Complete 2026 Guide · Updated 2026-09-01
Selling a rental property in New York means selling the tenancies with it. Between rent stabilization, the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, the 2024 Good Cause Eviction law, NYC's HPD and Local Law 1 requirements, the security-deposit transfer rules, and New York's income and transfer taxes, a NY landlord has more to get right at sale than almost anywhere in the country. This guide walks through it: which tenant protections transfer with the building, what Good Cause changed, deposits and estoppels, NYC-specific paperwork, the taxes (federal recapture, NYS and NYC income tax, the IT-2663 nonresident prepayment, and transfer taxes), Section 8 and voucher tenants, the vacant-versus-occupied decision, and why tired landlords sell to Tony the Cash Guy — with the honest cases where a listing would net more. This is not legal or tax advice; talk to a NY attorney and a CPA before you sell.
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Roughly a million NYC apartments are rent-stabilized, and the Emergency Tenant Protection Act extends stabilization to buildings of six or more units built before 1974 in participating Nassau, Westchester, and Rockland municipalities — and, since the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, to any municipality statewide that declares a housing emergency and opts in (Kingston was the first upstate city to do so). Stabilization runs with the building, not the owner. A buyer inherits the registered legal rents, the tenants' right to renewal leases at Rent Guidelines Board increases, and the DHCR registration history. The HSTPA changed what a buyer can do afterward: vacancy decontrol and high-rent deconrol were repealed, the vacancy bonus was eliminated, Individual Apartment Improvement increases were capped (now roughly $30,000 over 15 years), Major Capital Improvement increases were limited, and owner-use recovery was restricted to a single unit for the owner's immediate and compelling need. If your building is stabilized, investors will price it on the registered rents and the DHCR history, and a clean registration file is worth real money at sale. An unstabilized one- or two-family or small building is simpler, but the HSTPA still applies statewide: one month's security-deposit cap, 14-day rent demands, and 30/60/90-day notice for non-renewal or rent increases above 5% under Real Property Law §226-c.
New York's Good Cause Eviction law (Chapter 56 of the Laws of 2024, effective April 20, 2024) applies automatically in New York City and in any municipality that opts in — Albany, Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Ithaca, Beacon, Newburgh, Hudson, Rochester, and others had adopted it by 2025. Where it applies, a landlord of a covered unit needs a "good cause" to evict or to refuse a renewal, and a rent increase above the local rent standard (the lesser of 10% or 5% plus inflation) is presumptively unreasonable. The exemptions are what matter to small landlords: owners with ten or fewer units statewide (counting all entities they control), owner-occupied buildings of ten or fewer units, units renting above 245% of fair market rent, buildings with a certificate of occupancy issued in the last 30 years, co-ops, and condos are all outside the law. Whether the exemption survives a sale depends on the buyer — a small owner-occupant buyer may be exempt where a portfolio investor is not — and sale is not itself a good cause. Regardless of Good Cause, leases survive a sale everywhere in New York; the buyer becomes the landlord on the existing terms.
General Obligations Law §7-105 requires a landlord who sells to either return each tenant's deposit or turn it over to the buyer within five days of closing and notify each tenant by registered or certified mail of the transfer and the buyer's name and address. Failure leaves the seller liable to the tenant. In practice the deposits (capped at one month's rent since the HSTPA for residential units) are credited to the buyer on the closing statement and the attorneys send the notices. Buyers ask for tenant estoppel certificates confirming rent, term, deposit, arrears, and the absence of side agreements; tenants aren't required to sign, but refusals get priced. Tenants are not entitled to advance notice that you're selling, and the sale doesn't change their notice rights: 30, 60, or 90 days under RPL §226-c depending on how long they've lived there, and in stabilized units the renewal-lease cycle. Rents are prorated at closing and the leases, ledgers, DHCR registrations, and inspection records are handed over.
In New York City, every building with three or more units, and every one- or two-family that isn't owner-occupied, must be registered annually with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development; a buyer's attorney will confirm the registration and pull HPD, DOB, and ECB violations, which usually have to be cleared, escrowed, or priced. Local Law 1 of 2004 imposes lead-paint duties on buildings of three or more units built before 1960 (and 1960-1978 buildings with known lead paint) where a child under six lives — annual notices, turnover abatement, and, under Local Law 31 of 2020, XRF testing of every unit — and buyers now ask for the file. The Certificate of Occupancy has to match the use: a two-family with an unpermitted basement apartment is a legal problem the buyer's lender will not finance around. In the parts of the city covered by the Certificate of No Harassment pilot, certain permits require the certificate. Outside NYC, Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, and Syracuse have rental registries and lead ordinances, and Long Island towns require rental permits and certificates of occupancy for finished basements and additions. Tony buys NYC and upstate rentals with open violations, missing registrations, C of O mismatches, and no Local Law 1 file, and takes all of it on after closing.
