New York Rent Increase Laws: The Landlord and Tenant Guide
No Statewide Cap · 30, 60 and 90-Day Notice Tiers · Rent Stabilization · Good Cause Eviction · Retaliation Limits
New York does not run a single statewide rent cap, and that surprises people on both sides of the lease. For a market-rate unit there is no percentage ceiling on how much rent may rise at renewal — but that is only the starting point. New York layers protection through tiered written-notice rules under Real Property Law section 226-c, an extensive rent-regulation system of rent-stabilized and rent-controlled units, and, since 2024, the Good Cause Eviction law that makes an oversized increase presumptively unreasonable in adopting localities. Whether a numeric limit applies to your unit depends entirely on where it is and what it is. This guide walks the whole framework end to end, in plain English, with every rule tied to a concrete action.
The stakes are practical. A rent increase served with the wrong notice period, imposed mid-lease without authority, or aimed at a rent-stabilized unit as if it were market-rate is not just risky — the defective portion is unenforceable, and a botched increase can become a defense if you later try to evict for nonpayment of the raised rent. Because the Rent Guidelines Board resets stabilized figures every year and the Good Cause threshold moves with the Consumer Price Index, treat every number in this guide as a starting point and verify the current figure for your city and the unit’s regulatory status before you serve anything.
Below, a detailed overview video summarizes the New York framework; the sections that follow break down each piece — why there is no statewide cap, rent stabilization and rent control, the section 226-c notice tiers, when you may raise rent at all, the exemptions, the layer of local control, retaliation and fair housing, the Good Cause Eviction tie-in, and a step-by-step landlord playbook — plus a New York-specific FAQ.
New York Rent Increase Rules at a Glance
Statewide Cap
None on market-rate units
Notice Required
30 / 60 / 90 days by tenure (RPL 226-c)
Regulated Units
RGB sets stabilized cap
Good Cause
Over lesser of 10% or 5%+CPI is challengeable
No Statewide Cap, But Real Limits
The first thing to understand about New York is what it is not. Unlike California with its Tenant Protection Act or Oregon with its statewide formula, New York has no single percentage cap that applies to every rental. For a market-rate, unregulated apartment, the law does not dictate a maximum increase at renewal — the number is a matter of the lease and the market.
That absence of a headline cap is misleading, though, because New York substitutes a dense web of other controls. Three of them do most of the work: the tiered notice rule under Real Property Law section 226-c, the rent-regulation system of rent-stabilized and rent-controlled units, and the Good Cause Eviction law of 2024. A given apartment may sit under one, two, or all three of these at once, and the answer to “how much can I raise the rent” depends entirely on which apply.
Status is the first question, not the number
Before you calculate anything, determine what the unit is. Is it rent-stabilized or rent-controlled? Is it in a locality that has adopted Good Cause Eviction? A market-rate unit in a preemption-free small town follows very different math than a rent-stabilized apartment in Brooklyn or a covered unit in a Good Cause city. Get the status wrong and every downstream number is wrong too.
Takeaway
New York has no statewide percentage cap on market-rate rent, but it substitutes tiered notice under section 226-c, rent regulation, and the Good Cause Eviction law. Identify the unit’s status first — that decides which limits, if any, control the number.
Notice: The 30, 60 and 90-Day Tiers
Even a lawful-sized increase fails if you deliver it with the wrong notice. New York Real Property Law section 226-c, added by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, sets the written-notice periods for a rent increase, and unlike many states the required period is tiered to how long the tenant has lived in the unit.
The trigger is specific: the notice rule applies when the landlord intends to raise the rent by 5 percent or more, or does not intend to renew the tenancy at all. Once that threshold is crossed, the length of the tenant’s occupancy sets the minimum notice.
| Length of the tenant’s occupancy | Minimum written notice (increase of 5% or more, or non-renewal) |
|---|---|
| Less than one year | At least 30 days before the effective date |
| One year to less than two years | At least 60 days before the effective date |
| Two years or more | At least 90 days before the effective date |
The same tiers govern a decision not to renew a lease, so a landlord who plans to end a tenancy rather than raise the rent still owes the tenant 30, 60, or 90 days depending on tenure. If the landlord fails to give timely notice, the existing tenancy continues on the current terms until the full notice period has run — the defect does not void the tenancy, it simply postpones the change.
