New York Rental Application Form

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   The copy and the invoice are conditions of collecting, not paperwork that follows the payment. Section 238-a(1)(b) says the landlord may not collect the fee or fees unless it provides the potential tenant with a copy of the background check or credit check and the receipt or invoice from the entity conducting it. Two separate documents, and one of them comes from the screening company rather than from the landlord. In force since June 14, 2019 and untouched by the one later amendment to the section.

2. 2

   Every other pre-tenancy charge is prohibited outright rather than capped. Section 238-a(1)(a) bars any payment, fee, or charge for the processing, review or acceptance of an application, and any other payment, fee or charge before or at the beginning of the tenancy, except the checks allowed by paragraph (b) and except where statutes or regulations provide for the charge. There is no lawful New York application fee, administrative fee or acceptance fee to argue about the size of, which is why the ceiling in paragraph (b) is the only figure on this page.

3. 3

   The ceiling is two ceilings and the lower one wins. Paragraph (b) permits a fee or fees to reimburse costs associated with conducting a background check and credit check, provided the cumulative fee for such checks is no more than the actual cost of the background check and credit check or twenty dollars, whichever is less. Cumulative is the operative word: it is one ceiling across both checks together, not twenty dollars each. Where the screening cost less than twenty dollars, the actual cost is the limit, and the invoice the landlord has to hand over is what shows which figure applies.

4. 4

   A check from the last thirty days switches the fee off entirely. Paragraph (b) provides that the landlord shall waive the fee or fees if the potential tenant provides a copy of a background check or credit check conducted within the past thirty days. Note what this is and is not. It is a mandatory fee waiver, so the charge disappears. It is not a rule that the landlord has to decide the application on the applicant's report, and nothing stops the landlord from running its own check at its own expense. Because Section 238-a(1)(b) also requires the landlord to hand over a copy of any check it runs, a New York applicant usually ends up holding the document that triggers the waiver on the next application.

5. 5

   A lease clause cannot buy any of this back. Section 238-a(3) provides that any provision of a lease or contract waiving or limiting the provisions of this section shall be void as against public policy. So a signature next to a non-refundable application fee clause does not make the fee lawful, and an acknowledgment that the applicant received no copy of the check does not cure a collection made without one.

6. 6

   Section 238-a(1)(a) names its own exclusions and they are specific institutions, not landlord sizes. The subdivision carves out entrance fees of continuing care retirement communities, assisted living providers, adult care facilities, senior residential communities that have submitted an offering plan to the attorney general, and not-for-profit independent retirement communities offering personal emergency response, housekeeping, transportation and meals. Separately, a cooperative housing corporation may charge more than twenty dollars for checks where the applicant would become a dwelling unit owner or shareholder, capped at actual cost, and in a cooperative organized under the Private Housing Finance Law such fees must be reasonable and approved by the supervising agency.

7. 7

   One New York restriction sits outside the fee rules and is worth knowing before applying. Real Property Law Section 227-f provides that no landlord of a residential premises shall refuse to rent or offer a lease to a potential tenant on the basis that the potential tenant was involved in a past or pending landlord-tenant action or summary proceeding under article seven of the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, and it creates a rebuttable presumption of violation where the landlord requested information from a tenant screening bureau or otherwise inspected court records about the applicant and then refused. The Attorney General may seek an injunction and a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars and not more than one thousand dollars for each violation.

New York Requirements for Rental Application Form

• Every Application Processing Fee Is Prohibited, Not Capped

  Section 238-a(1)(a) provides that, except in instances where statutes or regulations provide for a payment, fee or charge, no landlord, lessor, sub-lessor or grantor may demand any payment, fee, or charge for the processing, review or acceptance of an application, or demand any other payment, fee or charge before or at the beginning of the tenancy. The only exception is the check reimbursement in paragraph (b). An application fee, administrative fee, review fee or move-in fee is therefore unlawful rather than limited. In force since June 14, 2019.

