Suffolk 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 Suffolk that question has a wrong answer that costs money.
Suffolk is the other county outside New York City with a District Court, and it is the more complicated of the two: the court covers only the five western towns, and it sits in a different building on a different day of the week for each of them.
Which courthouse hears your claim, and on which day
A deposit claim goes to the court with the landlord in its territory - not the court nearest you. In Suffolk each of the five western towns has its own District Court building, and each calls the small claims calendar on one weekday a week.
| Court | Town | Address | Phone | Small claims day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5th District Court (Town of Islip) | Islip | 3105 Veterans Memorial HighwayRonkonkoma, NY 11779 | 631-381-6000 | Monday |
| 3rd District Court (Town of Huntington) | Huntington | 1850 New York AvenueHuntington Station, NY 11746 | 631-381-6070 | Tuesday |
| 6th District Court (Town of Brookhaven) | Brookhaven | 150 West Main StreetPatchogue, NY 11772 | 631-381-6100 | Tuesday |
| 2nd District Court (Town of Babylon) | Babylon | 30 East Hoffman AvenueLindenhurst, NY 11757 | 631-381-6025 | Thursday |
| 4th District Court (Town of Smithtown) | Smithtown | North County Complex, Building C-158Hauppauge, NY 11788 | 631-381-6075 | Thursday |
Hours. Public windows are open Monday to Friday, 9:15 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Money is taken only between 9:15 and 12:30 and between 2:00 and 4:00, and every civil courthouse closes from 1:00 to 2:00.
Evening court. Night court sits at the 1st District Court in Ronkonkoma on the third Wednesday of the month, with calendars from 5:30 p.m. That is the only evening session in the county, so if you cannot take a weekday morning off, say so to the clerk when you file.
Addresses, phones, hours and calendars from the court's own pages on nycourts.gov, read September 14, 2026.
The East End is not District Court territory
The District Court hears a small claim only where the landlord lives, works or has a place of business in one of the five western towns: Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip or Smithtown. For a landlord in Riverhead, Southampton, East Hampton, Southold or Shelter Island the case goes to that town's justice court instead, where the small claims limit is $3,000 rather than $5,000. Filing in the wrong court costs you the fee and the date.
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.
Suffolk by the numbers
91,419
renter households
18%
of households rent
$2,255
median gross rent
$4,510
one-month deposit, doubled
Suffolk has more renter households than Nassau and almost exactly the same median rent, but its renters are spread across ten towns served by two different court systems - which is why the first question on a Suffolk deposit claim is not how much, but where.
Households and rent: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year, tables B25003 and B25064, for Suffolk County.
Free legal help in Suffolk
- Legal Services of Long Island, Islandia office - 1757 Veterans Highway, Suite 50, Islandia · (631) 232-2400
- Legal Services of Long Island, Riverhead office - 400 West Main Street, Suite 200, Riverhead · (631) 369-1112
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.