What a Proper Notice Contains and How to Serve It
A defensible rent-increase notice is in writing and states, at minimum: the tenant’s name and the property address, the current rent, the new rent, the effective date, and enough for the tenant to see the correct notice period is satisfied. A verbal announcement, a text message, or an email the tenant never agreed to accept as a delivery method is not defensible service. Serve it by a provable method — certified mail with return receipt, personal delivery with a signed acknowledgment, or another method your lease allows — and keep a copy of both the notice and the proof of delivery. Since 2024, a landlord subject to Good Cause Eviction must also include the required Good Cause disclosure with the notice.
Stabilized leases carry their own renewal timing
The section 226-c tiers are the statewide floor for market-rate tenancies. Rent-stabilized units run on a separate track: the landlord must offer a renewal lease within a set window before the current lease expires, at the increase the Rent Guidelines Board allows, using the required renewal-offer form. A notice that satisfies section 226-c is not a substitute for the stabilized renewal-offer process. Confirm which track the unit is on before serving anything.
Takeaway
For an increase of 5 percent or more, or a non-renewal, give 30 days’ notice under one year, 60 days for one to two years, and 90 days for two years or more under Real Property Law section 226-c. Put it in writing, serve it by a provable method, and keep proof of delivery.
When You Can Raise the Rent at All
The notice tiers and any applicable cap only matter once you actually have the right to raise the rent. That right depends on the tenancy.
During a Fixed-Term Lease: Generally Locked
While a fixed-term lease is running, the rent is set at the agreed amount for the whole term. You cannot raise it mid-term unless the lease itself contains an explicit escalation clause that permits the change — and even then, the increase must respect any Good Cause limit and the unit’s regulatory status. Absent that clause, the tenant is entitled to the agreed rent through the end of the term.
At Renewal or on a Month-to-Month Tenancy
The two ordinary windows to raise rent are at lease renewal, when a new term begins, and during a month-to-month tenancy, where a landlord may change the rent going forward by serving the proper section 226-c notice for the tenant’s length of occupancy. On a month-to-month, the increase takes effect only after the full notice period runs; the tenant can accept the new rent and stay, or give proper notice and move out.
A mid-term increase without authority is void
Trying to raise rent partway through a fixed-term lease with no escalation clause does not simply fail quietly — the increase is unenforceable, and a tenant who keeps paying the original rent is in the right. Do not treat a tenant’s silence as agreement. Wait for renewal, or convert to a lawful month-to-month process with proper notice, before adjusting the rent.
Takeaway
You may raise rent at renewal or on a month-to-month tenancy with the correct notice, but never mid-term on a fixed lease unless the lease expressly allows it. The tenancy type decides whether you even have the authority; the notice tiers and any cap decide how much and how.
Rent Stabilization and Rent Control
The heart of New York’s rent-regulation system is not a statewide cap but two overlapping programs that hold specific units to figures set by a public board. If the unit is regulated, those figures — not the market — control the increase, and treating a regulated unit as market-rate is one of the costliest mistakes a New York landlord can make.
Rent Stabilization: The Rent Guidelines Board Sets the Number
Rent stabilization is the larger system, covering roughly one million apartments in New York City alone. It generally applies to buildings with six or more units built before January 1, 1974 in New York City, and to comparable buildings in the Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester localities that have adopted the Emergency Tenant Protection Act after declaring a housing emergency. On a stabilized unit, the Rent Guidelines Board sets the maximum renewal increase each year for one-year and two-year leases — a figure that is typically in the low single digits and well below what a market-rate landlord might seek. Tenants keep strong renewal rights, and the landlord must use the official renewal-offer process.
Rent Control: The Older, Smaller System
Rent control is the older program and covers far fewer units. It generally reaches tenants (or their lawful successors) in continuous occupancy since before July 1, 1971 in buildings built before February 1, 1947. Increases run through the Maximum Base Rent system, which the Division of Housing and Community Renewal recalculates on a set cycle, with annual adjustments capped. Rent control is being steadily phased out as long-term tenancies end.
