A side-by-side comparison of the Blumberg T-186/T-201 lease, generic internet templates, and LeaseSigning — focused on the NYC disclosures, HSTPA limits, and Good Cause Eviction language a judge will actually look for.
For decades, the Blumberg T-186 (rent stabilized) and T-201 (free market) forms have been the default residential leases for small NYC landlords. They are sold at every legal stationer, they look official, and they have a long courtroom track record. For a long time, that was enough.
It is not enough anymore.
Between the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA) and the 2024 Good Cause Eviction law, the rules around what a landlord can charge, when they can refuse to renew, and what they must disclose have changed faster than the off-the-shelf forms can keep up with. A lease that was airtight in 2018 can quietly cost you a security deposit dispute, a late fee, or a holdover case in 2026.
This is an honest comparison of three options NYC landlords actually choose between:
- The Blumberg T-186 / T-201 paper forms
- A generic internet template (LegalZoom, RocketLawyer, "free NYC lease PDF")
- LeaseSigning, the attorney-reviewed NYC-specific package
The goal is not to dunk on Blumberg. The goal is to show you, clause by clause, what a Housing Court judge is going to look for in 2026 — and which of these three actually puts it in front of them.
The three options at a glance
| Feature | Blumberg T-186/T-201 | Generic template | LeaseSigning | |---|---|---|---| | Drafted for NYC specifically | Yes | No | Yes | | Updated for HSTPA (2019) | Partially | Rarely | Yes | | Good Cause Eviction language (2024) | No | No | Yes | | All 11 mandatory NYC disclosures bundled | No | No | Yes | | Lead paint disclosure + EPA pamphlet | Separate form | Often missing | Built-in | | Window guard rider (annual notice) | Separate form | Missing | Built-in | | Bedbug history (DHCR Form NYC-RA-90) | Separate form | Missing | Built-in | | Stove knob cover notice (2024) | No | No | Yes | | Security deposit receipt with bank info | Manual | Missing | Generated automatically | | E-signature with audit trail (ESIGN/UETA) | No (wet ink) | Sometimes | Yes | | Sealed timestamped signing record | No | No | Yes | | Stored, indexed, retrievable for court | No | No | Yes |
The headline: Blumberg gives you a competent base lease and expects you to bolt on the disclosures yourself. Generic templates give you a generic lease and assume your state is California. LeaseSigning is built around the assumption that the document will be read by a NYC Housing Court judge.
1. NYC disclosures: bundled vs. bolted on
NYC requires landlords to deliver 11 specific written disclosures with a residential lease. Missing one is rarely fatal on its own, but in a holdover or non-payment case it is the kind of crack a tenant's attorney pries open.
The full list: lead paint (pre-1978 buildings), window guards, bedbug history, smoke and CO detectors, sprinkler systems, stove knob covers (new in 2024), gas leak procedures, allergen hazards, rent stabilization status, security deposit receipt with bank details, and Good Cause Eviction status. We cover the full set in our 11 mandatory NYC lease disclosures guide.
Blumberg. Each disclosure is its own form you buy and attach. The base T-186/T-201 references some of them but does not include the rider text or the EPA pamphlet. A landlord who buys "the Blumberg lease" and signs it has usually skipped half the disclosure package without realizing it.
Generic templates. Most do not even know the disclosures exist. The lead paint disclosure is the only one a 50-state template typically includes, because federal law forces it. Window guard, bedbug, stove knob — silence.
LeaseSigning. All 11 disclosures are part of the standard package. The tenant signs each disclosure as part of the same signing flow, and each one is timestamped and sealed in the audit trail. There is no "did I attach the bedbug form?" moment.
2. HSTPA: the security deposit, late fee, and application fee traps
The 2019 HSTPA quietly invalidated a lot of lease language that landlords still use out of habit. The three most common landmines:
- Security deposit cap. One month's rent. Period. Older Blumberg forms allowed up to two months for unfurnished and three for furnished — those clauses are now unenforceable.
- Late fees. Capped at the lesser of $50 or 5% of monthly rent, and only collectible after a 5-day grace period. Many internet templates still say "10% after 3 days."
