Being Evicted
RPAPL §§ 711, 749 — a fourteen day rent demand first, and fourteen days' notice before a warrant is carried out
No tenant or lawful occupant of a dwelling may be removed except in a special proceeding in court. A tenant includes someone renting rooms in a rooming house, and a hotel resident who is not a transient occupant and has been there thirty consecutive days or longer; a squatter is not a tenant.
Fourteen days to pay or leave. A case for unpaid rent needs a written demand served with at least fourteen days' notice, requiring either the rent or possession. The notice also says whether the home is covered by the good cause eviction law, and if it is exempt, why. Other grounds include staying on after the lease term ends without the landlord's permission, and using the home for an illegal trade or business.
That rent demand rule is the version of the section in force until June 15, 2034.
Fourteen days before the warrant is carried out. After a judgment for the landlord, the court issues a warrant to the sheriff, a marshal or a constable, stating the earliest date it may be executed. The officer gives at least fourteen days' written notice, carries it out only on a business day between sunrise and sunset, and checks first for companion animals.
In a judgment for unpaid rent, the court vacates the warrant if the full rent due is paid or deposited with the court at any time before it is executed, unless the landlord shows the rent was withheld in bad faith.
A stay of up to a year. On the occupant's application the court may stay the warrant for not more than one year, when the application is made in good faith and the occupant cannot find similar housing in the neighborhood despite reasonable efforts, or would suffer extreme hardship. The court weighs serious ill health, a child's enrollment in a local school and other circumstances against the landlord's hardship, and the stay holds only while the rent for its length is deposited in court. A case over a breach of the lease gets a thirty day stay to correct the breach.
A lease clause giving up the right to a stay is void.
Sources for this section (3)
- RPAPL § 711 — Grounds where landlord-tenant relationship exists
- RPAPL § 749 — Warrant
- RPAPL § 753 — Stay in premises occupied for dwelling purposes
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed New York attorney.