How to tell if a unit is stabilized
Do not guess. A tenant or landlord can request the apartment’s certified rent history from New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the agency that houses the Division of Housing and Community Renewal. The rent history shows whether the unit is registered as stabilized and its registered legal rent going back decades. If the unit is registered as stabilized, the Rent Guidelines Board figure controls the increase regardless of what the lease says.
Takeaway
On a rent-stabilized unit the Rent Guidelines Board sets the maximum increase; on a rent-controlled unit the Maximum Base Rent system does. Both override the market. Check the unit’s status through New York State Homes and Community Renewal before you set a number.
The 2019 HSTPA: What Changed
New York’s current rent-regulation rules were reshaped in 2019 by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA). The law made rent regulation effectively permanent and closed the routes landlords once used to move units out of it. Its changes matter for any increase on a regulated unit.
| What the HSTPA did | Why it matters for increases |
|---|---|
| Repealed vacancy decontrol and high-rent deregulation | A stabilized unit can no longer leave regulation by reaching a rent or income threshold; it stays stabilized |
| Eliminated the vacancy bonus | A landlord can no longer add a large automatic increase when a stabilized unit turns over |
| Made preferential rents last the tenancy | A below-legal “preferential” rent can no longer be revoked up to the legal rent at renewal |
| Limited MCI and IAI increases | Major capital and individual apartment improvement increases are capped and amortized more slowly |
The practical upshot is that on a stabilized unit the room to raise rent is narrow and defined by the Rent Guidelines Board, not by turnover or improvements as it once was. The HSTPA also capped security deposits statewide at one month’s rent and introduced the section 226-c notice tiers, so its reach extends to market-rate tenancies too.
Takeaway
The 2019 HSTPA closed vacancy decontrol, the vacancy bonus, and high-rent deregulation, so a stabilized unit stays stabilized and cannot be reset to market on turnover. It also created the section 226-c notice tiers that apply to every tenancy.
Good Cause Eviction: The 2024 Increase Presumption
The newest and most consequential layer is the Good Cause Eviction law, enacted in 2024. It does two things that touch rent increases directly: it requires a “good cause” to end most covered tenancies, and it makes an oversized rent increase presumptively unreasonable, giving the tenant a defense. Our guide to the New York Good Cause Eviction law walks through coverage and the just-cause side in detail.
The Unreasonable-Increase Threshold
Under Good Cause, an increase above the local rent standard is presumed unreasonable, and a tenant can raise that presumption to resist the increase in court. The local rent standard is the lesser of 10 percent, or 5 percent plus the annual change in the regional Consumer Price Index, as the state publishes it each year. Note the direction: it is the lower of the two figures that caps the presumptively reasonable increase, not the higher. The presumption is rebuttable — a landlord can still justify a larger increase by documenting genuine cost increases — but the burden shifts once the threshold is crossed.
The CPI piece moves every year
Because the standard is tied to the Consumer Price Index, the combined figure resets annually when the state publishes the new CPI number, and it differs by region. Do not reuse last year’s percentage. Pull the current local rent standard for the property’s region before you size an increase in a Good Cause locality, and remember it is a presumption line, not a hard statutory cap.
Where Good Cause Applies and Who Is Exempt
Good Cause is automatic in New York City. Everywhere else in the state it applies only where the locality has voted to opt in, and a growing list of upstate and Hudson Valley cities and towns have done so — among them Albany, Ithaca, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Beacon, Newburgh, and Hudson, with more added regularly. Many opt-in localities also tightened the terms, for example lowering the small-owner exemption. The law carves out several categories:
| Common Good Cause exemption | The catch |
|---|---|
| Small owners | Owners of a limited number of units are exempt statewide — but many opt-in localities lowered that count, so check the local ordinance |
| Owner-occupied small buildings | Buildings the owner lives in with a small number of units are generally exempt |
| Newer construction | Units with a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2009 are exempt for a period of years from issuance |
| High-rent units | Units renting above a percentage of the local Fair Market Rent, a figure the state updates annually by county and size, are exempt |
| Co-ops, condos, and already-regulated units | Covered by their own rules instead |
Opt-in localities each set their own numbers
Good Cause is not uniform outside New York City. A town that opts in can lower the small-owner unit count, adjust the high-rent exemption, and change other parameters, so two adjoining municipalities can apply the law differently. Never assume the statewide default figures control — confirm the exact ordinance for the property’s address before relying on any exemption.
