New York
New York: statutes read at the official source for people acting for themselves, each with its citation and the date it was read.
Acting for yourself
convey the impression that he or she is a legal practitioner
N.Y. Jud. Law §§ 478, 484 · nysenate.gov · read 2026-08-19 · official source
Renting and landlord-tenant
No landlord-tenant provision has been read at New York’s own code yet, so none is shown. An empty section here means nobody checked, never no law exists.
Small claims
The court that hears these in New York is the Small claims parts of the New York City Civil Court, the city courts outside New York City, and the town and village justice courts. The limit DIFFERS BY COURT..
$10,000
NEW YORK CITY CIVIL COURT ONLY. New York does not have one statewide figure - see limitByCourt for all three.
The term "small claim" or "small claims" as used in this act shall mean and include any cause of action for money only not in excess of ten thousand dollars exclusive of interest and costs, or any action commenced by a party aggrieved by an arbitration award rendered pursuant to part 137 of the rules of the chief administrator of the courts (22 NYCRR Part 137) in which the amount in dispute does not exceed ten thousand dollars, provided that the defendant either resides, or has an office for the transaction of business or a regular employment within the city of New York, or where claimant is a tenant or lessee of real property owned by the defendant and the claim relates to such tenancy or lease, and such real property is situated within the city of New York.
N.Y. City Civ. Ct. Act (CCA) § 1801 · read 2026-08-21 · official source
Not verified: Attorney representation rules not read.; Official self-help page (nycourts.gov CourtHelp) returned HTTP 403 to every automated request; not verified, so not recorded.; RETRIEVAL NOTE: nysenate.gov returns HTTP 403 to curl and to WebFetch (Cloudflare). All three section texts above were read by rendering each URL in a real browser; the URLs are correct even though an automated re-fetch of them returns 403.; The separate 'commercial claims' parts (for corporate plaintiffs) were not read.
How long you have to bring a claim
| Kind of claim | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|
| written contract | 6 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213(2) · read 2026-08-21 |
| oral contract | 6 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 213(2) · read 2026-08-21 |
| personal injury | 3 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214(5) · read 2026-08-21 |
| property damage | 3 years | N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 214(4) · read 2026-08-21 |
Limitation periods have exceptions: when the clock starts (accrual), tolling, discovery rules, and claims against government bodies often differ. These entries record the general period as the statute states it, on the date read. They are not a calculation of any particular deadline.
Not verified: Wage claims and debt-on-account not separately read. § 215 (one-year intentional torts) was referenced by § 214 but not opened.; nysenate.gov blocks scripted requests (HTTP 403), so these quotes could not be re-checked against a locally saved copy the way the other 16 states were. Instead the page was read twice, independently, and the two reads agreed word for word.
What this page is, and is not
Everything above was read at the source named next to it, on the date named next to it. Nothing is summarised from memory and nothing is carried over from a neighbouring state. Statutes are amended, so read the source before relying on it.
This is general legal information about New York. It is not advice about your situation, and it is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.