Roommate 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
- Real Property Law 235-f lets a tenant add one additional occupant plus that occupant's dependent children without landlord consent.
- You must give the landlord the occupant's name within 30 days of move-in, or within 30 days of a request.
- Lease language limiting occupancy to named tenants and immediate family is unenforceable in New York as against public policy.
- In rent-stabilized NYC apartments a roommate may not be charged more than a proportionate share of the legal rent.
- An occupant gains no right to stay once the named tenant permanently moves out without written landlord consent.
Understanding the Roommate Clause
A roommate clause is the paragraph naming who may live in the apartment - almost always "only the tenants signed below." In most of the country that language holds. In New York it's unenforceable.
Real Property Law 235-f, the Roommate Law, overrides it: you may add one additional occupant plus that person's dependent children, and the landlord's consent is not part of the equation. Your entire obligation is telling the landlord the occupant's name within 30 days.
What renters assume
Renters read "no occupants other than those named herein," assume moving a partner in means asking permission first, and worry that skipping the ask is grounds for eviction.
What is actually true
That clause is unenforceable in New York. RPL 235-f voids occupancy restrictions like it as against public policy - your job is to notify, not to ask.
New York and Seattle both show 30 days on this chart, but only New York's comes from state law - Seattle's is a municipal code that stops at the city line. Austin, Miami, and Phoenix read no statute, which leaves the lease in charge, and Florida has gone further by preempting Miami from writing its own rule.
Plain English Version
It's like a plus-one on a wedding invitation. The card has your name on it, but you're allowed to bring one person and nobody gets to veto who - you just have to tell the host who's coming.
Roommate 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.
Below is the first sentence of an apartment lease's reimbursement paragraph, printed as the court printed it and stopping short of the rest.
REIMBURSEMENT. You must promptly reimburse us for loss, damage, or cost of repairs or service caused anywhere in the apartment community by your or any guest's or occupant's improper use or negligence. […]
Quoted from the published opinion in Churchill Forge, Inc. v. Brown, 61 S.W.3d 368 (Tex. 2001). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“promptly”
The lease sets the pace for money and gives no number. New York gives a number, but for a different duty: 30 days to give the landlord the name of an occupant who has moved in, and 30 days from a landlord's request if they ask for it. Keep the two apart. Meeting the naming deadline protects your right to have the person there and does nothing about a reimbursement demand; paying a reimbursement demand does nothing about the naming deadline.
“for loss, damage”
Rent and damage are separate pots, and New York City regulates only one of them. In a rent-stabilized unit a roommate may not be charged more than a proportionate share of the legal rent - the share is measured against the legal regulated rent, not against whatever a second bedroom would fetch on the open market. No rule in our New York record caps what a reimbursement paragraph like this one may seek, so the protection sits on the rent side and stops there.
“apartment community”
The clause covers the whole property, and it is worth reading next to the limit New York puts on an occupant's position. The occupant you are entitled to bring in gains no right to remain once the named tenant permanently vacates, unless the landlord consents in writing. So the person can be there lawfully, their presence can cost you under this sentence, and they still hold nothing of their own in the apartment once you go.
“occupant's improper use”
New York's roommate law gives you a person you are entitled to have living there without asking permission; this paragraph routes that same person's conduct straight to your account. The statute and the lease are pulling in opposite directions on the identical set of people. Both survive: having the right to the roommate is not the same as being insulated from what the roommate does, and nothing in our New York record reaches that second question.
The co-signer's defence failed. JoAnn Brown signed an apartment lease as a cotenant with her adult son. He was alleged to have started a fire that damaged the complex, the landlord sued only her, and she argued she could not be charged for damage she had not caused. The Texas Supreme Court disagreed, reversed the summary judgment she had won and held this sentence enforceable against a cotenant who was not herself negligent. The route ran through two sections. Tex. Prop. Code § 92.052(b) gives a landlord no duty to repair damage caused by the tenant, an occupant or a guest, so § 92.006(e) had no repair duty to stop the parties contracting over; and the fair-notice doctrine did not apply, because the sentence does not shift the landlord's own negligence onto the tenant. The court added that neither statute, common law nor the Restatement bars “requiring a tenant to reimburse the landlord for damages negligently caused by the tenant or one occupying the premises with the tenant's consent.” A dissent would have held the sentence unenforceable outright because it was not underlined or conspicuous, as § 92.006(e)(4) requires. This is 2001 Texas law, decided on the Texas Property Code - state-specific, and not a national rule.
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 Roommate Clause
- Lease clauses restricting occupancy to named tenants and immediate family are unenforceable as against public policy.
