Moving Out of a NYC Apartment: Keys, Locks and Your Deposit

Hand back every key you were ever given, and ask for the walk-through inspection New York law entitles you to before you leave. That inspection is the part almost nobody uses, and it is the only mechanism that lets you fix a lock problem at your price instead of paying for it at your landlord’s.

That is the short version. The timing is what makes it work, so here is the sequence.

The move-out sequence, in order

1. You or the landlord give notice that the tenancy is ending.
2. The landlord must tell you, in writing, that you can request an inspection before you vacate, and that you can be present for it.
3. You request it. This step is on you, and it is the one that gets skipped.
4. The inspection happens no earlier than two weeks and no later than one week before the tenancy ends, with at least 48 hours written notice of the date and time.
5. The landlord gives you an itemized statement of the repairs or cleaning they propose to deduct from your deposit.
6. You fix what you can, before the tenancy ends. The statute calls this curing.
7. You hand back the keys and vacate.
8. Within fourteen days, the landlord returns the deposit with an itemized statement of anything kept.

Step 6 is the whole point of this article.

The inspection almost nobody requests

General Obligations Law § 7-108, as rewritten by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act in 2019, created a right at paragraph (1-a)(d) that most NYC tenants have never heard of:

Within a reasonable time after notification of either party’s intention to terminate the tenancy, unless the tenant terminates the tenancy with less than two weeks’ notice, the landlord shall notify the tenant in writing of the tenant’s right to request an inspection before vacating the premises and of the tenant’s right to be present at the inspection. If the tenant requests such an inspection, the inspection shall be made no earlier than two weeks and no later than one week before the end of the tenancy. The landlord shall provide at least forty-eight hours written notice of the date and time of the inspection. After the inspection, the landlord shall provide the tenant with an itemized statement specifying repairs or cleaning that are proposed to be the basis of any deductions from the tenant’s deposit. The tenant shall have the opportunity to cure any such condition before the end of the tenancy.

Read the last sentence again. The tenant shall have the opportunity to cure any such condition before the end of the tenancy.

That is not a courtesy. It is a statutory right, and it converts the entire move-out from something that happens to you into something you can do something about. Instead of discovering a deduction two weeks after you have moved out, when you have no keys, no access, and no say, you get a written list of what they intend to charge you for while you still have all three.

The catch is in the second clause: it applies unless you terminate with less than two weeks’ notice. Give short notice and you give up the inspection.

Why the right to cure matters for locks

Locks are the single best example of a curable condition, because the gap between what a landlord bills for a lock and what a lock actually costs is usually large.

Say the itemized statement proposes $600 for “lock replacement.” You now have a week or more, and three options that did not exist before:

• Have it repaired instead. A deadbolt that sticks, drags, or turns without moving the bolt is usually a misaligned strike or a worn cam, not a dead lock. Repair starts at $125.
• Have it rekeyed instead of replaced. If the actual concern is that an old key is out there, rekeying is the answer and it starts at $75 per cylinder.
• Replace it yourself, at market price. If the lock genuinely does need replacing, you can hire that job at the going rate rather than at whatever the landlord’s contractor charges the deposit.

Here is what those jobs cost across the five boroughs:

Job	NYC cost
Rekey, per cylinder	from $75
Typical apartment, knob and deadbolt rekeyed	$150 – $185
Deadbolt repair	from $125
Standard Grade 2 deadbolt, supplied and installed	from $150
Lock installation or replacement, per opening	$125 – $450

Curing a $600 proposed deduction with a $150 rekey is a $450 swing, and it is available only if you asked for the inspection. If the condition really is your responsibility, our lock change and rekeying service gives you a firm price before any work starts, which is also a document you can hand the landlord.

Whether the charge was legitimate in the first place is a separate question, and we covered it in can your NYC landlord charge you for a lock change. Curing a condition is not an admission that you owed it.

The inspection you should have had on the way in

There is a matching right at the other end of the tenancy, paragraph (1-a)(c), and it is worth knowing even if you are reading this too late to use it:

After initial lease signing but before the tenant begins occupancy, the landlord shall offer the tenant the opportunity to inspect the premises with the landlord or the landlord’s agent to determine the condition of the property. If the tenant requests such inspection, the parties shall execute a written agreement before the tenant begins occupancy of the unit attesting to the condition of the property and specifically noting any existing defects or damages. Upon the tenant’s vacating of the premises, the landlord may not retain any amount of the deposit or advance due to any condition, defect, or damage noted in such agreement.

