Lesson 1.4: Renting vs. Buying & Reading a Lease
The Go Further companion to Lesson 1.4 in Money Decisions.
Residential Tenants' Rights Guide
The New York Attorney General's guide to what the law says about deposits, late fees, leases and evictions — the same law Lesson 1.4's trap lease breaks five times. If a lease clause and this guide disagree, the guide wins.
Key ideas from the lesson
- Housing is usually the biggest line in a budget. A common guideline is to keep rent near 30% of income — go much higher and something else, usually savings, gets squeezed.
- A lease is a contract. Read the numbers: the term, the rent, the deposit, the late fee, what happens if you leave early, and who fixes what.
- In New York, a security deposit can be at most one month's rent, and it must be returned within 14 days of move-out with an itemized statement of anything kept (GOL §7-108).
- A late fee can't be charged until rent is more than 5 days late, and it's capped at $50 or 5% of the rent, whichever is less. A background-check fee is capped at $20.
- Lockouts are illegal — only a court can evict. A clause that breaks the law can't take those rights away, even if you signed it.
- Renting is cheaper to get into and easier to leave; buying trades flexibility for equity, plus a down payment, closing costs and every repair. How long you'll stay decides which one wins.
Why this helps
In Lesson 1.4, Jordan is handed a “standard” lease with five illegal clauses in it. This guide is the referee: it's the Attorney General's own statement of the rights a New York tenant has no matter what a lease says — including the 14-day deposit rule, stated in the guide's own words.
Try this
Open the guide's security-deposit section and find the 14-day rule in the guide's own words. Then write down, in the guide's words, what has to happen to the deposit when a tenant moves out. Bring it to class — it is the referee for half the trap lease.
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