A common mistake in calculating eviction notice periods is costing New York City landlords months of rental income and even entire court cases, warns real estate attorney Alexander Paykin, founder of Paykin Law. The error stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of how notice periods are measured under state law.
Under New York law, holdover notice periods are not based on calendar days but on lease periods. Tenants with less than a year of occupancy are entitled to 30 days' notice; those with one year get 60 days; and those with two or more years get 90 days. However, the clock starts and ends with the lease cycle, not a simple count of days. Paykin explains: "If I serve you on the last day of July, my 30 days would be August. But if I served you on August 1st, August doesn't count, and the next period starts on September 1st." A notice served just one day late can add an entire month to the waiting period.
Many landlords rely on online templates and DIY service, believing they have met the requirements. Paykin says he regularly sees cases where a landlord serves notice on the 10th of a month, waits 90 calendar days, files a petition, and then has the case dismissed because the notice was defective. "Lots of potential clients I've seen lose three months of their lives and three months of rental income on a defective notice," he notes.
The consequences worsen if the defect is not caught before filing. Tenants' attorneys may delay raising the issue until trial, leading to dismissal after months of court proceedings. "The thing gets to trial, and defense counsel goes, 'Judge, look at their attached notice. It's defective.' And the landlord loses a trial, and has to start the entire thing over again, having lost a year of rental income," Paykin says. In New York City's backlogged courts, that timeline can stretch to seven or eight months.
Paykin emphasizes that procedural complexity disproportionately harms small landlords who attempt to navigate the system without legal representation. While tenants often have access to free legal aid, landlords risk far more in lost rent than they would spend on an attorney. "There's no way a landlord should be doing this themselves and not hiring a landlord-tenant attorney," he advises. "At least not in New York. Our process is slow and painful."
For the broader rental market, defective notices compound financial pressures on already stressed rent-stabilized portfolios, as landlords face extended periods of lost income. Early legal involvement can prevent these errors: Paykin notes that if a landlord consults him at the notice stage, he can prepare a correct notice and set realistic timelines, avoiding costly mistakes later.
