Eviction Laws in New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle is a city of approximately 86,000 residents in southern Westchester County, located directly on the Long Island Sound approximately 16 miles northeast of midtown Manhattan. The city is one of the oldest in New York State — settled in 1688 by Huguenot refugees — and today functions as both a commuter suburb and a rapidly growing urban center in its own right. New Rochelle is undergoing one of the most ambitious downtown redevelopment programs in the New York metropolitan area, with a zoning initiative that has paved the way for up to 12 million square feet of new development including 6,370 housing units, one million square feet of retail, 2.4 million square feet of office space, and 1,200 hotel rooms. By 2027, New Rochelle will become the first city in Westchester County with direct Metro-North commuter rail access to both Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station through the MTA Penn Station Access project. The city’s demographics are diverse: approximately 45 percent Hispanic, 27 percent White, 18 percent Black, and 6 percent Asian. The median household income is approximately $109,000, though this figure masks wide variation — the poverty rate is about 10 percent. Approximately 49 percent of New Rochelle housing units are renter-occupied, with a total of roughly 15,000 renter households. The median gross rent is approximately $1,958, and average rents for apartments in larger complexes run closer to $2,750. The vacancy rate is approximately 3.4 percent — well below the 5 percent threshold that triggered ETPA adoption. Iona University, a private Catholic institution with approximately 4,000 students, maintains its main 45-acre campus in New Rochelle. Other major employers include Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital, the New Rochelle City School District, and numerous businesses along the North Avenue and Main Street corridors.
New York eviction law — the Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law (RPAPL) Article 7 — requires landlords to serve a written notice before filing suit. For nonpayment of rent, a 14-day written rent demand is required under RPAPL § 711(2), specifying the exact amount owed and the time period covered. For lease violations, a 10-day notice to cure is required under RPAPL § 753(4). Month-to-month tenancies require 30 days’ notice if the tenancy is under one year, 60 days if between one and two years, and 90 days if the tenancy exceeds two years (RPL § 232-b as amended by HSTPA 2019). Once the notice period expires without compliance, the landlord files a summary proceeding (nonpayment or holdover petition) with the court. A critical protection added by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA): tenants may cure a nonpayment at any time until the marshal or sheriff physically executes the warrant of eviction — payment of all rent and fees owed stops the eviction entirely. Self-help eviction — changing locks, removing belongings, or shutting off utilities without a court order — is a criminal misdemeanor under RPAPL § 768.
As of August 18, 2024, all landlords statewide must include the Good Cause Eviction Law notice (RPL § 231-c) on every lease, every rent demand, every petition, and every notice — even for units that are exempt from the substantive Good Cause protections. Failure to include this notice can result in dismissal of the proceeding.
New Rochelle & Westchester County — Local Rules That Affect Landlords
Rent Stabilization — ETPA Applies. New Rochelle adopted the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) and holds one of the three largest concentrations of rent-stabilized units in Westchester County, alongside Yonkers and Mount Vernon. The ETPA applies to buildings with six or more units built before 1974 in municipalities that have declared a housing emergency. Rent increases for ETPA-covered units are set annually by the Westchester County Rent Guidelines Board — not the New York City board. Landlords with ETPA-covered units must register with the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), file annual registration statements, and comply with DHCR regulations on rent increases, lease renewals, and services. Under HSTPA 2019, apartments can no longer be deregulated based on rent amounts or tenant income levels — once stabilized, always stabilized. Landlords of rent-stabilized units cannot refuse lease renewals except on grounds allowed by law, and eviction of rent-stabilized tenants requires approval from DHCR (except for nonpayment proceedings). Not every New Rochelle apartment is rent-stabilized — the significant wave of new downtown construction (post-2009 buildings) is market-rate, and single-family homes and smaller buildings are not covered by ETPA.
Good Cause Eviction — OPTED IN (October 2025). The New Rochelle City Council voted on October 21, 2025, to adopt Local Law Intro No. 6 of 2025, opting the city into Good Cause Eviction protections under Article 6-A of the New York State Real Property Law. New Rochelle is the 19th locality in New York State to adopt Good Cause and joins Croton-on-Hudson, White Plains, and Tarrytown as Westchester County opt-ins. The law covers approximately 10,000 rental units and provides that landlords must have a “good cause” — such as nonpayment of rent or violation of the lease — to evict a tenant or refuse to renew a lease. Tenants can challenge rent increases that exceed the lower of CPI + 5 percent or 10 percent (approximately 8.79 percent in Westchester as of April 2025). New Rochelle’s version closes the LLC loophole by lowering the portfolio size exemption to one unit and raises the high-rent threshold to 345 percent of Fair Market Rent — ensuring protections apply to the vast majority of New Rochelle renters. Buildings issued a certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2009, remain exempt under state law for 30 years from construction. For ETPA-covered units, the existing rent stabilization framework already provides comparable tenant protections, so Good Cause primarily expands coverage to the market-rate units that fall outside ETPA.
