Free New York Rent Increase Notice

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This is the statewide New York notice for a market-rate tenancy. New York has no statewide rent cap, but RPL §226-c sets a graduated notice: to raise the rent by 5% or more (or not renew) you must give 30, 60, or 90 days’ written notice based on how long the tenant has lived there. In New York City and opt-in localities the 2024 Good Cause Eviction law adds a rent-increase standard on top. Rent-stabilized units are separate. Generate a clean notice below.

30 / 60 / 90-day (RPL 226-c) RPL 226-c / 223-b New York Free PDF

This New York Rent Increase Notice is the statewide notice for a market-rate (non-regulated) residential tenancy – distinct from a rent-stabilized or rent-controlled unit, where the Rent Guidelines Board sets the increase. New York sets no statewide cap on a market-rate increase, but RPL §226-c requires graduated written notice – 30, 60, or 90 days depending on the tenant’s length of occupancy – whenever you raise the rent by 5% or more or decline to renew. In New York City and the localities that have opted in, the 2024 Good Cause Eviction law adds a rent-increase standard, and RPL §223-b bars a retaliatory increase. Our how to raise rent guide covers the timing, and the tenant screening laws by state hub helps you place reliable tenants in the first place.

Complete the fields below to generate a New York rent increase notice. The new rent and effective date must give the tenant the full statutory notice period. Service should comply with applicable New York law; retain proof of service.

A New York rent increase notice is the written notice a landlord gives to raise the rent on a residential tenancy. This is the statewide notice for a market-rate, non-regulated unit, and it is important to start by drawing two lines. First, a rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartment is not covered here: those units take their increases from the local Rent Guidelines Board, on a separate track this market-rate notice does not touch. Second, New York City has its own dense layer of rules; this page is the statewide market-rate notice, and a landlord in the five boroughs should read it alongside the city-specific guidance. With those lines drawn, the headline for market-rate units is simple: New York has no statewide cap on how much the rent can go up. What the law regulates is the notice you must give before a meaningful increase takes effect, and, in some places, whether an unusually large increase can be challenged.

The statewide rule is Real Property Law §226-c, the graduated-notice statute added by the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act. Whenever a landlord intends to renew a tenancy with a rent increase equal to or greater than five percent above the current rent, or does not intend to renew the tenancy at all, the landlord must give advance written notice, and the length of that notice scales with how long the tenant has lived in the unit. If the tenant has occupied the unit for less than one year and has no lease term of at least a year, the notice is at least thirty days. If the tenant has occupied the unit for more than one year but less than two years, or has a lease of at least one but less than two years, the notice is at least sixty days. If the tenant has occupied the unit for two years or more, or has a lease of two years or more, the notice is at least ninety days. The statute has teeth: if the landlord fails to give timely notice, the tenant’s lawful tenancy continues on the existing terms from the date actual written notice is finally given until the notice period has run, regardless of what a lease says. An increase of less than five percent on a market-rate unit does not trigger the §226-c notice, but the lease or month-to-month terms still govern when and how the change takes effect.

On top of the notice rule sits the 2024 Good Cause Eviction law (Real Property Law Article 6-A), and it is essential not to mistake it for a statewide cap. Good Cause is an opt-in overlay. It applies automatically in New York City, and elsewhere only in the cities, towns, and villages that adopt it by local law – among them Albany, Ithaca, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Beacon, Newburgh, Nyack, Hudson, New Paltz, Catskill, Croton-on-Hudson, and Binghamton. Where it applies, the law sets a local rent standard equal to the lesser of the inflation index, defined as the regional Consumer Price Index plus five percent, or ten percent. An increase above that standard is presumptively unreasonable: it does not forbid the increase outright, but it gives the tenant the right to contest a non-renewal or eviction premised on the unpaid excess, and it puts the burden on the landlord to justify the increase as reasonable. Many units are exempt. The law does not reach a landlord who owns ten or fewer units, an owner-occupied building of ten or fewer units, new construction with a certificate of occupancy issued on or after January 1, 2009 (exempt for a rolling thirty years), units already regulated or subsidized under any local, state, or federal program, co-op and condominium units, or high-rent units renting for more than 245 percent of the applicable fair market rent. So even inside a Good Cause locality, a landlord must check coverage before assuming the standard applies, and outside those localities the only constraint on the amount is the marketplace.

