Moving Day (New York City)

Moving Day was a tradition in New York City dating back to colonial times and lasting until after World War II. On February 1, sometimes known as "Rent Day", landlords would give notice to their tenants what the new rent would be after the end of the quarter,^[1] and the tenants would spend good-weather days in the early spring searching for new houses and the best deals.^[2] On May 1,^[3] all leases in the city expired simultaneously at 9:00 am, causing thousands of people to change their residences, all at the same time.^[4][5]

The tradition was likely derived from the practice of verhuisdag [nl], with contracts in the Netherlands generally ending on May 1,^[6][7] while The Encyclopedia of New York City links it instead to the English celebration of May Day.^[8] Washington Irving's satirical 1809 novel A History of New York gives an origin myth centering on a movement on that date of early Dutch colonists on the Communipaw Ferry route across the Hudson from New Jersey, while later fanciful writers such as Arthur Guiterman ascribe it as the date of the first crossing across the Atlantic from the Netherlands.^[9] While it may have originated as a custom, the tradition took force of law by an 1820 act of the New York State Legislature, which mandated that if no other date was specified, all housing contracts were valid to the first of May^[10][11] – unless the day fell on a Sunday, in which case the deadline was May 2.^[12]