Lease Renewal Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what New York law says, what's specific to New York City - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Not renewing takes 30, 60 or 90 days' written notice, set by how long you have lived there.
- A renewal offer that raises your rent 5% or more needs the same notice.
- Late notice does not end your lease early. Your existing terms continue until the full period runs.
- An auto-renewal clause is inoperative unless the landlord reminds you 15 to 30 days before your own deadline.
- A rent-stabilized unit must get a renewal offer 90 to 150 days before the term expires.
Understanding the Lease Renewal Clause
This page is for New York City renters whose lease is ending and who want to know how much warning they get about renewal or a rent increase. The most important thing to know is how long you have lived in the unit, because that sets your notice period.
State law sets a floor your lease cannot undercut, and New York City adds more on top. Find your lease end date first, since the notice you are owed counts back from it.
What renters assume
My landlord can let my lease run out and hand me a move-out date a few weeks before the end date.
What is actually true
§ 226-c requires 30, 60 or 90 days' written notice first, set by how long you have lived there. If it comes late, your existing terms continue until that full period runs.
New York's 90 days sits at the top of this chart, while Austin, Phoenix, and Nashville require zero notice when a fixed term simply expires. The New York number isn't fixed either - it steps up with tenure, so a first-year renter is on the 30-day tier.
Lease Renewal Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in New York City, NY
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
This one is from 1968, and from a trial-level New York City Civil Court. It is printed here for the shape of the clause, not as a statement of current New York law:
If the tenant continues in possession after the expiration of the term granted herein, then this lease is hereby renewed for a further period of one year and the rent during said period shall be increased $420.00 per year payable by the increase of each monthly payment in the sum of $35.00, unless the parties enter into a new written agreement.
Quoted from the published opinion in Renoir House, Inc. v. Solomon, 58 Misc. 2d 994 (N.Y. Civ. Ct. 1968). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“If the tenant continues in possession”
Holding over is the act that renews here, and the tenant is the one who performs it. New York's modern statute contains a version of the same idea pointed the other way: where the landlord misses the notice deadline in Real Prop. Law § 226-c, the tenancy continues on the existing terms until the full notice period has run. Staying put is not automatically a wrong; sometimes it is precisely what the statute contemplates.
“then this lease is hereby renewed”
Automatic in form, but the direction is everything. General Obligations Law § 5-905 makes an automatic-renewal clause inoperative unless the landlord reminds the tenant 15 to 30 days before the tenant's own notice deadline - a protection aimed at clauses that bind a tenant who fails to give notice to quit. The 1968 decision below read the statute as doing that job and no more, so it would not let the landlord use it to escape a renewal running the tenant's way.
See the example
“shall be increased $420.00 per year”
A figure fixed in advance is what made the increase in this case predictable, and what made the landlord's attempt to go higher fail. The modern New York equivalent is procedural rather than substantive: under § 226-c, a renewal offer raising the rent by five percent or more triggers the same 30, 60 or 90 day notice as a refusal to renew, scaled to your tenure.
“unless the parties enter into a new written agreement”
The escape from the formula is a fresh signed lease, and the tenant here refused to sign one. Before signing a renewal in New York City, work out which regime you are in: a rent-stabilized owner must offer a renewal 90 to 150 days before expiration, and since 2024 the Good Cause Eviction law in RPL Article 6-A applies citywide by default, so a refusal to renew is not always the landlord's to make.
See the example
Read the date first. This is 1968, and a trial-level New York City Civil Court decision, so it carries little precedential weight - one trial judge reading one lease, not a rule laid down by an appellate court. Treat it as an illustration of a clause shape, never as controlling authority, and check current New York law before relying on any part of it. What the court did: it called paragraph 14 “crystal clear and unambiguous” and read it as an option the tenant exercises simply by staying in possession, at a fixed increase the lease itself named. The tenant held over and refused to sign a new agreement, so the lease was extended for a year at $292 a month, and the landlord's written notice raising the rent above that figure was “completely ineffectual.” The court also held that General Obligations Law § 5-905 did not let the landlord negate the option: that statute exists to protect tenants from automatic-renewal clauses that bind them unless they give advance notice to quit, not to defeat a renewal clause that runs the tenant's way. Petition dismissed, final judgment for the tenant.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
New York Law on Lease Renewal Clause
- Notice is 30 days under one year, 60 days from one to two years, and 90 days at two years or more.
- The same tiered notice applies to any renewal offer raising rent by five percent or more.
- If the landlord misses the deadline, the tenancy continues on existing terms until the full notice period runs.
- General Obligations Law 5-905 makes an automatic-renewal clause inoperative unless the landlord reminds the tenant 15 to 30 days before the tenant's own deadline.