Two further limits apply everywhere in the state. An increase cannot be retaliatory: Real Property Law §223-b bars a landlord from substantially altering the terms of a tenancy – including by an unreasonable increase or a refusal to renew – in response to a tenant’s good-faith complaint about habitability or a code violation, the tenant’s enforcement of a legal right, or the tenant’s participation in a tenants’ organization, and it creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation when the landlord’s action comes within one year of the protected act. And an increase cannot be discriminatory under the federal Fair Housing Act or the New York State Human Rights Law. Because New York fixes no special method to serve a market-rate increase notice, the practical standard is provable written delivery within the §226-c period – personal delivery, delivery at the premises, certified mail with a return receipt, or first-class mail all work, and email or text only where the lease or tenant authorizes it. Where Good Cause applies, the landlord must also include the Division of Housing and Community Renewal’s Good Cause notice with the increase. Whatever the method, the notice should state the current rent, the new rent, the percentage increase, and the effective date, and the landlord should keep a signed, dated copy with proof of service. Our how to raise rent guide walks through the timing, and screening applicants with verified reports keeps tenancies stable so the increases you serve actually stick.

Put together, a clean New York market-rate increase is exact rather than capped: confirm the unit is market-rate and not rent-stabilized, treat any increase of five percent or more (or a non-renewal) as a §226-c event and give the matching 30-, 60-, or 90-day written notice, check the Good Cause standard if the unit sits in New York City or an opt-in locality, keep the timing and motive outside the §223-b retaliation bar, deliver the notice in writing with proof, and follow any longer period the lease sets. None of this replaces the screening you do at move-in – a tenant chosen for steady income and a clean payment history is the one most likely to absorb a lawful increase without a dispute.

• No statewide cap on a market-rate increase — New York has no statewide rent control; rent-stabilized and rent-controlled units are a separate Rent Guidelines Board regime.
• Graduated notice (RPL 226-c) — for an increase of 5% or more, or a non-renewal, give at least 30 days’ written notice (occupancy under 1 year), 60 days (1 to 2 years), or 90 days (2 years or more).
• Late notice is tolled — if the landlord gives the §226-c notice late, the tenancy continues on existing terms until the notice period runs out.
• Good Cause overlay — in New York City and opt-in localities, an increase above the local rent standard (the lesser of CPI + 5% or 10%) is presumptively unreasonable and a tenant can contest a non-renewal, unless the unit is exempt.
• Good Cause exemptions — small or owner-occupied buildings of 10 or fewer units, new construction with a certificate of occupancy on or after Jan 1, 2009 (for 30 years), high-rent units over 245% of fair market rent, co-ops/condos, and already-regulated units.
• No retaliatory increase (RPL 223-b) — a rebuttable presumption of retaliation arises if the increase or non-renewal follows a protected tenant act within one year.
• No discriminatory increase based on a protected class (federal Fair Housing Act and the New York State Human Rights Law).

• New York sets no special method to serve a market-rate rent-increase notice, but the RPL 226-c notice must be written — a verbal increase does not satisfy it.
• Personal delivery to the tenant, or delivery left at the rental premises if the tenant is absent.
• Certified mail with a return receipt, or U.S. first-class mail, gives a dated paper trail; allow added days for receipt when you mail.
• Email or text works only if the lease or tenant authorizes electronic notice and you document it; where Good Cause applies, include the required DHCR Good Cause notice with the increase.

• Giving less than the RPL 226-c period — 30, 60, or 90 days by occupancy length — for an increase of 5% or more or a non-renewal.
• Treating Good Cause as a statewide cap, or ignoring it where it applies — it covers New York City automatically and only the localities that opt in.
• Using this market-rate notice on a rent-stabilized or rent-controlled unit, where the Rent Guidelines Board sets the increase.
• Raising the rent above the local rent standard (CPI + 5% or 10%, whichever is lower) on a Good Cause-covered unit without confirming an exemption.
• Raising the rent or refusing to renew within a year of a tenant’s protected complaint or tenants’-union activity — RPL 223-b presumes that retaliatory.

• Confirm the unit is market-rate, not rent-stabilized, before using this notice.
• Match the notice period to occupancy under RPL 226-c — 30, 60, or 90 days — and follow any longer period the lease sets.
• If the unit is in New York City or an opt-in locality, check the increase against the local rent standard and include the DHCR Good Cause notice.
• State the current rent, the new rent, the percentage, and the effective date plainly, and serve by a method you can prove.

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