Nassau County 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. What is local is where you enforce it - and in Nassau that question has a wrong answer that costs money.
Nassau is one of only two counties in New York State outside the city where small claims are heard in a county-wide District Court. Everywhere else upstate the case goes to a city, town or village court, and the limit drops with it.
Where the claim is filed
A deposit claim goes to the court with the landlord in its territory - not the court nearest you.
| Court | Covers | Address | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| District Court, Nassau County | the whole county apart from the cities of Long Beach and Glen Cove | 99 Main Street, Second FloorHempstead, NY 11550 | 516-493-4113 |
Hours. Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. All business must be commenced by 4:30 p.m., and calendars are called at 9:30 a.m.
Addresses, phones, hours and calendars from the court's own pages on nycourts.gov, read September 14, 2026.
Two Nassau cities have their own court
If your landlord lives, works or has a place of business in Long Beach or Glen Cove, the case belongs to that city's court, not to the District Court in Hempstead. Both hear small claims up to the same $5,000.
- Long Beach City Court - One West Chester Street, Long Beach, NY 11561 · 516-442-8544
- Glen Cove City Court - 13 Glen Street, Glen Cove, NY 11542 · 516-403-2441
What you can sue for, and what it costs
A District Court small claim is capped at $5,000. That number is worth fixing in your head, because the two figures most often quoted for New York are not yours: $10,000 is the New York City Civil Court ceiling, and $3,000 is what a town or village justice court can award.
The filing fee is $15 for a claim up to $1,000 and $20 above it. If your claim runs past $5,000, you can waive the excess and stay in small claims, or bring a civil action in the same District Court, which hears cases up to $15,000 - but that is a different procedure, with a lawyer on the other side more often than not.
Before you file: name the right landlord
A small claim names a legal owner, not a management company or the person who answered your emails, and the District Court will not fix the name for you. If the building is regulated under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act - which reaches parts of Nassau, Rockland and Westchester - your deposit follows GOL § 7-107 rather than the section quoted above, so it is worth knowing which one you are in. A DHCR rent history request answers that statewide, and the answer arrives by mail in about 20 business days - so send it the day you decide to fight.
Nassau by the numbers
82,700
renter households
18%
of households rent
$2,252
median gross rent
$4,504
one-month deposit, doubled
Only about one Nassau household in five rents, but those that do pay a median of $2,252 a month - the highest of any county in the state outside Manhattan. A one-month deposit here is a large enough sum that the $5,000 small claims ceiling matters: doubled, a typical Nassau deposit still fits, but not by much.
Households and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, tables B25003 and B25064, for Nassau County.
Free legal help in Nassau
- Legal Services of Long Island, Hempstead office - 1 Helen Keller Way, 5th Floor, Hempstead · (516) 292-8100
Legal Services of Long Island is the civil legal aid program for both counties and is means-tested. A deposit claim is usually small enough to run without a lawyer; call if the landlord has counterclaimed or the sum is near the $5,000 ceiling.
Send the letter before you file
A dated demand letter citing N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108 and the 14-day deadline settles most deposit disputes without a courtroom, and it costs the price of certified mail. If it does not work, you file holding written proof of when you asked.
Deadline already gone? What to do when a New York landlord keeps the deposit · Filing a New York small claims case step by step
This page is self-help information, not legal advice. Court hours, calendars and phone numbers change; the court pages linked above are the authority, and these records were read on September 14, 2026.