New York City tenant screening and landlord-tenant law

New York's statewide General Obligations Law §7-108 caps application fees at $20 or the landlord's actual background/credit-check cost, whichever framework the landlord uses, and requires a receipt — this applies in NYC just as it does statewide, and is discussed further on the New York state page.

NYC's Fair Chance for Housing Act is one of the most protective criminal-history housing laws in the country: it generally bars inquiry into criminal history until after a conditional offer of tenancy, requires an individualized assessment before any offer is withdrawn based on a record found afterward, and applies broadly across most private rental housing in the five boroughs, with certain statutory exceptions. Given how detailed and recently enacted (2024) this law is, landlords should review the current NYC Commission on Human Rights guidance or consult counsel before finalizing a criminal-history screening policy specific to NYC.

The NYC Human Rights Law has protected source of income — including housing vouchers, Social Security, and public assistance — since well before New York State adopted its own statewide protection; NYC Admin. Code §8-107(5) generally bars refusing to rent based on an applicant's lawful source of income, and NYC's own Human Rights Commission actively enforces this provision.

Federal FCRA §615's disclosure, dispute-rights, and adverse-action notice requirements apply. NYC's Fair Chance for Housing Act layers an additional, separate notice-and-assessment process specifically for criminal-history-based denials, on top of whatever FCRA's own adverse-action process requires.

New York State law (not city-specific) generally caps a security deposit at one month's rent for most residential tenancies statewide (per the state's Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019), and requires return within 14 days of the tenant vacating, with an itemized statement of deductions if any amount is withheld — this applies in NYC the same as elsewhere in the state, and is discussed in more detail on the New York state page.

NYC has an extensive rent regulation system — rent stabilization and (a much smaller, closed-to-new-tenancies) rent control — that covers a substantial share of the city's rental housing stock, governed by the NYC Rent Guidelines Board (which sets allowable annual increases for rent-stabilized units) and the state's Emergency Tenant Protection Act and Rent Stabilization Law. Whether a specific unit is regulated depends on building age, size, and rent-history factors that require checking that unit's specific registration status; unregulated units are not subject to these caps. Separately, NYC operates under New York State's "Good Cause Eviction" law (enacted 2024, opt-in by locality — NYC opted in), which generally requires a landlord of a covered unit to have one of a specific list of statutory grounds to decline to renew a lease or to evict, and also limits rent increases above a certain threshold from being used as a basis for eviction; coverage has notable exclusions (such as smaller owner-occupied buildings and certain newer construction), so a specific unit's coverage should be verified rather than assumed.

For NYC's five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island), confirm current NYC Admin. Code and NYC Human Rights Law provisions, as well as any borough-specific variations in tenant-screening, source-of-income, or fair-chance rules, against current NYC Council legislation and Human Rights Law protections.

Can a NYC landlord charge more than $20 for a rental application? Generally no, unless passing through the actual cost of a background or credit check instead of the flat fee, per New York State's General Obligations Law §7-108 (which applies in NYC).

Can a NYC landlord ask about criminal history before making an offer? Generally no — the Fair Chance for Housing Act requires a conditional offer of tenancy before any criminal-history inquiry.

Is source of income a protected class in NYC? Yes, including housing vouchers, under the NYC Human Rights Law, and separately under New York State's own statewide protection.

Does NYC require "good cause" to evict a tenant? For units covered by New York's Good Cause Eviction law (which NYC has opted into), generally yes — though coverage has exclusions that should be checked for a specific unit.

Checkr helps landlords and property managers run consistent, FCRA-compliant tenant background checks that account for NYC-specific rules like the Fair Chance for Housing Act and the citywide application-fee cap. Get started with Checkr to build a screening process that applies the same way to every applicant.

The resources and information provided here are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Always consult your own counsel for up-to-date legal advice and guidance related to your practices, needs, and compliance with applicable laws.