Sources include N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-c - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Step by step
How it plays out
- 150 days beforeStabilized renewal window opensIf your unit is rent-stabilized, the owner must offer a renewal lease between 150 and 90 days before your term expires.
- 90 days beforeNotice due: two years plusTwo years or more in the unit: written notice of non-renewal, or of a 5% or larger increase, is due by now (§ 226-c).
- 60 days beforeNotice due: one to two yearsOne to two years in the unit: the same written notice is due by this point under § 226-c.
- 30 days beforeNotice due: under one yearUnder one year: notice is due by now. If it comes late, your existing terms continue until the full period runs.
Count it for your dates
90 days before: the last day to act
What it means: Written notice that your lease will not be renewed, or of a renewal raising rent 5% or more, must be given at least 90 days before that day if you have lived there two years or more. Applies to a New York landlord declining to renew, or offering a renewal that raises rent 5% or more; 90 days at two years or more in the unit, 60 days for one to two years, 30 days under one year. If notice is late, the tenancy continues on existing terms until the full period runs (N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-c). Calendar arithmetic only; check how the section counts days before you rely on a date.
Copy and send: Well before your lease end date
Ask about renewal in writing
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
New York's renewal rule is N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-c. Before a landlord declines to renew, or offers a renewal that raises your rent 5% or more, you are owed written notice. How much depends on how long you have lived in the unit:
- Under one year: at least 30 days.
- One to two years: at least 60 days.
- Two years or more: at least 90 days.
If the landlord misses the deadline, your lease does not end early. Your tenancy continues on the existing terms, including your current rent, until the full notice period has run.
A separate law covers leases that renew on their own. Under General Obligations Law § 5-905, an automatic-renewal clause is inoperative unless the landlord reminded you 15 to 30 days before your own deadline to give notice.
Statutes change, so check the current text of § 226-c before you count a day.
What's Specific to New York City
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
New York City adds two layers. If your unit is rent-stabilized, the owner must offer you a renewal lease 90 to 150 days before your term expires, and that offer is not the owner's choice to skip.
The 2024 Good Cause Eviction law (RPL Article 6-A) also applies citywide by default. Under it, refusing renewal generally takes an actual reason, but the law has carve-outs, so confirm your building is covered.
It should. That date is the anchor for the written notice you are owed under § 226-c.
A fair lease puts the offer in writing. If your unit is rent-stabilized, an offer is required, not optional.
A waiver trades away the § 226-c notice set by your time in the unit. Get it explained in writing before you sign.
Without the reminder § 5-905 requires, that clause is inoperative. Note your own notice deadline anyway.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 226-c on nysenate.gov, New York's own publication of its statutes.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Renewal treated as the owner's choice
If your unit is rent-stabilized, the owner must offer a renewal lease. Wording that makes renewal purely discretionary is worth asking about.
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A waiver of your notice rights
Language signing away the 30, 60 or 90 days that § 226-c guarantees by tenure. Get any waiver explained in writing first.
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Auto-renewal with no reminder promised
The lease renews itself and says nothing about reminding you. Under General Obligations Law § 5-905, the clause is inoperative without that reminder.
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More notice demanded from you than from the landlord
The clause wants your notice months ahead while the landlord's own duty sits at the legal minimum. An unequal clock is worth asking about.
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A rent increase of 5% or more sent late
That offer needs the same tiered notice. If it arrives late, your existing terms continue until the full period has run.
Your Rights as a New York City Tenant
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30 to 90 days' written notice
§ 226-c: 30 days under one year in the unit, 60 for one to two years, 90 for two years or more.
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The same notice for a 5% increase
A renewal offer raising your rent 5% or more needs the same notice, so a large increase cannot appear at the last minute.
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Existing terms until notice runs
If the notice is late, your tenancy continues on its current terms until the full notice period has passed.
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A renewal offer if rent-stabilized
Rent-stabilized NYC tenants must be offered a renewal lease 90 to 150 days before the term expires.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find your lease end date
Note the last day of your term. The notice you are owed counts back from that date.
Count your time in the unit
That sets your tier under § 226-c: under one year, one to two years, or two years or more.
Check if you are rent-stabilized
Order your rent history from NY Homes and Community Renewal. A stabilized unit must get a renewal offer before the term ends.
Ask about renewal in writing
Email rather than call. A dated written request gives you proof if the notice never shows up.
Date every notice you receive
Save the envelope and the email. Notice shorter than your tier does not shorten your tenancy; your existing terms keep running until the full period passes.
Get help before you move
Do not pack on a defective notice. Call 311 for the city's tenant helpline, or contact NY Homes and Community Renewal to confirm what you are owed.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Lease Renewal rules near New York
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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