Takeaway
Under Good Cause Eviction, an increase above the lesser of 10 percent or 5 percent plus CPI is presumed unreasonable and a tenant may challenge it. The law is automatic in New York City and opt-in elsewhere, with exemptions for many small owners, newer buildings, high-rent units, and co-ops and condos. Verify the locality and the current CPI figure.
Retaliation and Fair Housing Limits
Two more limits apply on top of everything above, and an increase that clears the notice and Good Cause rules can still be unlawful if it trips either one.
A Rent Increase Cannot Be Retaliatory
New York Real Property Law section 223-b prohibits a landlord from raising rent in retaliation for a tenant’s exercise of a legal right — for example, making a good-faith complaint about conditions to the landlord or a government agency, contacting a code-enforcement authority, or asserting rights under the lease or the law. The statute treats a rent increase as a substantial alteration of the tenancy, and it creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation when the landlord acts within one year after the protected activity. Once the presumption arises, the burden shifts to the landlord to show a legitimate, non-retaliatory business reason. The safest practice is to time increases to the ordinary renewal schedule and to document the market and cost reasons behind the number. If a tenancy is heading toward its end rather than a renewal, see our guide to New York eviction notice laws for how a lawful termination differs from a rent increase.
It Cannot Discriminate or Target a Source of Income
A rent increase also cannot be used to discriminate against a protected class under the federal Fair Housing Act and the New York State Human Rights Law — race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, familial status, and the additional classes New York adds. New York has also protected lawful source of income, which includes housing vouchers such as the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, so that a landlord may not raise or set rent to push out a voucher holder. This protection has faced recent legal challenge at the state level, and New York City maintains its own separate source-of-income protection; because the landscape is unsettled, confirm the current rule before relying on it either way.
Consistency is your best defense
Increases applied evenly across comparable units on a regular schedule are far easier to defend than a one-off increase aimed at a single tenant. A selectively applied hike, or one that lands right after a complaint, invites both a retaliation presumption and a fair-housing claim — even where no numeric cap applies to the unit.
Takeaway
An increase can still be unlawful with no cap in play if it is retaliatory under section 223-b (within one year of a complaint or protected activity) or discriminatory, including targeting a lawful source of income such as a voucher. Apply increases consistently, on schedule, with a documented business reason.
The Local-Control Layer
New York is not a preemption state. Where states like Texas, Florida, and Georgia forbid cities from enacting rent control, New York does the opposite: it authorizes localities to regulate. That means a market-rate unit’s rules can change from one municipality to the next, and a landlord has to check the local layer as carefully as the state one.
The local layer shows up in three forms. First, rent stabilization reaches beyond New York City into the Emergency Tenant Protection Act localities in Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester. Second, Good Cause Eviction applies only where a city or town has opted in, each on its own terms. Third, individual municipalities can add notice, registration, or just-cause requirements on top of the state floor. A rent increase that satisfies every state rule can still violate a local ordinance.
Check both layers before you set a number
Confirm the local ordinance for the property’s exact address, because coverage can vary by municipality and by build date. A unit that is market-rate and unregulated in one town may sit under Good Cause or the Emergency Tenant Protection Act a few miles away. When a local rule is stricter, it controls, and the state framework becomes the outer boundary you rarely reach.
Takeaway
New York authorizes local regulation rather than preempting it, so rent stabilization, Good Cause opt-in status, and extra local requirements vary by municipality. When a local rule is stricter, it controls — verify coverage for the property’s exact address.
