Tenant Does Not Cure or Vacate

If the tenant does not cure the violation, the landlord’s next step depends on the apartment type. For FREE-MARKET rentals, the landlord serves the termination notice the lease requires, then files a holdover proceeding. (RPL §226-c is a different instrument: it governs a renewal offered with an increase of five per cent or more, or a decision not to renew – not a termination for breach.) For NYC RENT-STABILIZED apartments, after the §2524.3(a) cure period, the landlord serves a seven-calendar-day notice of termination under §2524.2(c)(2), then files a holdover proceeding. New York landlord-tenant practice is technically complex – CONSULT a NY landlord-tenant attorney before proceeding.

Notice to remedy, notice to cure: the same document under two names

New York practice calls this document a notice to cure. “Notice to remedy” describes the same instrument – a written demand that a tenant fix a breach of the lease within a stated period – and the two are used interchangeably, but the cases, the statutes and the standard forms all say “cure.” If you are searching for authority or filing papers, that is the term to use.

The document sits at the front of a specific sequence. A notice to cure gives the tenant a period to correct the breach. If the breach is not cured, a notice of termination ends the tenancy. Only then does a holdover proceeding under RPAPL article 7 become available. Skipping or mistiming the first step is the most common reason these proceedings are dismissed, because the notice is a condition precedent rather than a formality.

Where the cure period actually comes from

Two different periods get conflated, and they operate at opposite ends of the process.

The pre-litigation cure period comes from the lease, not from a general statute. New York has no statute setting a universal notice-to-cure period for unregulated tenancies. The length is whatever the lease provides – ten days is the most common figure in standard New York leases, which is why “10-day notice to cure” is so widely used – and for rent-stabilized units the Rent Stabilization Code supplies its own cure requirements. Read the lease clause before choosing a number; a notice giving less time than the lease requires is defective.

The thirty-day cure comes after judgment, and it is statutory. RPAPL 753(4) provides that where the proceeding “is based upon a claim that the tenant or lessee has breached a provision of the lease, the court shall grant a thirty day stay of issuance of the warrant, during which time the respondent may correct such breach.” This is a court-ordered second chance in a residential holdover, not the notice period a landlord serves at the start.

RPAPL 753(5) then removes the obvious workaround: “Any provision of a lease or other agreement whereby a lessee or tenant waives any provision of this section shall be deemed against public policy and void.” A lease clause purporting to give up the post-judgment cure is unenforceable.

A cure notice is not a rent demand

Non-payment of rent runs on a separate track. RPAPL 711(2) requires “a written demand of the rent… with at least fourteen days’ notice requiring, in the alternative, the payment of the rent, or the possession of the premises,” served as prescribed by RPAPL 735. The fourteen-day rent demand must also append the notice required by Real Property Law 231-c, which addresses whether the premises are subject to the Good Cause Eviction law in RPL article 6-A, the lawful basis for any non-renewal of a covered unit, and the justification for any increase above the applicable local rent standard.

Using a cure notice for unpaid rent, or a rent demand for a lease breach, is not a technicality that gets overlooked – the two grounds are pleaded differently under RPAPL 711 and the wrong predicate defeats the petition.

What the petition must contain, and why the notice decides it

RPAPL 741 requires that every petition state the petitioner’s interest in the premises, the respondent’s interest and relationship to the petitioner, a description of the premises, the facts on which the proceeding is based, and the relief sought. It must also append or incorporate the RPL 231-c notice regarding the Good Cause Eviction law. That requirement is not limited to covered units: the notice is a prescribed form with YES/NO coverage boxes and lettered exemption boxes, and a landlord of an exempt unit must still serve it and mark why it is exempt. Note too that RPAPL 741(5-a) and (5-b) are both marked repealed as of June 15, 2034, and that outside New York City the Good Cause law is opt-in – RPL 213(1) applies article 6-A only in a village, town or city that adopts it by local law. Several cities – Albany, Newburgh, Syracuse and, from late 2025, Schenectady – additionally require the petition to allege compliance with a local rental-registration law where one applies.

“The facts upon which the special proceeding is based” is where a weak cure notice surfaces. The petition has to plead the breach the notice described; a notice that recited a lease clause without saying what the tenant actually did leaves nothing specific to plead, and a petition that pleads facts the notice never mentioned is vulnerable for the same reason.

Drafting a notice to cure that survives review

• Identify the lease clause and the conduct. Both. A clause number alone does not tell the tenant what to stop doing, and a description of conduct with no clause does not establish a breach.
• State the cure period the lease requires, and the date it ends. Do not shorten it, and do not assume ten days without reading the clause.
• Say what cure looks like. A notice a tenant cannot comply with because it does not say what compliance is has a weakness the tenant will raise.
• Serve it the way the lease requires, and keep proof. RPAPL 735 governs service of the notice of petition and petition, and is imported for the 14-day rent demand by RPAPL 711(2) – it does not by its own force govern a lease-based cure notice. Service defects are the second most common ground of dismissal after content.
• Do not accept rent in a way that undercuts the notice without advice – conduct after service can complicate the termination that follows.
• Check whether the unit is regulated. Rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenancies, and units covered by the Good Cause Eviction law, carry requirements this general sequence does not describe.

How long does a tenant have to cure a lease violation in New York?

Before litigation, the period is whatever the lease provides – ten days is the most common figure in standard New York leases, and rent-stabilized units follow the Rent Stabilization Code. Separately, RPAPL 753(4) requires the court to grant a thirty-day stay of the warrant in a residential holdover based on a lease breach, during which the tenant may correct it. The two periods are different things at different stages.

Is a notice to remedy the same as a notice to cure?

Yes. New York practice uses ‘notice to cure’, and that is the term in the case law and the standard forms, but both names describe a written demand that the tenant correct a lease breach within a stated period.

Can a lease waive the tenant’s right to cure?

Not the statutory post-judgment one. RPAPL 753(5) provides that any lease provision by which a tenant waives any provision of section 753 is against public policy and void, which includes the thirty-day stay in 753(4).

Do I use a notice to cure for unpaid rent?

No. Non-payment proceeds under RPAPL 711(2), which requires a written rent demand with at least fourteen days’ notice, served as prescribed by RPAPL 735, and which must append the notice required by Real Property Law 231-c. A cure notice is for breaches of other lease obligations.

What happens if the tenant does not cure?

The landlord serves a notice of termination ending the tenancy, and may then commence a holdover proceeding under RPAPL article 7. The petition must comply with RPAPL 741, including pleading the facts on which the proceeding is based – which must match what the cure notice described.

Are some lease violations not curable?

Yes. Some conduct is treated as incapable of cure, and proceedings on that basis follow a different route than a notice to cure; RPAPL 753(3) also disapplies the section’s stay provisions where the landlord establishes by competent evidence that an occupant holding over is objectionable. Which violations fall on which side is fact-specific and worth advice before serving.

Does the Good Cause Eviction law change this?

It adds requirements rather than replacing the sequence. For units covered by RPL article 6-A, the notice required by RPL 231-c must be appended to a rent demand and incorporated into the petition under RPAPL 741, stating whether the premises are subject to the law, the lawful basis for any non-renewal, and the justification for an increase above the applicable local rent standard.

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