Yes, in a market-rate apartment. A New York City lease may require you to carry a renters policy, and the clause is enforceable, because of the baseline the Attorney General's tenants' guide states: "Except where the law provides otherwise, a landlord may rent on such terms and conditions as are agreed to by the parties."
Two rules constrain how far the clause reaches: the state ban on charges demanded at the start of a tenancy, and the rent stabilization rulebook, which treats a vacancy lease and a renewal as different documents.
The Reason for the Clause
A landlord wants the policy because its own insurance does nothing for your possessions. The Department of Financial Services says as much: "A landlord does not provide insurance for a tenants personal property." Liability is the second motive, since a visitor injured in your apartment can look to you. Neither motive turns on what a standard renters policy pays for.
Real Property Law 238-a and Money That Never Reaches the Landlord
Real Property Law 238-a(1)(a) bars a landlord demanding "any other payment, fee or charge before or at the beginning of the tenancy", apart from a capped background and credit check. Timing gives a tenant an opening, because a policy that has to be in force on move-in day gets bought before the tenancy begins.
The sharp question is whether a landlord sending you to an insurer is demanding a payment within those words. Paragraph 1(a) bans any fee rather than a listed set, and it never says who the money runs to, which supports reading the ban at face value.
The rest of the section pulls the other way. Paragraph 1(b) tells the landlord to waive the permitted charge if you supply your own check from the past thirty days, and bars collecting it without handing you a copy and the invoice. Subdivision 2 caps a late fee, and 2-a reaches a rent check that did not clear. Every charge the section names travels from tenant to landlord, and the duties it imposes are duties of a payee. A premium your insurer sets, which the landlord cannot waive, cap or refund, leaves that machinery nothing to grip.
The better reading leaves the requirement outside 238-a, and the statute's silence on who the payment runs to keeps the point open rather than settled. One charge does sit inside the ban. A landlord that collects the premium from you, or adds a policy-handling charge at signing, is demanding a payment at the beginning of the tenancy, which puts it in the same position as a cleaning fee demanded at signing. Subdivision 3 then voids "Any provision of a lease or contract waiving or limiting the provisions of this section".
The Landlord as an Additional Insured
Most insurance clauses go further than the policy. They ask you to name the landlord as an additional insured or additional interested party and to hand over a certificate of insurance, which is lawful as a lease term.
The paperwork achieves less than landlords assume. The Department of Financial Services addressed certificates in Office of General Counsel Opinion 01-05-11: a certificate "is not intended to confer to a certificate holder new or additional rights beyond what the policy provides." On cancellation the opinion is specific: "Any certificate holder has a legal right to notice of cancellation provided such holder is actually named within the policy or endorsement as an additional insured." The certificate alone gives your landlord nothing, so ask your insurer for the endorsement.
General Obligations Law 5-321 sets the hard limit, voiding any lease covenant "exempting the lessor from liability for damages for injuries to person or property caused by or resulting from the negligence of the lessor". The clause cannot transfer the landlord's own negligence in running the building onto your insurer.
Rent Stabilized Apartments and Fact Sheet 44
DHCR Fact Sheet 44 governs what an owner may charge a stabilized tenant, and its first sentence sets the subject: "There are certain fees that owners may charge tenants separate and apart from the rent for the apartment." Its lawful list is itemised, and its prohibited list ends in a catch-all: "painting fees, cleaning fees and other fees not established by or in excess of the amount allowed by the rent regulations or other municipal regulations are prohibited."
Insurance sits on neither list, and the split falls on who you pay. A premium you pay an insurer is not a fee the owner charges, so the fact sheet's words do not reach it, and DHCR has not addressed the requirement there. A premium the owner pays and bills to you is a fee the owner charges, and the rent regulations do not establish it, which drops it inside the prohibition. The sheet adds that "fees of any kind do not become part of the legal rent or preferential rent", so the charge cannot be dressed up as rent either. A tenant billed an unlawful fee files a rent overcharge complaint on DHCR form RA-89. Settle whether your apartment is rent stabilized first, because the forum turns on it.
