New York law gives landlords 14 days to return a security deposit with an itemized statement. Miss the clock, skip the accounting, and the tenant holds the stronger hand — in two different venues.

New York law gives a landlord 14 days from the end of a tenancy to return a security deposit. Miss that window — and fail to send a written, itemized statement of what was withheld and why — and the landlord has surrendered the legal footing a court needs to side with them.

The 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act capped deposits at one month's rent across all apartments, regulated or not. The permitted reasons for withholding are narrow: unpaid rent and physical damage beyond normal wear and tear. A landlord who cannot show both a timely return and a proper itemized accounting starts from behind.

Tenants have two paths when a landlord ignores the clock.

The New York Attorney General's Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau handles security deposit complaints, particularly when a pattern is building-wide — multiple tenants, one landlord, same playbook. Phone: 212-416-8345. File online under "Housing and real estate" at ag.ny.gov/file-complaint. The office takes complaints and pursues some cases; it does not act as individual counsel, and resolution timelines are not guaranteed.

For single-tenant disputes, tenant advocates — including Met Council on Housing, which runs a tenants' rights telephone hotline — consistently point to Small Claims Court, where neither side is required to have an attorney. A tenant who sent a demand letter, can prove delivery, has timestamped move-in and move-out documentation, and can show the 14-day deadline passed without a deposit or an itemized statement is positioned well.

The record is what decides it: written demand with proof of delivery, move-in and move-out video or photos dated at the time, rent receipts. Collect those before the clock runs out.