Brooklyn security deposit law and where to sue
Your landlord has 14 days from the day you move out to return the deposit with an itemized statement of anything withheld. That deadline is New York State's, under N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 - it is the same in all five boroughs. What is local is the rest of this page: the Kings County courthouse that hears the claim, when it sits, and who in Brooklyn will look at your case for free.
Brooklyn has more renter households than any other borough and the largest rent stabilized stock in the city, which means the odds that your deposit is governed by section 7-107 rather than 7-108 are higher here than anywhere else.
What is the same in every borough
The deposit is capped at one month's rent, the itemized statement is due with the money, and missing the 14-day deadline forfeits the landlord's right to keep any of it. A willful violation adds punitive damages of up to twice the deposit.
New York deposit rules in full, with citations and deductions →
First: is your apartment rent stabilized?
This is the question that decides which statute your deposit falls under, and it is the one most Brooklyn tenants skip. About 928,000 apartments across roughly 43,000 New York City buildings are rent stabilized. A stabilized apartment is governed by GOL § 7-107, not the § 7-108 rules described above. Brooklyn has about 279,000 of them - the largest rent stabilized stock of any borough.
You do not have to guess. A DHCR rent history request asks the State to tell you whether the apartment is rent stabilized, and its registered rent history. The answer comes back in about 20 business days, mailed to the apartment, so file it the day you decide to fight - not the week before a hearing.
Second: who exactly are you suing?
A small claims case names a legal owner, not "the management company" or the person who answered your emails. In New York City the owner of record is public: HPD Online gives the owner and managing agent registered for the building for any registered building. Take the name and the service address from there, put them on the claim, and use the same name on your demand letter so the paper trail matches.
The Kings County small claims window
Kings County Civil Court
141 Livingston Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
- Small claims clerk
- Room 303 · 347-404-9021
- Court hours
- 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday
- Claim limit
- $10,000 in the Small Claims Part
- Filing fee
- $15 or $20, depending on the size of the claim
Evening court. Evening small claims runs 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, with the calendar called at 6:30 p.m. The small claims window stays open until 8:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Help Center. The Help Center is open 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and 9:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, closed 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. It is free, it is for people without a lawyer, and it is the cheapest second opinion on a deposit claim in the borough.
Court address, room and hours from the Kings County Civil Court directory. City-wide information: 111 Centre Street, Room 838, New York, NY 10013, civil and small claims 646-386-5700.
Brooklyn by the numbers
712,011
renter households
71%
of households rent
$1,833
median gross rent
$3,666
one-month deposit, doubled
At the Brooklyn median rent, a one-month deposit is $1,833. If the landlord's violation was willful, the punitive damages the statute allows can double that figure to $3,666 - comfortably inside the $10,000 small claims limit, which is why most Brooklyn deposit disputes never need a lawyer or a bigger court.
Among the five boroughs Brooklyn has the largest number of renter households, the third-highest share of households renting, and the third-highest median rent. Those three facts set what a deposit case here is usually worth and how crowded the Kings County small claims calendar tends to be.
Households and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, tables B25003 and B25064, for Kings County.
Free legal help in Brooklyn
Brooklyn Legal Services - 105 Court Street, 4th Floor, Brooklyn · (718) 237-5500. Legal Services NYC runs one program per borough and takes new matters through a single city-wide intake line, 917-661-4500, Monday to Friday 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Free housing lawyers are means-tested and heavily oversubscribed. A deposit case is usually small enough to run yourself, and the Help Center at the courthouse exists for exactly that - but if your landlord has counterclaimed or the sum is near the limit, call.
Send the letter before you file
A dated demand letter that cites N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 and names the 14-day deadline settles most deposit disputes without a courtroom. If it does not, you walk into Kings County Civil Court holding the strongest exhibit there is: written proof you asked, and the date you asked.
Landlord already past the deadline? What to do when a New York landlord keeps the deposit
This page is self-help information, not legal advice. Court rooms, hours and phone numbers change; the Kings County directory linked above is the authority, and these records were read on September 13, 2026. Rent stabilized apartments follow GOL § 7-107 rather than N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108, so confirm your own status before relying on either.