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Illegal sublet of rent-stabilized apartment in NYC

Posted by Eliana Menzin on August 05, 2000 at 18:27:36:

My roommate and I have been living in a sublet of a two bedroom apartment since March 1, 2000 on East 30th Street in Manhattan. The builindg is six floors and was built before World War 2. The woman from whom we have been subletting told us that our total rent each month would be $1622.50. According to her, the actual rent of the apartment is $1480, but because the sublet included furniture, she is entitled to this. We signed a six month lease which she wrote, which isn't a standard sublease agreement. The agreement gave her the rent to evict us with less than thirty days notice, if she chose. Additionally, it gave her to raise our rent if the rent was increased by the landlord. Since we have been in the apartment, we obtained a copy of her lease which states that the base rent of the apartment is $1404. We know that the sublet is illegal as the woman from whom we are subletting lives upstate and has been subletting the apartment before us, for more than two years. We also know that the landlord of the building does not know about her sublet. The woman led us to believe that if we paid our rent on time, she would create a second sublet agreement so we could stay in the apartment for a year. Our rent was paid on time each month. After asking her repeatedly for two months if we would be able to renew she gave us thirty two days notice that we would be unable to renew as she was giving the apartment to a freind. My roommate and I would like to stay in the apartment and would like to report her to the landlord. Do we have a chance of staying in the apartment if we report her to the landlord? Becuase the sublet is illegal, is the landlord allowed to terminate his lease with her and create a new lease for us if he chose to do so? How much would he be able to raise the rent? We are also wondering if we there is a way for us to get back the extra money that he we paid (we understand that she is allowed to charge 10% of the base rent in a furnished sublet)on the furnsished sublet since it surpassed 10% of the base rent. If there is a way to retrive the money, what is the process for doing so? Should we tell her first that we will report her or go directly to the landlord? Is an illusory sublet allowed to be filed if the subletees have liced in the apartment for less than a year. I would very much appreciate any answers that you can give.

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