If a defect is written into that agreement, it cannot be deducted from your deposit at the end. A sticking deadbolt noted on day one is a sticking deadbolt the landlord cannot bill you for on the last day.

If you never did a move-in inspection, you are not without evidence. Photographs with timestamps, the emails or texts where you reported a lock problem during the tenancy, and any repair tickets you filed all establish that the condition predates your departure. Anything you reported to the super in writing while you lived there is doing double duty now.

Which keys you actually have to hand back

Every key the landlord issued, including the ones you forgot about:

• Apartment entrance, all copies. This includes copies you cut for roommates, partners, dog walkers, and cleaners. The number of keys you return is a fact the landlord will notice.
• Mailbox key.
• Building entrance or vestibule key.
• Laundry room, storage, roof, basement, garage.
• Fobs and electronic credentials. These matter more than the rest, because a building fob has a real replacement cost and is a legitimate deduction if you do not return it. Hand them over and count them.

Two practical points. Get a written receipt listing what you handed back and when, even if it is just a text message the landlord replies to. The fourteen-day clock in paragraph (1-a)(e) runs from when you vacate, so a dated record of the handover is a dated record of when the clock started.

And if you are missing a key, say so before the last day rather than hoping nobody counts. A missing key is a rekey, and a rekey you arrange yourself during the cure window is far cheaper than a lock replacement billed to your deposit.

The lock you installed yourself

If you put your own lock on the door under Multiple Dwelling Law § 51-c, that lock is yours. Take it with you, and restore the door to how you found it.

This gets people in trouble in both directions. Leave your lock on the door and you have left the next tenant a lock nobody has a key for, which the landlord will remove and charge for. Rip it out and leave unfilled holes in the door or frame, and that is damage rather than wear. If the lock was a surface-mounted rim cylinder on a pre-war door, take the removal seriously, because those doors are original and expensive to repair.

Removing your own lock cleanly and making the door good is straightforward work, and it belongs on the cure list along with everything else. We do it as part of residential locksmith service across all five boroughs.

Fourteen days, and then what

Once you have vacated, paragraph (1-a)(e) gives the landlord fourteen days to return the deposit with an itemized statement of anything retained, and a landlord who misses that deadline forfeits any right to retain any portion of it.

If the deposit does not come back, or comes back with a lock charge you do not accept, the follow-up is in can your NYC landlord charge you for a lock change, which covers the burden of proof, what counts as wear and tear, and the punitive damages provision.

If you are the one moving in

The other end of this is the move-in rekey, and it is the same door with the opposite worry: not what you might be charged, but who still has a key. That is a genuinely different job and we wrote it up separately in changing the locks when moving into a NYC apartment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have a right to a walk-through inspection before moving out in NYC?

Yes. General Obligations Law § 7-108(1-a)(d) requires the landlord to notify you in writing of your right to request an inspection before you vacate and to be present at it. You have to request it. If you do, it happens between two weeks and one week before the tenancy ends, with at least 48 hours written notice, and afterwards the landlord must give you an itemized statement of proposed deductions.

What is the point of requesting it?

The statute gives you the opportunity to cure any condition on that statement before the tenancy ends. You find out what they intend to charge you while you still have time to fix it, which for a lock is often the difference between a $75 rekey and a several-hundred-dollar deduction.

Can I still request the inspection if I gave short notice?

Not necessarily. Paragraph (1-a)(d) excludes tenants who terminate the tenancy with less than two weeks’ notice. Longer notice preserves the right.

Do I have to give back keys I cut myself?

Yes. Return every working key to the apartment regardless of who paid to have it cut. Keys you cannot account for are a reason to rekey, and rekeying a standard apartment door runs $150 to $185, which is cheaper handled before you leave than argued afterwards.

What happens if I leave my own lock on the door?

The landlord will remove it, because nobody else has a key, and the cost is likely to land on your deposit. Take your lock with you and make the door good. Leaving holes in the door or frame turns your removal into damage, which is chargeable in a way that ordinary wear is not.

How long does my landlord have to return the deposit?

Fourteen days after you vacate, with an itemized statement of anything kept, under § 7-108(1-a)(e). A landlord who misses that deadline forfeits any right to retain any portion of the deposit.