New York tenant screening laws

Before or at the start of a tenancy you may not charge any application, processing or other fee except to cover a background check and credit check. That charge may not exceed the actual cost or $20, whichever is less. You must waive it if the applicant gives you a background or credit check done in the past 30 days, and you may not collect it unless you give the applicant a copy of the check and the screening company's receipt or invoice (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(1)).

• A lease or agreement that waives these fee limits is void (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(3)).
• You may not refuse to rent to someone because they were involved in a past or pending landlord and tenant case. Pulling a screening report or court records and then refusing to rent is presumed to violate this rule, and the Attorney General may seek a penalty of $500 to $1,000 for each violation (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 227-f).
• You may not refuse to rent to someone, or set different terms, because of their status as a victim of domestic violence (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 227-d; N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)).
• An application form or inquiry that expresses a limitation based on a protected class is itself unlawful (N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)(3)).
• Special cooperative rules apply when an applicant will become a unit owner or shareholder: screening charges may exceed $20 up to actual cost, with reasonable, agency-approved charges for cooperatives subject to the listed Private Housing Finance Law articles. Certain other cooperatives may also recover necessary managing or transfer-agent application-processing charges. Check the corporation and transaction before using these exceptions for a rental (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(1)(a), (b)).
• In New York City, covered providers choosing a criminal check must first assess noncriminal eligibility, commit a unit through a written conditional offer, and give the Commission's rights notice. Housing with at most two rooms or units where the provider or family lives in one is exempt; legally authorized checks in funded housing have limited exceptions (NYC Commission on Human Rights: Fair Chance Housing coverage and offers).
• City review is limited to qualifying felonies within five years of release (or sentencing without incarceration), misdemeanors within three, and convictions requiring current sex-offender registration. Excluded records include arrests, pending cases, and sealed or expunged matters. Consult the city's full exclusions before ordering a report (NYC Commission on Human Rights: reviewable history).
• Before revoking an offer based on reviewable history, give the reviewed information, allow five business days for a response, keep the unit available, and assess the applicant's individual information. Revocation requires a written explanation connecting that history and circumstances to a specific legitimate business interest (NYC Commission on Human Rights: Fair Chance Housing process).

Do not refuse a New York rental because the applicant was involved in a past or pending landlord-and-tenant case. A report is not permission to use information that housing law prohibits. Federal consumer-report notices are additional obligations; giving a notice does not make an otherwise prohibited decision lawful (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 227-f; FTC: landlord consumer-report guidance).

• Before ordering or charging for a report, review the application-fee limit, recent-report waiver and copy/receipt duties above. For covered New York City criminal checks, keep the noncriminal review, conditional offer, rights notice, permitted records and response opportunity in their proper sequence. Match report information to the applicant and preserve any correction or dispute evidence. Keep the criteria, report date, communications and required notices together with access limited to authorized people (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(1); NYC Commission on Human Rights: Fair Chance Housing coverage and offers; FTC: tenant background checks and rights).See Application and screening fees on the New York page
• If a consumer report contributes to an unfavorable decision, such as a denial or less favorable rent, deposit or cosigner terms, give the required adverse-action notice. Provide the reporting company's name, address and phone number; explain that it did not make the decision and cannot explain your reasons; and state the rights to dispute inaccurate or incomplete information and request a free report from that company within sixty days of the notice. Review extra duties for credit scores or investigative reports, and continue to follow the separate New York restrictions (FTC: landlord consumer-report guidance).

New York's Human Rights Law bars refusing to rent, or setting different terms, because of race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, age, disability, marital status, status as a victim of domestic violence, lawful source of income or familial status (N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)).

• Ads, application forms and inquiries may not express a limitation based on these traits. An owner-occupied two-family building must follow this rule too and loses its exemption from the refusal and terms rules if it breaks it; rooms limited to one sex, rooms rented by a resident owner or occupant and qualifying senior housing are exempt from it (N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)(3); N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)(4)).
• The refusal and terms rules do not apply to an owner-occupied two-family building, to rooms rented by a resident owner or occupant, to rooms limited to one sex, or, for age and familial status only, to qualifying senior housing (N.Y. Exec. Law § 296(5)(a)(4)).
• You may not restrict occupancy to the tenant and immediate family. For a lease entered by one tenant, section 235-f permits the tenant, immediate family, one additional occupant and that occupant's dependent children, provided the tenant or the tenant's spouse occupies the home as a primary residence. An occupant under this section is someone there with the tenant's consent who is neither a tenant nor the tenant's immediate family (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(1)-(3)).
• Refusing to rent because of a past or pending landlord and tenant case is prohibited (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 227-f).
• A lease clause requiring tenants to stay childless or not to have children during the term is a violation of law (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 237).
• For a lease entered by two or more tenants, section 235-f(4) permits tenants, immediate family, occupants and occupants' dependent children. The combined number of tenants and occupants, excluding occupants' dependent children, may not exceed the number of tenants named in the current lease, and at least one tenant or a tenant's spouse must use the home as a primary residence (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(4)).
• The tenant must give the landlord an occupant's name within 30 days after that person begins occupying the home or within 30 days after the landlord requests it. This identification duty is separate from the statute's protection against an unlawful occupancy restriction (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(5)).
• An occupant or the occupant's dependent child does not gain continued occupancy after the tenant leaves, or other tenancy rights, under section 235-f without the landlord's express written permission. The section preserves previously accrued rights and remedies; separate succession and lawful-occupant protections require their own review. This rule does not authorize a lockout (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(6); N.Y. Real Prop. Actions & Proc. Law section768).See Lockouts and utility shutoffs on the New York page
• A lease cannot waive section 235-f. Its protections do not invalidate federal, state or local occupancy laws or codes, and an aggrieved person may seek an injunction, actual damages and court costs. Check the applicable occupancy rules rather than using the roommate statute alone as a capacity limit (N.Y. Real Prop. Law section 235-f(7)-(9)).