A common error in New York eviction proceedings is costing landlords months of rental income: miscalculating the required notice period. According to Alexander Paykin, a New York real estate attorney and founder of Paykin Law, the mistake arises because holdover notice periods are measured in lease periods, not calendar days.
Under New York law, tenants with less than one year of occupancy are entitled to 30 days' notice, those with one year to 60 days, and those with two or more years to 90 days. However, these periods correspond to one, two, or three lease periods. For example, a notice served on July 31 covers August as the 30-day period, but if served on August 1, the period starts September 1, adding an entire month. Landlords who serve a notice on August 10 and wait 90 calendar days before filing on November 12 likely have a defective notice, leading to dismissal.
Paykin notes that many landlords download templates online and serve notices themselves, only to discover months later that the notice was invalid. "Lots of potential clients I've seen lose three months of their lives and three months of rental income on a defective notice," he says. When the defect is caught before filing, the landlord must serve a corrected notice and wait the full period again, losing additional months. If the defect is discovered at trial, the case is dismissed, and the landlord must start over, potentially losing a year of rent.
In New York City, court backlogs exacerbate the issue. "Three to four months can actually be seven or eight months," Paykin says. The procedural complexity disproportionately affects smaller landlords who try to handle evictions without legal representation, while tenants increasingly have access to free legal aid. A single defective notice can cost more in lost rent than hiring an attorney for the entire proceeding.
Paykin emphasizes that early legal involvement prevents costly errors. "When you come to me on the 11th, I'm going to say, 'Now I can prepare the notice correctly, serve it before the end of this month. Then you'll have to wait three more months, and then and only then will I get to even start a case in court,'" he explains. While frustrating, this timeline is far less costly than discovering a defective notice at trial.
For landlords, the calculation is straightforward: the cost of an attorney at the notice stage is a fraction of the rental income lost when a defective notice adds months to a year to the proceeding. As Paykin advises, "There's no way a landlord should be doing this themselves and not hiring a landlord-tenant attorney. At least not in New York. Our process is slow and painful."
This article is based on information provided by Alexander Paykin, Esq., a New York real estate and commercial attorney and founder of Paykin Law. The firm handles real estate transactions, litigation, foreclosure, and landlord-tenant matters across the New York metro area. This content is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