- A lease naming one tenant permits that tenant, immediate family, one additional occupant, and the occupant's dependent children.
- The tenant must tell the landlord the occupant's name within 30 days of move-in or within 30 days of a landlord request.
- An occupant gains no right to remain once the named tenant permanently vacates without written landlord consent.
N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 235-f - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
The Roommate Law works by cancellation, not permission. Any lease clause limiting occupancy to the named tenants and their immediate family is void, so a lease naming one tenant legally covers that tenant, their immediate family, one additional occupant, and that occupant's dependent children. Nothing in that requires the landlord to say yes.
Texas runs the other way with no roommate statute at all, and Property Code 92.010 caps a unit at three adults per bedroom. Florida barred its own cities from writing tenant rules, so a Miami renter's roommate question is answered entirely by the lease. In New York, the lease loses.
New York Tenant Protections
Real Property Law 235-f voids any lease clause restricting occupancy to the tenants named on the lease and their immediate family, so that boilerplate cannot be enforced against you. A lease naming one tenant covers that tenant, their immediate family, one additional occupant, and that occupant's dependent children, with no landlord approval required. Your only duty is giving the landlord the occupant's name within 30 days of move-in or within 30 days of the landlord asking.
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 the part with teeth. In a rent-stabilized unit a roommate may not be charged more than a proportionate share of the legal regulated rent - the split is measured against the regulated figure, not against whatever the open market would bear.
That matters in a city where a broker fee plus first month plus deposit runs past most paychecks, and splitting a one-bedroom is how a lot of people stay housed. Expect pushback anyway: management companies routinely demand applications, credit checks, and a lease amendment for an added occupant, and none of that is required by RPL 235-f - the statute asks for a name within 30 days.
It should. You owe the landlord the occupant's name within 30 days, and a written notice address is how you prove where you sent it.
A fair New York lease says occupancy is subject to RPL 235-f. That signals the landlord knows you may add one occupant without asking.
Red flag. Consent is not what 235-f asks for - the statute requires notice within 30 days, not permission.
Ask where that comes from. RPL 235-f says nothing about occupant fees, and in a stabilized unit a roommate owes only a proportionate share.
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 § 235-f on nysenate.gov, New York's own publication of its statutes.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
-
Occupancy limited to named tenants
Standard boilerplate, and unenforceable here. RPL 235-f voids clauses restricting occupancy to the named tenants and their immediate family as against public policy.
-
Landlord consent required first
The statute requires notice, not consent. You give the occupant's name within 30 days - the landlord does not get an approval vote.
-
Roommate must pass screening
Screening your added occupant is not what RPL 235-f asks for. Seattle's ordinance expressly lets landlords screen non-family roommates; New York's statute is built around notice instead.
-
Automatic rent bump per occupant
A per-head surcharge written into the lease. In a rent-stabilized apartment a roommate cannot be charged above a proportionate share of the legal regulated rent.
-
Eviction threatened over unnamed occupant
The clause treats a late name as a default. Cure it fast - the statute asks for the occupant's name within 30 days, so send it in writing.
Your Rights as a New York City Tenant
-
One occupant, no permission needed
RPL 235-f lets you add one additional occupant plus that occupant's dependent children. The landlord's approval is not part of the statute.
-
Restrictive occupancy clauses are void
Lease language limiting occupancy to named tenants and immediate family is unenforceable as against public policy, so it cannot be used against you.
-
Thirty days to give the name
Your obligation is the occupant's name within 30 days of move-in, or within 30 days of the landlord asking. That is the whole duty.
-
Proportionate share if stabilized
In a rent-stabilized New York City unit, a roommate may not be charged more than a proportionate share of the legal regulated rent.
What To Do - Step by Step
Read the occupancy paragraph
Find who the lease says may live there. If it limits occupancy to named tenants and immediate family, that clause is unenforceable in New York.
Confirm you have room
RPL 235-f covers you, your immediate family, one additional occupant, and that occupant's dependent children. A second unrelated roommate sits outside the statute.
Send the name in writing
Email or letter, dated, naming the occupant. You have 30 days from move-in, or 30 days from a landlord request.
Keep proof of delivery
Save the sent email or the certified-mail receipt. If the notice ever becomes a dispute, the date you sent it is the entire argument.
Check your stabilization status
Order the rent history from HCR. Stabilized status caps what a roommate can be charged at a proportionate share of the legal regulated rent.
Escalate if you're pressured
If a landlord threatens eviction or fees over a lawful occupant, call 311 or a tenant attorney. Bring the lease and your 30-day notice.