• The One Permitted Charge, and Its Two Ceilings

  Section 238-a(1)(b) permits a fee or fees to reimburse costs associated with conducting a background check and credit check, provided the cumulative fee or fees for such checks is no more than the actual cost of the background check and credit check or twenty dollars, whichever is less. Cumulative means one ceiling across both checks rather than twenty dollars for each. Where the screening cost less than twenty dollars, the actual cost is the ceiling. The twenty dollar figure is not indexed and has not changed since 2019.

• The Copy and the Invoice, Before Any Collection

  Section 238-a(1)(b) states that the landlord, lessor, sub-lessor or grantor may not collect the fee or fees unless it provides the potential tenant with a copy of the background check or credit check and the receipt or invoice from the entity conducting the background check or credit check. This is a precondition to collecting rather than a refund route, so the sequence runs screening first, documents second, payment third. The invoice is the document that shows the actual cost, which is one of the two ceilings, so it is the one to keep.

• Mandatory Waiver on a Check From the Past Thirty Days

  Section 238-a(1)(b) provides that the landlord shall waive the fee or fees if the potential tenant provides a copy of a background check or credit check conducted within the past thirty days. The waiver is mandatory and the clock runs from when the check was conducted. Keep the scope straight: it switches off the charge, it does not oblige the landlord to decide the application on the applicant's copy, and it does not stop the landlord running its own check at its own expense. The statute sets no format and does not require the report to name the landlord.

• Lease Clauses Waiving the Section Are Void

  Section 238-a(3) provides that any provision of a lease or contract waiving or limiting the provisions of this section shall be void as against public policy. A clause describing an application fee as non-refundable, a signature agreeing to a larger charge, or an acknowledgment that no copy of the check was needed are all within that sentence and have no effect. This is why a New York applicant who has already signed paperwork has not given anything away, and why the section is worth reading after the fact as well as before.

• The Named Exclusions, by Institution Rather Than Size

  Section 238-a(1)(a) excludes entrance fees of continuing care retirement communities and assisted living providers under the Public Health Law, adult care facilities under the Social Services Law, senior residential communities that have submitted an offering plan to the attorney general, and not-for-profit independent retirement communities offering personal emergency response, housekeeping, transportation and meals. Cooperative housing corporations are handled separately: where the applicant would become a dwelling unit owner or shareholder, checks may exceed twenty dollars but only up to actual cost, and under the Private Housing Finance Law such fees must be reasonable and approved by the supervising agency. There is no small-landlord or unit-count exclusion.

• Past or Pending Landlord-Tenant Cases Are Not a Ground for Refusal

  Real Property Law Section 227-f provides that no landlord of a residential premises shall refuse to rent or offer a lease to a potential tenant on the basis that the potential tenant was involved in a past or pending landlord-tenant action or summary proceeding under article seven of the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law. A rebuttable presumption of violation arises where it is established that the person requested information from a tenant screening bureau relating to a potential tenant, or otherwise inspected court records relating to a potential tenant, and subsequently refused. The Attorney General may seek an injunction and a civil penalty of not less than five hundred dollars but not more than one thousand dollars for each violation.

• Records the Application May Not Inquire About

  Executive Law Section 296(16) makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for any person, agency, bureau, corporation or association to make any inquiry about, whether in any form of application or otherwise, or to act upon adversely to the individual involved, any arrest or criminal accusation not then pending that was followed by a termination of the action in the individual's favor, an order adjourning the action in contemplation of dismissal, a youthful offender adjudication, or a conviction sealed under the Criminal Procedure Law. The subdivision's operative list reads licensing, housing, employment, including volunteer positions, or providing of credit or insurance, so it reaches a rental application, and the words any inquiry in any form of application mean the form itself may not ask. Section 296(5)(a)(3) separately bars using any application form, or making any record or inquiry about a prospective rental, that expresses directly or indirectly a limitation, specification or discrimination as to the listed categories, which include lawful source of income.