No one is simply given rights.
Rights are fought for, won, defended, and used—again and again—until they become expectations and norms. Every tenant protection we have today is the result of organized struggle by renters who refused to accept unsafe housing, unjust evictions, and exploitation.
Many of the rights listed below are enshrined in New York State law. Others were won right here in Albany, through the work of local tenant organizers. This is how change happens: what starts as a local fight reveals a deeper systemic issue.
For example, retaliatory eviction protections exist because tenants who called Code Enforcement were punished with eviction notices. Rather than back down, those tenants spoke out, organized, and pushed for changes to city law—before the issue was eventually addressed at the state level.
Every section that follows represents not just a law, but a site of struggle—and a right worth using. Because if a right isn’t exercised, it can become irrelevant.
Some people take a more cynical view: that tenants don’t really have rights, only landlords have responsibilities. While it’s true that many housing laws are written in terms of what landlords must do, that doesn’t erase the fact that every one of those responsibilities was demanded and won by tenants who took their issues beyond their apartment—and into history.
So if you think something should be a right, organize for it.
You only get what you’re organized to take.