14-Day Eviction Notice: Delivery, Cure Rights, and Filing

In New York, a 14-day eviction notice is the written rent demand a landlord must serve before filing a nonpayment case in housing court. Under Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law § 711(2), no court will hear a nonpayment proceeding unless the tenant received a written demand at least 14 days earlier giving them the choice to pay the full rent owed or surrender the apartment.¹ Skip the notice, shorten the window, or get the contents wrong, and the case gets dismissed before it starts.

The 14-day period is a floor set by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which replaced the older three-day window.² Courts treat compliance as a hard prerequisite rather than a formality.

What the Notice Must Say

The demand is exclusively for unpaid rent. New York law bars landlords from seeking fees, charges, or penalties other than rent in a summary proceeding, which means late fees, attorney fees, utility charges, cleaning fees, and similar add-ons do not belong in the notice. The Attorney General’s tenant rights guide states plainly that tenants cannot be evicted for nonpayment of fees that are not rent.³

Late fees themselves are capped in New York at $50 or 5 percent of monthly rent, whichever is less. Even lawful late fees have to be pursued separately, not folded into the rent demand. Bundling non-rent charges is one of the most common mistakes landlords make, and it hands the tenant a straightforward defense.

A valid notice must identify the tenant, specify the property address, state the total rent owed, and give the tenant 14 days to pay or move out.⁴ The Unified Court System publishes a fillable form that covers all of these elements.

No statute explicitly requires a month-by-month breakdown, but itemizing the debt by period is the safer approach. A notice that lumps a $4,500 balance into a single figure invites a dispute about how the number was calculated. A notice that lists $1,500 for January, $1,500 for February, and $1,500 for March does not. If the math is off or a month is missing, a tenant’s attorney will use the error to challenge the petition, and the landlord may have to start over.

Good Cause Eviction Language

Since August 2024, landlords covered by the Good Cause Eviction Law must include specific language in every lease, renewal, and legal notice telling the tenant whether their apartment falls under the law. If the apartment is not covered, the notice must explain why.⁵ The current court-system rent demand form already contains this language, which is one more reason to use the official form.

Dating the Notice

The 14-day clock runs from the date the tenant is served, not the date printed on the document. If there is a gap between when the notice is prepared and when it is delivered, the service date controls. Landlords should either write the date they plan to serve or record the actual service date separately.

How the Notice Must Be Delivered

Preparing a correct notice does not matter if it is delivered the wrong way. RPAPL § 735 sets out three acceptable methods, and the landlord must attempt them in order:⁶

Personal delivery, in which the process server hands the notice directly to the tenant. This is the strongest method and the hardest to challenge.
Substituted service, used when the tenant cannot be found at the property. The server leaves the notice with another person of suitable age and discretion who lives or works there, and a copy is mailed by both certified and regular first-class mail within one business day.
Conspicuous-place service, used when no one at the property will accept the notice. The server affixes it to a visible part of the door or slides it under, then mails copies by both certified and regular first-class mail within one business day.

After service, the process server completes a sworn affidavit documenting when, where, and how delivery happened. That affidavit is the landlord’s proof of compliance, and the court will not move forward without it. Keep the original until the case is fully resolved.

What Happens if the Tenant Pays Part of the Balance

Accepting a partial rent payment after serving the 14-day demand is risky. A court may treat the acceptance as a waiver of the breach, forcing the landlord to start the process over with a new demand. The safer approach is to refuse partial payments after the notice has been served. A landlord who does accept partial payment should give the tenant a written statement making clear that acceptance does not waive the right to proceed with eviction. Without that written reservation, courts are more likely to view the payment as evidence that the parties agreed to new terms.

Filing the Nonpayment Case After 14 Days

If the tenant has not paid in full by the end of the 14 days, the landlord can file a nonpayment summary proceeding by preparing a Notice of Petition and a Petition and filing them with the court clerk. The Notice of Petition tells the tenant when to appear in court, and the Petition explains what is owed and why the landlord is seeking possession.¹

In New York City Housing Court, the fee to issue a notice of petition is $45.⁷ Fees in courts outside the city vary by jurisdiction. Once the papers are filed, the court assigns an index number, and the landlord must serve the tenant with the court papers at least 10 days and no more than 17 days before the scheduled hearing.

Filing the case does not authorize any move against the tenant. Only a judge can issue a warrant of eviction, and only a marshal or sheriff can carry it out. Landlords who change locks, shut off utilities, or remove belongings on their own face criminal charges, discussed further below.

How a Tenant Can Stop the Eviction by Paying

New York gives tenants two separate chances to halt a nonpayment case by paying what is owed.