- Application fees. Capped at $20, and only for actual background and credit check costs. "Application fee: $75" is illegal.
Blumberg. The current forms have been updated, but older copies (and earlier-revision PDFs floating around landlords' file cabinets) still contain pre-HSTPA caps. If your Blumberg lease was bought before 2020, treat it as suspect.
Generic templates. Almost always wrong on at least one of the three. They are drafted for "most states" and HSTPA is a NY-only ceiling.
LeaseSigning. Hard-coded to HSTPA limits. The intake form will not let you enter a security deposit greater than one month's rent, a late fee above the statutory cap, or an application fee above $20. You cannot accidentally build an illegal clause.
3. Good Cause Eviction (2024): the clause that does not exist on older forms
The 2024 Good Cause Eviction law applies to roughly 800,000 NYC apartments — broadly, market-rate units in buildings of 11+ units owned by entities that own 10+ units citywide, with several portfolio and building-age exemptions. If your unit is covered, you must:
- Provide a written Good Cause notice at lease signing and at renewal
- Limit annual rent increases to the lesser of CPI + 5% or 10%
- Have a "good cause" — non-payment, nuisance, lease violation, owner use, etc. — to refuse renewal or evict
Blumberg T-186/T-201. No Good Cause clause. No Good Cause notice. The forms predate the law. A landlord using a current Blumberg form for a covered unit is non-compliant the day the lease is signed.
Generic templates. Same — no Good Cause language.
LeaseSigning. The intake form asks coverage questions (unit count, portfolio size, building age, ownership type), determines coverage, and either generates the Good Cause notice with the correct rent-increase ceiling or marks the unit exempt with the cited exemption. The notice is part of the signing flow.
4. Signatures: wet ink, DIY PDF, or sealed audit trail
A lease is only as strong as your ability to prove who signed it, when, and that they were not under duress. NY recognizes electronic signatures under ESIGN and UETA, but only when the platform captures enough to authenticate the signer.
Blumberg. Wet ink in front of you, or scanned and emailed back. If a tenant later claims "I never signed that," you have the paper. Fine — until the tenant claims the date is wrong, or that page 7 was swapped, or that the disclosures were not attached when they signed.
Generic templates. Usually a PDF sent over email, signed in a free tool (or just typed). Most free tools do not generate a tamper-evident certificate. In Housing Court, that is a weak record.
LeaseSigning. Each signer gets a unique signing link, IP and timestamp captured per field, identity verification, and a sealed PDF with a tamper-evident certificate of completion. If a tenant disputes the signature, you hand the judge a single PDF that shows every action in chronological order.
5. Storage and retrieval
Lost leases are a quiet, common disaster. In a non-payment case 18 months in, "I have it somewhere" is not a defense.
- Blumberg: filing cabinet.
- Generic template: your email inbox or a folder on Dropbox.
- LeaseSigning: every signed lease, every disclosure, every audit trail, indexed by property and tenant, retrievable in two clicks from the landlord dashboard.
When Blumberg is still the right choice
Blumberg is a real product with real lawyers behind it. For a landlord who:
- Already has a lawyer reviewing every lease
- Personally tracks every disclosure rider and updates them after each new law
- Only signs in person
- Stores leases in a system they actually maintain
…Blumberg is fine. It is a building block. The problem is that most small NYC landlords do not have that bench, and the forms are sold as if they did.
What this means for a small NYC landlord
If you own 1–10 units in NYC and you are not running an in-house legal operation, the math is straightforward. The forms that used to be "the responsible choice" now require you to be your own compliance officer — knowing which disclosures attach to which lease, tracking HSTPA caps, hand-drafting Good Cause notices, and proving in court that the right tenant signed the right document on the right day.
That is the gap LeaseSigning fills. Same base lease quality. Every NYC disclosure baked in. HSTPA caps enforced at the input. Good Cause notice generated automatically when the unit is covered. Sealed e-signature with a court-ready audit trail. $199/year per property.
Use Blumberg if you have the bench. Use a generic template if the unit is not in New York. For an NYC lease that will hold up the next time a tenant's lawyer goes looking for a crack — use a system built for it.