Federally, the depreciation you've taken is recaptured at closing as unrecaptured Section 1250 gain at up to 25%, the rest of the gain is long-term capital gain at 0%, 15%, or 20%, and the 3.8% net investment income tax applies above roughly $200,000 of income for single filers and $250,000 for joint filers. A Section 1031 exchange defers all of it: identify replacement property within 45 days and close within 180 days through a qualified intermediary, without touching the proceeds. New York State taxes the whole gain as ordinary income at rates up to 10.9%, and New York City residents pay an additional city income tax of up to 3.876% — there is no preferential capital-gains rate at either level. A seller who is not a NY resident at closing must prepay estimated NY income tax on the gain at closing via form IT-2663, which the closing attorney files with the deed; it's a prepayment credited on the nonresident return, not an extra tax. Transfer taxes come out at closing too: the 0.4% NYS transfer tax (seller-paid), the NYC Real Property Transfer Tax of 1% or 1.425% for 1-3 family buildings and 1.425% or 2.625% for four or more units, and local taxes in Yonkers, Mount Vernon, and a few other municipalities. A CPA should run the numbers before you accept any offer, because the after-tax difference between a sale and a 1031 exchange can be larger than the difference between two offers.
A Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) tenancy transfers with the building: the buyer submits a change-of-ownership packet and W-9 to the administering authority (NYCHA, HPD, or the local PHA), the Housing Assistance Payments contract is assigned, and the subsidy is redirected — the tenant stays. New York State's Human Rights Law and NYC's Human Rights Law both prohibit discrimination based on lawful source of income, so a buyer cannot refuse to accept a voucher tenant and neither can you refuse to sell to a buyer who intends to keep one. CityFHEPS and other NYC rental-assistance tenancies work the same way. For most investor buyers a voucher tenant with a reliable subsidy is a plus, and Tony buys voucher-occupied units without interrupting the tenant or the payment.
A vacant house or unit sells to owner-occupants at retail; getting there in New York means waiting out a lease, negotiating a buyout (in stabilized units, buyout offers are regulated and must be in writing with a right to refuse), or a holdover or non-payment case in Housing Court that routinely takes six to twelve months or more in NYC. An occupied building sells to investors who price it on the rents, the stabilization status, the violation history, and the tenants' behavior — a below-market, long-tenured, stabilized tenancy is valued as exactly that. The landlords who call Tony are usually done with the process: the arrears, the Housing Court dates, the HPD letters, the boiler, the basement apartment the city noticed. Tony buys New York rentals occupied or vacant, stabilized or not, with arrears, violations, and unfinished paperwork, over the phone, with the tenants undisturbed and a 7-14 day title-company closing. Cash offers land at roughly 70-85% of after-repair value minus repairs, so a well-run building with market rents, clean registrations, and cooperative tenants should be listed to investors or held — and Tony says so when it's true. Compare your net after commission, repairs, vacancy, time, and taxes against Tony's number, with a CPA in the loop.
§04 / References
Illustrative examples of the situations Tony handles — composed from common cases, not verified customer statements. Verified seller reviews are being collected and will be published here.
Tenant hadn't paid in five months and I couldn't get her out. Tony bought the building with her still in it. Closed in nine days. I never even told her I was selling.
I was three weeks from a sheriff's sale. The bank wasn't helping. I almost didn't call because I was embarrassed. Tony's offer paid off the mortgage and gave me $34,000 on top. I didn't know that was even possible.
House had been vacant since my grandmother passed. Code violations stacking up, kids breaking windows, taxes I couldn't pay. Tony bought it sight-unseen. Cleared the violations after closing. Best decision I made.
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No. Sale is not a ground for eviction anywhere in New York, and in NYC and Good Cause opt-in municipalities a covered tenant can't be denied renewal without good cause. Leases survive the sale and the buyer becomes the landlord on the same terms.
No. Stabilization runs with the building. The buyer inherits the registered rents, the renewal-lease obligation, and the DHCR history. Since the 2019 HSTPA there is no vacancy decontrol, so a sale doesn't create a path out.
The NYS nonresident real property estimated income tax form. If you're not a New York resident at closing, your attorney files it with the deed and you prepay estimated NY income tax on the gain. It's a prepayment credited on your nonresident return, not an additional tax.
Under GOL §7-105 you return them or transfer them to the buyer within five days of closing and notify each tenant by certified or registered mail. In practice the deposits are credited on the closing statement and the attorneys send the notices.
Yes. Open violations, a missing HPD registration, a C of O that doesn't match the layout, and no Local Law 1 file are all things Tony has bought through. They're priced in and become Tony's to resolve after closing.
Yes. The exchange rules govern timing and the qualified intermediary, not who buys. Set up the intermediary before closing, identify replacement property within 45 days, and close within 180. A fast, certain closing helps rather than hurts.
§·· / Schedule
Tell Tony where the house is and what shape it's in. Get a cash number on the same call. Pick a closing date.
7 days a week, 8 AM to 9 PM Eastern.
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