The New York Landlord Playbook
Put the whole framework into a repeatable sequence and a rent increase becomes routine instead of risky. Follow these steps every time.
Confirm the unit’s regulatory status
Determine whether the unit is rent-stabilized, rent-controlled, or market-rate, and whether its locality has adopted Good Cause Eviction. Pull the certified rent history from New York State Homes and Community Renewal if there is any doubt about stabilization.
Apply the right ceiling
For a stabilized unit, use the Rent Guidelines Board figure and the renewal-offer form. For a Good Cause unit, keep the increase at or under the local rent standard — the lesser of 10 percent or 5 percent plus CPI — or document a business reason. For a truly market-rate unit, the number is yours, subject to notice and anti-retaliation rules.
Check timing and tenancy type
Confirm you have the right to raise rent now — at renewal or on a month-to-month, never mid-term without a lease clause — and confirm the increase is not landing within a year of protected tenant activity.
Serve the correct 30, 60, or 90-day notice
Match the notice period to the tenant’s length of occupancy under section 226-c for any increase of 5 percent or more, state the current rent, new rent, and effective date in writing, and include the Good Cause disclosure where it applies.
Document everything
Keep a copy of the notice, the proof of delivery, the figures you relied on, and a note of the market and cost reasons behind the increase. Consistent, documented increases are the ones that hold up.
Need the notice itself?
A ready-to-fill notice keeps the required fields in place. See our free New York rent increase notice form, or the New York City rent increase notice form for a stabilized or Good Cause unit. Always tailor the numbers to your unit and verify current law.
Common Scenarios, Quickly Answered
✓ Usually Defensible
- Renewal increase with correct notice. A market-rate renewal at a reasonable figure, served with the right 30, 60, or 90-day notice for the tenant’s tenure.
- Stabilized renewal at the board figure. A rent-stabilized renewal offered on the official form at the Rent Guidelines Board percentage.
- Good Cause increase at or under the standard. An increase kept at or below the lesser of 10 percent or 5 percent plus CPI in a Good Cause locality.
- Consistent annual adjustment. The same schedule applied across comparable units with documented comparables.
✕ Likely Unlawful
- Market reset on a stabilized unit. Treating a stabilized apartment as market-rate on turnover after the HSTPA repealed vacancy decontrol.
- Mid-term hike, no clause. Raising rent during a fixed lease with no escalation clause.
- Under-noticed increase. A 5-percent-or-more increase served with fewer days than the tenant’s tenure requires under section 226-c.
- Post-complaint increase. A raise issued within a year of a repair request or code complaint — a retaliation presumption under section 223-b.
Rent Increases Go Smoother With the Right Tenant
The tenants who fight every lawful increase are often the ones who show red flags on screening. Comprehensive credit, income, and eviction-history reports catch the mismatch before you ever sign a lease.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can a landlord raise the rent in New York?
For a market-rate, unregulated unit, New York sets no statewide percentage cap on how much rent may rise at renewal, so the ceiling is what the lease and the market allow. Two limits still bite. First, in New York City and every locality that has adopted the 2024 Good Cause Eviction law, an increase above the lesser of 10 percent or 5 percent plus the regional Consumer Price Index is presumed unreasonable and a tenant may challenge it. Second, rent-stabilized and rent-controlled units are held to the annual figure the Rent Guidelines Board or the Maximum Base Rent system sets, which is far lower. Always confirm the unit’s regulatory status before you set a number.
How much notice must a New York landlord give before raising the rent?
Under New York Real Property Law section 226-c, when a landlord intends to raise the rent by 5 percent or more, or does not intend to renew, the required written notice is tiered to how long the tenant has lived there: at least 30 days if the tenant has occupied under one year, at least 60 days for one to two years, and at least 90 days for two years or more. If the landlord gives late notice, the current terms continue until the notice period has run. Rent-stabilized leases carry their own renewal-offer timing on top of this.
Is there a statewide rent cap in New York?
