N.Y. Real Property Law § 235-a

Deduct Utility From Rent: N.Y. Real Property Law § 235-a

Under N.Y. Real Property Law § 235-a, a residential tenant who pays an unpaid utility bill may deduct it from rent. Owners are liable for damages.

Official text N.Y. Real Property Law § 235-a — New York

§ 235-a. Tenant right to offset payments and entitlement to damages in certain cases. 1. In any case in which a residential tenant shall lawfully make a payment to a utility company pursuant to the provisions of sections thirty-three, thirty-four and one hundred sixteen of the public service law, or to a utility company as defined in subdivision twenty-three of section two of the public service law, public authority, water-works corporation, as defined in subdivision twenty-seven of section two of the public service law, or municipal water system, as prescribed in section eighty-nine-l of the public service law, for water service which a landlord is responsible for but has failed or refused to provide payment therefor, such payment shall be deductible from any future payment of rent.

  • 2. Any owner (as defined in the multiple dwelling law or multiple residence law) of a multiple dwelling responsible for the payment of charges for gas, electric, steam or water service who causes the discontinuance of that service by failure or refusal to pay the charges for past service shall be liable for compensatory and punitive damages to any tenant whose utility service is so discontinued.

* 3. Nothing contained in this section and no payment made pursuant to this section shall be deemed to discharge the liability of a renter with an interest in real property pursuant to subdivision two of section three hundred four of the real property tax law from taxes levied on such interest.

* NB (Effective pending ruling by Commissioner of Internal Revenue)

Text as published in the 2026 snapshot of the code.

Source: Vaquill Open US Law, compiled from official state publishers (huggingface.co), reproduced under license CC BY 4.0.

Read this provision at the official source →

What it actually says

This is a narrow, practical section about one situation: the landlord was supposed to pay the utility and did not, so the tenant paid it instead. Subdivision 1 says that where a residential tenant lawfully makes such a payment - to a utility company or a water authority under the specified provisions of the Public Service Law - that payment "shall be deductible from any future payment of rent". The deduction is not something a court has to grant; the statute makes the payment credit against rent by its own terms.

The operative word is "lawfully". The right to pay the supplier and be recognized as having done so comes from the Public Service Law sections the text names, which set up the mechanism for a tenant to take over service the landlord has let lapse. Section 235-a is the rent-side consequence of that mechanism, not a general right to spend money on the building and bill the landlord for it.

Subdivision 2 deals with the more aggressive version of the same problem. Where the owner of a multiple dwelling is responsible for gas, electric, steam or water charges and causes the service to be discontinued by refusing to pay for past service, that owner is liable to any tenant whose service is cut off - and the text expressly allows both compensatory and punitive damages. Punitive damages are unusual in a landlord-tenant statute, and their presence here is a signal about the conduct the legislature had in mind: not a landlord who is slow, but a landlord who lets the lights go out.

When it applies

  • The gas is about to be shut off for the landlord's unpaid account and the tenant pays the supplier to keep it on.
  • A tenant takes over the electricity account after the landlord stops paying, and wants the amount off the rent.
  • The water is disconnected in a building where the owner is responsible for the water charges.
  • A landlord in a multiple dwelling lets the heating fuel account fall into arrears and the boiler stops.
  • The landlord demands full rent while the tenant has been paying a bill that was the landlord's to pay.

What this section does not say

  • It is not a general repair-and-deduct rule. The section is about utility and water payments a landlord was responsible for, not about a tenant hiring a plumber and subtracting the invoice from the rent.
  • It does not decide who is responsible for the bill. Whether the utility was the landlord's to pay comes from the lease and from the housing laws; § 235-a only says what happens to a payment that was lawfully made.
  • The punitive damages in subdivision 2 apply to owners of multiple dwellings whose refusal to pay past charges causes the cut-off - not to every landlord whose tenant has a utility problem.
  • It is not the section that deals with a landlord deliberately cutting off services to force a tenant out. That is § 235 and, in New York City lofts, § 235-d.

Worked examples

Invented situations, written to show how the wording bites. They are not real cases, not judgments and not precedent, and nothing here predicts what would happen in yours.

Illustrative example

A tenant learns the landlord has stopped paying the gas account and pays the supplier directly to keep the service on through the winter. The landlord then demands the full rent as usual.

How the wording applies

Where a residential tenant lawfully makes such a payment under the Public Service Law provisions the text names, that payment is deductible from any future payment of rent by the statute's own terms - the credit does not wait on a court. The word carrying it is "lawfully": the right to take over the supply comes from those Public Service Law sections, and § 235-a is only the rent-side consequence of it.

How the parties settled it

The payments are credited against the next two months' rent on production of the supplier's receipts, and the landlord puts the account back into his own name.

Illustrative example

A tenant with a leaking bathroom engages a plumber, pays the invoice and deducts it from the next rent, pointing to this section as authority.

How the wording applies

The section is about utility and water payments the landlord was responsible for, not about a tenant hiring a contractor and subtracting the bill. So it turns on the kind of payment made: a plumber's invoice is not a payment to a utility company or water authority under the provisions the section names.

How the parties settled it

The landlord reimburses the plumbing invoice as a one-off because the work genuinely needed doing, and both agree that future repairs are reported in writing and authorized before anyone is engaged.

Illustrative example

In a building where the owner is responsible for the electricity, supply to the common parts is discontinued over unpaid past charges, and the hallways and elevator go dark.

How the wording applies

Subdivision 2 makes the owner of a multiple dwelling who causes service to be discontinued by refusing to pay for past service liable to any tenant whose service is cut off, and expressly allows compensatory and punitive damages. Punitive damages are unusual in a landlord-tenant statute, and their presence signals the conduct aimed at - so it turns on a refusal to pay past charges rather than mere slowness.

How the parties settled it

The owner clears the arrears and restores supply within seventy-two hours, credits each affected tenant a week's rent, and moves the account to direct debit.

Related sections

N.Y. Real Property Law § 235 Cutting Heat Is a Violation: N.Y. Real Property Law § 235 N.Y. Real Property Law § 235-b Warranty of Habitability: N.Y. Real Property Law § 235-b N.Y. Real Property Law § 223-b No Retaliatory Eviction: N.Y. Real Property Law § 223-b N.Y. Real Property Law § 218 RPL § 218: a tenant cannot sign away good cause eviction protection

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We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.

This page reproduces the text of N.Y. Real Property Law § 235-a in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in New York.

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