Who Pays for Appliance Repairs in NYC Rentals?

In NYC, the owner generally pays to repair any appliance the owner supplied, such as the refrigerator, the range or a dishwasher that came with the apartment, whether or not the lease mentions it (one- and two-family houses can differ). The tenant pays when they or their household broke it through misuse, and for appliances the tenant brought in themselves. Rent-stabilized units add DHCR rules on top.

This note is general information for property managers, not legal advice. For a specific dispute, talk to the building's attorney.

Is the landlord responsible for appliance repair in NYC?

Yes, for the appliances the owner provides. Three layers of law point the same way, and a property manager runs into all of them sooner or later.

The first is the warranty of habitability. Real Property Law §235-b reads into every residential lease, written or oral, a promise that the apartment is fit to live in and that tenants won't be exposed to conditions dangerous to their health or safety. A tenant can't sign that away: the same section says any agreement waiving or modifying those rights is void.

The second is the city's Housing Maintenance Code. Section 27-2005 says the owner of a multiple dwelling "shall keep the premises in good repair," and that includes vacant units.

The third is the plainest. The New York Attorney General's tenants' rights guide says landlords must keep appliances they installed, naming refrigerators and stoves, in good and safe working order.

So the starting point on any work order is simple. If it came with the apartment, it's the building's to fix.

When the tenant pays instead

The tenant pays when the tenant, someone in their household or a guest caused the damage. Both the state and city rules carve this out, and they use similar language.

Section 235-b says a condition caused by the tenant's misconduct, or by people under the tenant's control, isn't a breach of the warranty. The Housing Maintenance Code (§27-2006) makes a tenant responsible for violations caused by their own willful act or by gross negligence, neglect or abuse, including by family members and guests.

Here's the part managers miss. The same section says the tenant's liability does not relieve the owner of the duty to keep the apartment in good repair. In practice, that means you fix the broken appliance first and pursue the cost afterward. You don't leave a family without a working stove while you argue about who cracked the knob assembly.

Recovering the cost usually happens against the security deposit at move-out or as a separate charge, and the deposit rules are strict. Under General Obligations Law §7-108, a landlord can keep deposit money only for damage beyond normal wear and tear, and must give the tenant an itemized statement within 14 days of move-out or lose the right to keep any of it. A ten-year-old dishwasher that finally stops draining is wear. A disposal jammed with a soup spoon is not.

What decides most of these is the technician's write-up. Ask for the cause of the failure in plain words, with photos, on every job where you suspect misuse.

Appliances the tenant owns or installed

The building generally isn't responsible for appliances the tenant bought and brought in. The common ones in NYC apartments are a washer hooked to the kitchen sink, a portable dishwasher, a second freezer and window air conditioners the tenant purchased.

For rent-regulated apartments, DHCR has put this in writing. Its Operational Bulletin 2005-1, Supplement 4 says owners don't have to allow tenant-installed washers, dryers or dishwashers unless the lease says otherwise. If the owner consents, the owner may collect a monthly surcharge. The same bulletin says that servicing or replacing such an appliance never becomes a service the owner is required to provide, and that disputes over plumbing damage from a tenant's appliance go to the courts, not DHCR.

The messy case is the appliance nobody can account for. A previous tenant left a microwave, or a super swapped in a used fridge from storage years ago and no one wrote it down. Treat those as the building's unless you can show otherwise, and then fix your records so the next manager doesn't inherit the question.

Rent-stabilized apartments: the DHCR layer

In a rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartment, a broken owner-supplied appliance can also become a rent case. DHCR treats appliances and equipment the owner provides as required services.

DHCR's Fact Sheet #3 says that when an owner provides equipment in an apartment, such as a refrigerator, stove or air conditioner, the owner must keep it in good working order. It gives the owner three ways to deal with defective equipment:

1. Repair it at the owner's expense.
2. Replace it with reconditioned or used equipment that works and is comparable, with no rent increase for it.
3. Replace it with new equipment, which may qualify for an Individual Apartment Improvement (IAI) increase. In an occupied apartment, the tenant's voluntary written consent is required before the owner can collect it.

That third option matters when you're deciding repair versus replace. In a stabilized unit, "just put in a new one" can involve paperwork and the tenant's consent, so a sound repair is often the cleaner path. Our 50% rule for rental appliances covers the money side of that call.

If the owner doesn't maintain a required service, the tenant can file a decreased-services complaint. Per DHCR's Fact Sheet #14, a rent reduction order for a stabilized tenant is generally the amount of the most recent guideline increase, it runs from the first of the month after DHCR serves the complaint on the owner, and no rent increases can be collected until DHCR issues a restoration order. DHCR recommends tenants write to the owner first. A dead refrigerator that sits for weeks is how buildings end up with an order that costs more than the fridge.

What happens when a repair drags

When an appliance repair stalls, the tenant has several routes, and each one leaves a paper trail you'll want to be on the right side of.

HPD's tenant rights page tells tenants to contact the owner, managing agent or super first, then send a letter by certified mail and keep records. If problems continue, they can file a complaint with HPD or bring an HP Action in Housing Court. The Attorney General's guide also notes that a court or DHCR may grant a rent reduction for a breach of the warranty of habitability.

None of these start with a single missed day. They start with silence and no written record of what the building did. So keep one:

• When the request came in, and from whom
• When the technician was scheduled and when they actually got in
• What was diagnosed, what part was ordered, and the ETA
• Every update you sent the tenant

If access was the problem, write that down too. The Housing Maintenance Code (§27-2008) says a tenant can't refuse the owner entry to make required repairs at a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner, and a documented refused-access attempt is a very different file from an unanswered request.

Speed helps more than paperwork, of course. Sorting the true emergencies from the ones that can wait a day is the first step; our note on which appliance breakdowns are emergencies is the triage list we'd use on the phone.

Common questions

Does a lease clause making the tenant responsible for appliance repairs hold up? In a multiple dwelling, be careful. The owner's repair duty under the Housing Maintenance Code and the warranty of habitability can't be waived by the tenant. The code does let owners of one- and two-family houses agree otherwise with a tenant in a written lease, which is one reason small-building leases sometimes look different. Have an attorney review any clause like this; our note on appliance lease clauses has wording to start from.

Who pays if the appliance is still under the manufacturer's warranty? If the claim is accepted, the manufacturer pays for covered parts and labor (some warranties exclude multiple-family use), and the building arranges the visit. The duty to get it working stays with the owner either way.

Does the owner have to replace a broken appliance with a new one? Not necessarily. The tenant is owed a working appliance. In stabilized units, DHCR allows a comparable used or reconditioned replacement in working order, as described above.

What to do next

On your next appliance work order, check two things before anything else: did the building supply the unit, and is there any sign of misuse that the technician should photograph. Then get it fixed and keep the record. If you want us on the job, open a work order with the building, the apartment and what stopped working.