Guide
How to prepare an NYC apartment for rent: what to fix, and what to skip
Fix what shows up in the photographs and what a renter touches in a showing: clean it properly, paint where the walls are marked, get every light working and make sure everything opens, closes and runs. Skip renovations the rent will not repay. In a building built before 1960, book the lead-paint turnover work first, because it gates everything else.
The short list
What should you fix before listing an apartment?
Anything that shows in a photograph or fails in a showing. Renters decide from the first image and then check by opening doors and turning taps, so those two tests are the whole list.
| Fix | Why it is worth it |
|---|---|
| A deep clean, including inside the oven and fridge, the windows and the grout | Dirt reads as neglect in a listing photo, and renters take it as a sign of how the building is run. |
| Paint wherever walls are scuffed, patched or marked | Wide-angle listing photos exaggerate every scuff and patch. Fresh paint is one of the cheapest ways to make a unit look cared for. |
| Every bulb working, and all of them the same color | Dead or mismatched bulbs make rooms look smaller and darker in photos, and evening showings depend on them. |
| Everything a renter touches: taps, locks, windows, outlets, closet doors, every burner | A door that sticks or a burner that will not light is what a renter remembers from a showing, and it comes back as a negotiating point. |
| The small things: loose hardware, cracked outlet covers, failed caulk around the tub and sink | Each one is cheap and fast, and each one is visible from where a renter stands. |
| Smells: drains, the fridge, anything left behind | It never shows in a photo, and it decides showings anyway. |
The other list
What is not worth fixing before you list?
Anything that costs more in empty weeks than it earns back. For a unit at the Brooklyn median of $4,350 a month (The Corcoran Group, June 2026), one extra month empty costs that whole amount before an upgrade has paid back a dollar.
A kitchen or bathroom renovation between tenants
Unless it was already planned and priced into the rent, it turns a short turnover into weeks or months of vacancy that the new rent has to earn back first.
Finishes above what the unit's line rents for
Rent is set by what comparable apartments nearby have signed for. A finish well above the line rarely moves the rent enough to pay for itself.
Replacing fixtures that are dated but work and photograph well
Renters notice condition before they notice age. Clean and working beats new.
Decorating to your own taste
Neutral photographs better and suits more renters. A bold color is one more reason for someone to keep scrolling.
If you are not sure which side of the line a fix is on, work out what a week of vacancy costs on your unit and compare it with how long the fix will take.
The one that is not optional
What turnover work does NYC require before a new tenant moves in?
In a building built before 1960, Local Law 1 requires lead-based paint work every time the apartment changes tenants, whether or not the next tenant has young children.
What it covers. Lead-based paint has to be removed from the friction surfaces of doors, door frames and windows, a one-time job on the first turnover since 2004. Then, at every turnover, bare floors, window sills and window wells have to be made smooth and cleanable, peeling or deteriorated paint corrected, and any painted surface with teeth marks abated.
Who can do it. The work has to be done by a contractor certified by the federal EPA. Whenever that work is done, a lead dust clearance test follows, carried out by a third party independent of both you and the contractor.
What to keep. Records of the work and of the contractor's certification, for at least 10 years. Units built from 1960 to 1978 are covered too if you know there is lead-based paint. A unit with a current Lead Free exemption from HPD does not need the turnover work.
Why this goes first on the schedule
When the turnover inspection finds work to do, it is the only item on the list that needs a certified outside contractor and an independent test, so it sets the earliest date the unit can be ready. Inspect the day the unit is vacated, book any work straight away, and fit the painter and the cleaner around it, not the other way round.
Source: HPD, Turnover Requirements Pursuant to Local Law 1 of 2004.
Putting it together
In what order should turnover work happen?
Walk it, book the work that has the longest lead time, clean last, and only then photograph and list. Each step depends on the one before it, which is why the order matters as much as the work.
Walk the unit the day it is vacated
List every fix at once, while the unit is empty and the condition is fresh. A list built across several visits is how a turnover drifts.
Book the lead-paint work and the trades together
In a pre-1960 building, any Local Law 1 work, and the dust clearance test that follows it, sets the earliest date the unit can be ready, so book it first and fit everything else around it.
Clean after the trades, not before
Painting and repairs undo a clean. One thorough clean at the end is cheaper than two.
Photograph the finished unit
Not the unit mid-work, and not the old photos. The first image decides whether a renter opens the listing at all.
List it with a real availability date
A firm date lets renters plan a move around it. A vague one sends them to a listing that has one.
The average Manhattan or Brooklyn apartment signs a lease in 36–37 days (The Corcoran Group, June 2026). A turnover done in the right order is what lets that clock start the day the unit is actually ready. If it runs past that, here is how to work out why.
Straight answers
Owner questions about turnover, answered directly
Do I have to repaint between tenants?
Not at every turnover as such. In a building with three or more apartments, an occupied apartment has to be repainted every three years under NYC Administrative Code § 27-2013, so a turnover is often the easiest time to do it. HPD, tenant rights and responsibilities.
Should I stage an empty apartment?
For the photographs, virtual staging is usually enough, and it is part of how we produce a listing for an empty unit. It helps renters read the scale of a room, which an empty room photographs badly. How to stage without misleading renters.
Should I list the apartment before the work is finished?
Only with photographs of the finished unit and a firm date. Showing a unit mid-work loses renters who cannot picture it done, and listing it with old photographs sets up a showing that does not match the listing.
Can Pear NYC tell me what is worth fixing on my unit?
Yes. It is part of the walkthrough we do before pricing a unit: we tell you what is worth fixing before it lists and what is not, alongside what it should rent for. How the process works.
No charge, no obligation
Have a unit turning over?
Send us the address and we will walk it, tell you what is worth fixing before it lists and what is not, and what it should rent for once it does.