No. Unlike California or Oregon, New York has no single statewide percentage cap that applies to every market-rate rental. Instead it layers protections: the section 226-c notice tiers apply everywhere, rent stabilization and rent control cap increases on regulated units through the Rent Guidelines Board and the Maximum Base Rent system, and the 2024 Good Cause Eviction law caps increases in adopting localities at the lesser of 10 percent or 5 percent plus CPI. Whether a numeric cap applies to a given unit depends entirely on that unit’s status and location.
What is a rent-stabilized apartment and how do I know if mine is one?
Rent stabilization generally covers buildings of six or more units built before January 1, 1974 in New York City, and comparable buildings in the Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester localities that adopted the Emergency Tenant Protection Act. On a stabilized unit the Rent Guidelines Board sets the maximum renewal increase each year. To confirm status, a tenant can request the apartment’s certified rent history from New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the agency that houses the Division of Housing and Community Renewal; the rent history shows whether the unit is registered as stabilized and its registered legal rent.
What is the Good Cause Eviction unreasonable-rent-increase threshold?
Under the Good Cause Eviction law enacted in 2024, an increase above the local rent standard is presumed unreasonable and a tenant may challenge it in court. The local rent standard is the lesser of 10 percent or 5 percent plus the annual change in the regional Consumer Price Index, as published by the state. The presumption is rebuttable, so a landlord can still justify a higher increase with documented costs. The law is automatic in New York City and applies elsewhere only where the locality has opted in, and it exempts several categories such as many small owners, newer construction, high-rent units, and co-ops and condos.
Can a landlord raise the rent in the middle of a lease in New York?
Generally no. During a fixed-term lease the rent is locked at the agreed amount unless the lease itself contains an escalation clause that expressly permits a mid-term increase. A landlord may raise rent at renewal, or on a month-to-month tenancy going forward, by serving the proper section 226-c notice for the tenant’s length of occupancy.
What did the 2019 HSTPA change about rent increases?
The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 made rent regulation effectively permanent and tightened it. It repealed vacancy decontrol and high-rent deregulation, so a stabilized unit can no longer leave regulation by reaching a rent or income threshold; it eliminated the vacancy bonus that let landlords add a large increase on turnover; it made preferential rents last for the life of the tenancy; and it limited the increases landlords may take for major capital and individual apartment improvements. It also capped security deposits statewide at one month’s rent and added the section 226-c notice tiers.
Can I raise the rent to market rate when a tenant moves out in New York?
It depends on the unit. On a market-rate, unregulated unit you may set any lawful rent for a new tenant. On a rent-stabilized unit the answer changed in 2019: the HSTPA repealed vacancy decontrol and the vacancy bonus, so a stabilized unit stays stabilized after a turnover and the rent may not jump to market between tenants. The registered legal rent, adjusted by the Rent Guidelines Board, continues to control.
How often can a landlord raise the rent in New York?
For a market-rate unit there is no statutory frequency limit, but each increase of 5 percent or more still requires the tiered section 226-c notice, and mid-term increases are barred unless the lease allows them. Rent-stabilized units generally see one adjustment per lease term at renewal, set by the Rent Guidelines Board. In a Good Cause locality, repeated increases that together clear the local rent standard can be challenged as unreasonable.
Can a rent increase be illegal even if there is no cap?
Yes. A market-rate increase with no numeric cap can still be unlawful. Real Property Law section 223-b prohibits a retaliatory increase and creates a presumption of retaliation when a landlord raises rent within one year after a tenant complains about conditions, contacts a code agency, or asserts a legal right. Fair-housing law separately bars an increase that targets a protected class, and New York has protected lawful source of income, such as a housing voucher, though that protection has faced recent legal challenge. These rules apply on top of the notice and Good Cause rules, not instead of them.
What is the safest way for a landlord to raise rent in New York?
Confirm the unit’s status first, because a stabilized or Good Cause unit changes everything. If it is market-rate, size the increase, and in a Good Cause locality keep it at or under the local rent standard or document a business reason. Serve a clear written notice giving the correct 30, 60, or 90 days for the tenant’s length of occupancy, by a provable method, avoid raising rent mid-term or right after protected activity, and keep the notice and proof of delivery. Documented, consistent, non-retaliatory increases are the ones that hold up.
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