Before the court issues a warrant, a tenant can stop the proceedings by depositing the full amount of rent due, plus court costs, with the court clerk. Once the deposit is made, the court cannot issue a warrant against the tenant.⁸

Even after a warrant has been issued, RPAPL § 749(3) requires the court to vacate the warrant in a nonpayment case if the tenant pays or deposits the full rent due at any time before the marshal or sheriff actually executes it. The only exception is when the landlord proves the tenant withheld rent in bad faith.⁹ In practice, a tenant can walk into court the day before a scheduled eviction, pay everything owed, and stay. For landlords, a nonpayment case is not truly won until the money is collected or the marshal physically executes the warrant.

Common Tenant Defenses

A tenant who receives a 14-day demand is not without options, even if rent is genuinely owed. New York courts recognize several defenses that can reduce the balance or end the case outright.

Warranty of habitability. If the landlord has failed to keep the apartment livable, the tenant can counterclaim for a rent reduction. Courts calculate the reduction by comparing the full rent to the value of the apartment in its diminished state. Lack of heat, water damage, and pest infestation have all led to significant reductions.³
Retaliatory eviction. If the landlord filed the case within one year of the tenant making a good-faith complaint about conditions, the law presumes the case is retaliatory. The landlord must then prove a legitimate, non-retaliatory reason or the case is dismissed.³
Improper rent demand. If the notice included non-rent charges, was served with fewer than 14 days, or was not delivered under § 735, the tenant can move to dismiss on procedural grounds.
Unreasonable rent increase under Good Cause. For covered apartments, a tenant can challenge an eviction when the increase that created the arrears was unreasonable. An increase is generally unreasonable if it exceeds 5 percent plus the annual change in the consumer price index, with a hard cap at 10 percent.⁵

Ignoring court papers is the worst thing a tenant can do. A failure to appear results in a default judgment, and a warrant of eviction can then be issued without the tenant ever being heard.

The Warrant and Marshal Timeline

When a judge rules for the landlord, the court issues a warrant of eviction directed to the sheriff or marshal. The eviction still does not happen right away. The officer who receives the warrant must serve the tenant with a written Notice of Eviction and then wait at least 14 calendar days before removing them.⁹ In New York City, a marshal serves that notice and can only execute the eviction on a business day between sunrise and sunset once the period expires.¹⁰

During this final window, the tenant can still stop the eviction in a nonpayment case by paying or depositing the full rent with the court. Once the marshal executes the warrant, that option is gone. A tenant who loses the case may also ask the court for a stay of up to one year to find comparable housing, though only by showing that no similar apartment is available in the same neighborhood.³

Penalties for Illegal Lockouts

Some landlords try to skip the whole process by changing locks, removing doors, shutting off utilities, or moving a tenant’s belongings out. New York treats these as crimes. Under RPAPL § 768, illegally evicting a tenant without a court order is a Class A misdemeanor, and anyone who participates, including a property manager or a friend who helps, faces the same charge.¹¹

Each violation also carries a civil penalty between $1,000 and $10,000. If the landlord fails to restore the tenant after being told to do so, an additional penalty of up to $100 per day accrues until the tenant is let back in, for up to six months.¹¹ The protection covers anyone with a written or oral lease, and anyone who has lawfully lived in the unit for at least 30 days regardless of lease status.¹²

How the Filing Follows a Tenant

Even a case that ends with the tenant paying in full and staying leaves a record. Eviction filings are public, and tenant screening companies routinely report them to prospective landlords. A future landlord who sees any eviction filing on a background check may deny the application without looking at the outcome. Unpaid rent or court fees sent to a collection agency can appear on a credit report for up to seven years. Tenants who find errors in their screening reports can dispute them with the background check company, but New York has no general process to expunge an accurate eviction record. Resolving the balance before a case is filed is the best result for both sides.

1
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 711 – Grounds Where Landlord-Tenant Relationship Exists
2
New York State Attorney General. Changes in New York State Rent Law
3
New York State Attorney General. Residential Tenants Rights Guide
4
New York State Unified Court System. Written Demand for Past Due Rent With Good Cause Eviction Law Notice
5
New York State Attorney General. New York State Good Cause Eviction Law
6
FindLaw. New York Code RPA 735 – Manner of Service, Filing, When Service Complete
7
New York Courts. NYC Housing Court Fees
8
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 751 – Stay Upon Paying Rent or Giving Undertaking
9
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 749 – Warrant
10
NYC Department of Investigation. Marshals Evictions FAQ
11
New York State Senate. New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 768 – Unlawful Eviction
12
New York State Attorney General. Unlawful Evictions RPAPL Section 768