The Renewal Lease Limit
Stabilized tenants hold the firmer protection, and it has nothing to do with fees. DHCR Fact Sheet 4 states the rule for the renewal lease the owner must offer: "Renewal leases must keep the same terms and conditions as the expiring lease unless a change is necessary to comply with a specific law or regulation." An insurance clause absent from your expiring lease is a new term, so an owner adding it at renewal has to name the law or regulation that compels the change. DHCR form RA-90 covers a renewal offer that does not comply.
| Lease Term | Market-Rate Apartment | Rent Stabilized Apartment | The Provision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your own policy, set in a vacancy lease | Enforceable | Enforceable | Freedom to set lease terms |
| Insurance clause added at renewal | A new term, open to refusal | Not permitted without a law requiring it | Fact Sheet 4 |
| Landlord named as additional insured | Lawful, not for owner negligence | Same | GOL 5-321 |
| Premium or policy fee taken at signing | Barred at the start of the tenancy | Barred, plus an overcharge route | RPL 238-a(1)(a) and (3) |
| Landlord buys a policy and bills you | Not recoverable as rent | Prohibited fee above the regulated rent | RPAPL 702(1), Fact Sheet 44 |
A Policy the Landlord Buys and Bills to You
Some leases let the landlord buy cover and add the cost to your bill as additional rent. The label fails. Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 702(1) defines rent as the amount charged for the use and occupation of a dwelling, then closes the door: "No fees, charges or penalties other than rent may be sought in a summary proceeding pursuant to this article, notwithstanding any language to the contrary in any lease or rental agreement." A force-placed premium cannot be pursued as rent in housing court, leaving the landlord to sue on the contract. In a stabilized unit it meets Fact Sheet 44 too, and collected at signing it is the clearest case 238-a covers.
City law adds disclosure. Under the FARE Act, in force since 11 June 2025, a landlord must give you "an itemized written disclosure of all fees they must pay the landlord, or any person at the direction of the landlord", signed before the lease. A landlord that names the insurer you must use has put that premium inside those words.
Non-Compliance and the Cure Period
Skipping the policy breaches a lease provision rather than defaulting on rent, which decides what follows. In a possession proceeding over a dwelling, Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 753(4) requires that "the court shall grant a thirty day stay of issuance of the warrant, during which time the respondent may correct such breach."
For a stabilized tenant the sequence starts earlier. DHCR Fact Sheet 32 lists "failure to cure a violation of a substantial obligation of the tenancy" among the grounds, and describes the owner serving a notice that states the problem and requires you to put it right, which "is known as a 'Notice to Cure.'" Only an uncured breach brings a termination notice, due "at least 7 calendar days in advance of the date that he wants the tenant to surrender possession". This road ends in a certificate emailed to the managing agent.
Checks Worth Making Before You Sign
Read the insurance clause for who pays the premium, whether it lets the landlord buy on your behalf, and whether it asks for an endorsement or only a certificate. Ask in writing whether any charge attaches to it, then check it against the itemised fee disclosure. It also pays to run the address through the building records, because an owner with open violations for conditions it is meant to fix is the owner asking you to insure around them. Holding a renters insurance policy of your own is worth doing either way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a landlord require renters insurance in New York?
Yes, as a lease term. New York lets a landlord rent on the terms the parties agree to except where the law provides otherwise, and nothing in Real Property Law 238-a or DHCR Fact Sheets 4 and 44 bars the requirement itself. The limits bite on money the landlord collects.
Is renters insurance mandatory in NYC?
Not by law. The obligation comes from your lease, so the answer depends on what you signed. A market-rate lease can make the policy a condition of the tenancy. A stabilized renewal must keep the same terms as the expiring lease unless a law or regulation requires the change.
Why does my landlord want to be an additional insured?
For notice and for liability cover. The Department of Financial Services states that a certificate holder has a right to notice of cancellation only where the policy or an endorsement names it as an additional insured, so the certificate alone achieves nothing. General Obligations Law 5-321 voids any use of the clause to cover the owner's negligence.
Can my landlord charge me for a policy I did not buy?
Not as rent. Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 702(1) keeps fees and penalties other than rent out of a summary proceeding whatever the lease says, so a force-placed premium cannot become a non-payment case. In a stabilized apartment it is also a fee Fact Sheet 44 prohibits.
What happens if I do not buy the renters insurance my lease requires?
The landlord treats it as a lease breach and serves a notice to cure. In court, Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 753(4) requires a thirty day stay of the warrant so you can correct the breach. A stabilized tenant gets the cure notice first, then a termination notice at least seven calendar days out.