Q: I live in a rent-stabilized apartment in Brooklyn. In late August, I received a new lease with a slight rent increase from my landlord. My lease had expired in April, but she neglected to get the new one to me until months later. I signed the new lease and dated it with the September date. I just received a note from my landlord telling me that my rent increase began in April and that I owe arrears on the months since. Is this correct? Since I didn’t receive the notice until late August, do I owe the difference for the previous months?

A: No, a landlord cannot give a rent-stabilized tenant a belated lease renewal and then demand retroactive payment. Since you didn’t have a signed agreement in place after your lease expired, you never agreed to pay the increased amount.

“By no means do you have to pay the difference,” said Steven Ben Gordon, a lawyer in Queens who represents tenants.

According to New York state law, owners of rent-stabilized apartments must offer a written lease renewal between 150 and 90 days before a lease expires. Tenants have 60 days to sign and return the new lease, and can choose a term of one or two years. If the tenant does not return the renewal to the landlord within 60 days, the owner may refuse to renew the lease.

If a landlord fails to offer a lease at least 90 days before the expiration of the current lease, they forgo the right to raise the rent as soon as the law allows, according to the Met Council on Housing, a nonprofit which works with tenants’ to help ensure their rights.

Because your landlord offered a late renewal offer, you can choose to have the lease start either on the date the lease would have begun had the offer been on time, or 90 days after the renewal offer was made, said Rosalind Black, citywide housing director at Legal Services NYC. In your case, choosing the later renewal date means that you won’t owe any rent increase until December.

You have an executed lease, and you’re not in danger of losing your apartment, Mr. Gordon said. You don’t have to pay for your landlord’s ineptitude. If she still tries to collect the higher rent for the months before December, you can file a rent overcharge claim with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal.