Requires a notice informing tenants of their rights to be provided to tenants at the time they execute a residential lease and to be posted in certain buildings.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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8857
IN SENATE
January 9, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sen. JACKSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the real property law, in relation to creating the
tenants' bill of rights
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "tenants'
2 bill of rights".
3 § 2. The real property law is amended by adding a new section 230-a to
4 read as follows:
5 § 230-a. Tenants' bill of rights. 1. Any tenant who occupies a rental
6 property as their primary residence shall have the following rights:
7 (a) the right to premises that are fit for human habitation as
8 provided by the warranty of habitability provided by section two hundred
9 thirty-five-b of this article;
10 (b) the right to form, join or participate in tenants' groups as
11 provided in section two hundred thirty of this article;
12 (c) the right to be free from retaliation by landlord against the
13 tenant as provided in section two hundred twenty-three-b of this arti-
14 cle;
15 (d) in buildings with four or more residential units, the right to
16 sublease or assign the tenant's rights to the unit in accordance with
17 the provisions of section two hundred twenty-six-b of this article;
18 (e) the right to notice of rent increase or non-renewal of the resi-
19 dential tenancy as provided in section two hundred twenty-six-c of this
20 article;
21 (f) the right to terminate the lease in accordance with the provisions
22 of section two hundred twenty-seven-a, two hundred twenty-seven-b or two
23 hundred twenty-seven-c of this article;
24 (g) the right to offset payments made to a utility company against the
25 rent due as provided in section two hundred thirty-five-a of this arti-
26 cle, applicable to any residential unit;
27 (h) the right to receive a receipt for the payment of rent as provided
28 in section two hundred thirty-five-e of this article;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13051-03-5
S. 8857 2
1 (i) the right not to utilize an electronic billing and/or payment
2 system as the only method for the payment of rent as provided in section
3 two hundred thirty-five-g of this article; and
4 (j) the rights pertaining to security depositor advance payment of
5 rent as provided in sections 7-103, 7-105, 7-107 and/or 7-108 of the
6 general obligations law.
7 2. Subject to the provisions of subdivision three of this section,
8 each landlord renting a residential unit in this state shall:
9 (a) attach a copy of the tenants' bill of rights to each written lease
10 and provide the same to the tenant with the executed lease;
11 (b) provide a copy of the tenants' bill of rights to each tenant
12 entering into an oral lease at the time the tenant agrees to the lease;
13 and
14 (c) for units containing more than six rental units, affix a notice to
15 tenants of the rights described in this section to the front entrance to
16 the rental premises or elsewhere in the building in a location readily
17 available to the tenants.
18 3. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subdivision, the
19 provisions of this section apply to written and/or oral leases for resi-
20 dential property, including leases for subsidized, rent-regulated or
21 rent stabilized units.
22 (b) The following properties are exempt from the provisions of this
23 section:
24 (i) units in owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units;
25 (ii) units in hotels, motels, rooming houses, unless rent is paid on a
26 monthly basis and such unit is occupied for more than thirty-two days;
27 (iii) school dormitory rooms;
28 (iv) shelters;
29 (v) employees' quarters;
30 (vi) non-residential rental properties; and
31 (vii) owner-occupied cooperative apartments where the tenant is the
32 unit owner or shareholder of a cooperative housing corporation, or is
33 the owner-occupied condominium apartment.
34 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
35 have become a law.
