NYC Affordability

The rule, in one sentence

A landlord can charge, at most, one month’s rent as a security deposit — nothing more, regardless of what the lease says or what was standard before 2019. This cap comes from the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) of 2019, codified at New York Real Property Law §227-g, and it applies to the overwhelming majority of NYC residential leases.

What counts toward the deposit — and what doesn’t

Before 2019, it wasn’t unusual for landlords to ask for first month’s rent, last month’s rent, and a security deposit — sometimes totaling two or three months of rent collected upfront, on top of a broker fee. HSTPA closed that gap: a landlord cannot collect a security deposit, “last month’s rent,” a pet deposit, a key deposit, or any other upfront charge that in combination exceeds one month’s rent. If a lease or a landlord asks for a separate “move-in fee” alongside a full deposit, that combination is very likely non-compliant — everything a tenant pays upfront is legally either rent, the single capped security deposit, or the (also capped) application fee below.

Application fees are capped too

Under the same 2019 reforms, rental application fees are capped at $20 per applicant. Landlords cannot charge more for a credit check, background check, or general “processing” — $20 is the ceiling regardless of how the fee is labeled. This is a separate cap from the deposit cap above, but both come from the same 2019 legislative package.

Where the FARE Act fits in

The FARE Act (effective June 11, 2025) is a different law that changed who pays a broker fee — it shifted responsibility to whoever hires the broker, so a tenant no longer automatically owes a fee just because the landlord’s listing agent brought the apartment to market. It didn’t change the security deposit or application fee caps described above; those were already settled by HSTPA six years earlier. See our FARE Act guide for the full rule and a worked example of how much that change actually saves a tenant at signing.

Worked example: total move-in cash

Take a $3,800/month apartment, landlord-listed (no tenant-hired broker), standard one-month deposit:

Item	Amount
First month’s rent	$3,800
Security deposit (1 month, capped)	$3,800
Application fee (capped)	$20
Broker fee (landlord-paid under FARE Act)	$0
Total cash due at signing	$7,620

Under the pre-2019, pre-FARE-Act norm — first month, last month, a full deposit, and a landlord’s broker fee passed to the tenant at roughly 15% of annual rent — the equivalent move-in cost on the same apartment would have run well over $18,000. Both reforms together meaningfully lowered NYC’s historically high move-in cash barrier, though landlords have in some cases responded by folding costs into advertised rent instead — so the total cost of renting hasn’t necessarily dropped by the same amount, even where move-in cash clearly has.

Getting your deposit back

A landlord must return a security deposit — or an itemized statement of any deductions — within 14 days of a tenant vacating. Deductions are limited to unpaid rent and damage beyond normal wear and tear; a landlord can’t deduct for ordinary use of the apartment (minor scuffs, worn carpet from normal living) the way they could for actual damage (holes in walls, broken fixtures). As of November 15, 2025, these same 14-day and itemization protections were extended to rent-stabilized tenants, closing a gap that previously left some stabilized leases under different rules. If a landlord withholds a deposit without an itemized statement, or deducts for normal wear and tear, a tenant can pursue the difference in small claims court.

What none of this changes

None of the caps above touch a landlord’s right to screen an applicant on income or creditworthiness before offering a lease — see our 40x rent rule guide for how that separate income-screening hurdle works, and how a guarantor changes the math if you don’t clear it on your own.