NYC Affordability

Two piles of money

A NYC move costs two kinds of money. There’s the lease-signing cash the landlord collects, and then there’s the move itself. The first pile is unusually well regulated. The second is mostly whatever the market charges that week.

Lease-signing cash: what the law allows

The 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act set the ground rules for the landlord’s side:

• First month’s rent. You’d pay it anyway, but it still has to be in your account on signing day.
• Security deposit: at most one month’s rent for most apartments. The cap is in General Obligations Law §7-108. The deposit comes back when you leave, less lawful deductions like unpaid rent or damage beyond normal wear and tear, with an itemized statement within 14 days of moving out. Our security deposit guide has the details.
• Background and credit check: at most $20. Real Property Law §238-a caps it at $20 or the actual cost, whichever is less. The landlord has to waive it if you bring a check done in the past 30 days, and has to give you a copy of the report and the receipt. The same section bars a landlord from demanding any other payment, fee, or charge before or at the start of the tenancy, except where another statute or regulation provides for it (the deposit is one).
• Broker fee: only if you hired the broker. Under the FARE Act, in effect since June 11, 2025, a landlord’s agent can’t charge you, and nobody can make hiring a broker a condition of renting. You pay only a broker you chose to hire. See the FARE Act guide and the broker fee entry.
• Guarantor company fee: only if you need one. If you can’t clear the 40x income rule, an institutional guarantor charges a fee. Our guarantor companies guide reports fees commonly around 60% to 110% of a month’s rent, depending on credit and income.

The move itself

• Movers. Companies that move household goods within New York State need an Authority to Transport Household Goods license issued by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). Ask for the license number before you book. Prices swing with distance, volume, stairs, and the day of the week, and we don’t track a citywide market rate, so get written quotes.
• Boxes and supplies.
• Utility setup: electric and gas account setup, an internet install, and any deposit the utility asks for.
• Overlap rent. Leases rarely end and start on the same day. Every day you hold both apartments costs a day of your old rent.
• Breaking your current lease, if you’re leaving early. That one can dwarf everything else; see breaking a lease in NYC.
• Furniture, if the new place needs it.

Worked example

The figures below are calculated with the same engine as the Cost to Move calculator. The rent and the 10-day overlap are hypothetical inputs. Movers ($1,500), supplies ($150), and utility setup ($250) are the calculator’s defaults, which are illustrative placeholders chosen by this site, not measured market prices. The deposit and application fee are the legal caps.

You’re moving from a $3,000/month apartment into a $3,500/month one, landlord-listed (no broker under the FARE Act), with 10 days of overlap:

Item	Amount	What happens to it
First month’s rent	$3,500	Spent (but it’s rent)
Security deposit (1 month, legal cap)	$3,500	Comes back
Application / background check (legal cap)	$20	Spent
Utility setup (illustrative)	$250	Spent
Movers (illustrative)	$1,500	Spent
Boxes and supplies (illustrative)	$150	Spent
Overlap: 10 days × ($3,000 ÷ 30)	$1,000	Spent
Cash needed	$9,920

Of that $9,920, $3,500 is the refundable deposit and another $3,500 is a month of rent you’d owe anyway. The money that really disappears into the move is $2,920: the $20 check, utilities, movers, supplies, and the overlap.

Two common add-ons change the picture fast:

• Guarantor company at the calculator’s illustrative 70% of one month’s rent: $3,500 × 0.70 = $2,450, for $12,370 in total.
• A broker you hired at 15% of a year’s rent: $3,500 × 12 × 0.15 = $6,300, for $16,220 in total.

One note on the calculator: it also has a “building move-in fees” line, which starts at a $500 illustrative placeholder for elevator reservations, move-in deposits, and keys. We set it to $0 here. RPL §238-a bars a landlord from demanding any fee at the start of a tenancy other than the capped background check, so if a landlord asks you for one, ask which law permits it. If a third party you deal with directly charges you something, enter the real amount.

Ways to shrink it

• Time the overlap. Each day of overlap here costs $100. Negotiating the new lease start date is often the cheapest saving on the list.
• Don’t hire a broker unless they earn it. On a landlord’s listing, you owe nothing.
• Bring your own credit report. If it’s under 30 days old, the landlord has to waive the $20 fee.
• Get the deposit back. It’s more than a third of the cash in this example. Document the apartment’s condition when you move in.

To check whether the new rent itself fits your income, run it through the Rent Calculator.