Dual Regulatory Framework — ETPA + Good Cause. New Rochelle is now one of a small number of New York cities where landlords must navigate two overlapping tenant-protection frameworks. For pre-1974 buildings with six or more units, ETPA rent stabilization governs — including DHCR registration, Westchester County Rent Guidelines Board rate increases, and DHCR-regulated lease renewals. For market-rate units not covered by ETPA (newer construction between 2009 exemption and Good Cause coverage, buildings with fewer than six units, and post-deregulation units), Good Cause Eviction now provides comparable protections including just-cause eviction requirements and rent-increase caps. Landlords must determine which regulatory framework applies to each specific unit before setting rents, serving notices, or pursuing evictions. Operating under the wrong framework can result in case dismissal and potential liability.
Massive Downtown Redevelopment. New Rochelle’s downtown is in the midst of a generational transformation. The city’s fast-track zoning process has attracted billions in private investment, producing thousands of new luxury apartment units in high-rise and mid-rise buildings concentrated near the train station. The $125 million New Rochelle Transit Center redesign will create a modern intermodal hub connecting Metro-North, Amtrak, Bee-Line bus service, and pedestrian networks. The Lincoln Avenue neighborhood reconnection project aims to heal a historically Black community severed by highway construction in the 1950s. This development boom creates a distinctive two-tier rental market: new luxury units at $2,500 to $3,500+ per month that are exempt from both ETPA and Good Cause (post-2009 construction), and older stabilized and now Good-Cause-covered units at significantly lower rents. Landlords entering the New Rochelle market must understand which tier their property falls into — the regulatory obligations are fundamentally different.
Westchester County Office of Housing Counsel. Westchester County operates the Office of Housing Counsel (OHC), the first county-level program of its kind in New York. The OHC provides free legal representation for financially eligible tenants facing eviction or housing disputes, and coordinates access to pre-eviction support, counseling, and financial assistance through nine contracted service providers. Landlords filing eviction proceedings in New Rochelle should expect that many tenants will appear with legal representation through this program. The Hudson Valley Justice Center also provides legal aid to New Rochelle tenants.
Housing Enforcement and Heating. New Rochelle’s Bureau of Building actively enforces the city’s housing code, including the Multiple Dwelling Registration requirement for buildings with multiple residential units. To file a housing or heating complaint, tenants call 914-654-4809. For ETPA-covered units, housing code violations can result in both city-level fines and DHCR rent reduction orders. The state Property Maintenance Code requires adequate heat — 68 degrees Fahrenheit during heating season (October 1 through May 31). Landlords who fail to provide heat face code violation tickets, potential fines, and court-ordered rent reductions.
Security Deposits. New York State law (HSTPA 2019, General Obligations Law § 7-108) governs all deposit handling. Maximum deposit is one month’s rent. Must be returned within 14 days of move-out with an itemized statement of deductions. Must be held in an interest-bearing account — tenant receives interest minus a 1 percent administrative fee. Application fees are capped at $20 total. Late fees are capped at the lesser of $50 or 5 percent of monthly rent, with a 5-day grace period. New Rochelle does not impose additional local deposit requirements beyond state law.
New Rochelle City Court — Where New Rochelle Landlords File
New Rochelle landlords file summary proceedings (nonpayment petitions and holdover petitions) at New Rochelle City Court, located at 475 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801. General phone: (914) 358-8000. Civil Part: (914) 358-8070. Hours: Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding New York State holidays. The court is part of the Ninth Judicial District of the New York State Unified Court System. Current City Court judges include Hon. Michelle K. Bernstein and Hon. Eileen Songer McCarthy. Parking is available behind the courthouse with handicapped-accessible spaces. The filing fee for a summary proceeding is approximately $45. After judgment, the Westchester County Sheriff executes the warrant — not a city marshal. The sheriff must give the tenant 14 days’ written notice before physical removal (RPAPL § 749(2)). For ETPA-covered units, the court will verify the unit’s regulatory status, and landlords may need to demonstrate DHCR compliance before the court will enter judgment. For Good-Cause-covered units, landlords must establish a valid “good cause” ground for eviction. An uncontested nonpayment eviction typically takes 6 to 10 weeks from demand to physical removal. Contested proceedings — particularly those involving rent-stabilized units, Good Cause defenses, DHCR complaints, habitability defenses, or adjournment requests — can extend to 12 to 16 weeks or significantly longer. Self-help eviction is a criminal misdemeanor under RPAPL § 768, and only the Westchester County Sheriff is authorized to physically remove a tenant.
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