Free New York Termination Notice

It scales with the tenant’s time in the unit. Section 226-c(2) requires at least thirty days’ notice if the tenant has occupied the unit for less than one year and does not have a lease term of at least one year; at least sixty days if the tenant has occupied for more than one year but less than two, or has a lease term of at least one but less than two years; and at least ninety days if the tenant has occupied for more than two years or has a lease term of at least two years. These are floors, not fixed periods.

Not from the current lease alone. RPL § 226-c(2)(a) provides that the required notice is based on the cumulative amount of time the tenant has occupied the residence or the length of the tenancy in each lease, whichever is longer. A tenant who has renewed several one-year leases across four years is a ninety-day tenant, not a thirty-day one, even though the current paper term is twelve months. Reconstruct occupancy from the move-in date and keep the documentation, because the tier is the thing most often challenged and the burden of getting it right is yours.

Yes, and this surprises landlords who think of it as an eviction statute. Section 226-c(1)(a) applies whenever a landlord intends to offer to renew the tenancy with a rent increase equal to or greater than 5% above the current rent, or does not intend to renew the tenancy at all. The same thirty, sixty or ninety day tiers govern both situations. An increase below the 5% threshold does not trigger the section, though other obligations may still apply depending on whether the unit is covered by the good cause eviction law.

For covered landlords, the good cause eviction notice. RPL § 231-c requires that notice to be appended to or incorporated into, among other documents, a notice given under RPL § 226-c(1)(a). It tells the tenant whether the unit is subject to Article 6-A of the Real Property Law, the good cause eviction law; if the unit is exempt, it must state why; if the landlord is not renewing a covered lease, it must state the lawful basis; and if the landlord is raising the rent on a covered unit above the applicable local rent standard, it must give the justification.

The tenancy does not end on the date you wrote. RPL § 226-c(1)(a) provides that if the landlord fails to provide timely notice, the occupant’s lawful tenancy shall continue under the existing terms of the tenancy from the date on which the landlord gave actual written notice until the notice period has expired, notwithstanding any provision of a lease or other tenancy agreement to the contrary. In practice that means a short notice is not void so much as re-dated: the clock restarts from actual written notice, and a holdover petition filed before it runs is premature.

No. RPAPL § 711 states plainly that no tenant or lawful occupant of a dwelling or housing accommodation shall be removed from possession except in a special proceeding. Once the term has ended and the tenant remains without permission, the ground is § 711(1), and you file a summary holdover proceeding; the notice of petition and petition are served under RPAPL § 735. Changing locks, removing belongings or shutting off utilities is not an alternative route. Section 711(1) also provides that accepting rent after the proceeding has begun does not terminate it.

Yes. RPL § 223-b bars serving a notice to quit or commencing a possession proceeding in retaliation for a good faith complaint about a violation of health or safety law or the warranty of habitability, for good faith action to enforce rights, or for participation in a tenants’ organization. Section 223-b(2) treats refusing to renew, or offering a new lease with an unreasonable rent increase, as a substantial alteration of the tenancy. Section 223-b(5) creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation for acts within one year of such a complaint. It applies to all rental residential premises except owner-occupied dwellings with fewer than four units.

No, and substituting it is a filing-level error. For a New York City rent-stabilized tenancy, 9 NYCRR § 2524.4 permits refusal to renew without a DHCR order only on the enumerated grounds, after service of a notice complying with § 2524.2, which prescribes its own windows, including at least ninety and not more than one hundred fifty days before lease expiry for several grounds. Stabilized units outside New York City run on the Emergency Tenant Protection Regulations, 9 NYCRR Part 2504, with rules of their own. Identify the regime, then use our dedicated rent-stabilized non-renewal page.