Excessive Late Fees; No Lease

[Anonny27]

I've been a month-to month tenant for a year and a half and never had a lease here. The landlord wants me out so she can rent out the whole apartment to one person, rather than by the room as student housing, which is the agreement I had with her when I moved in. As part of the threatening process, she has now left a message stating that I owe her $350 in late rent fees because I have not paid the rent this month (She's been threatening to lock me out of the apartment even though she didn't give me 30 days notice and I have never received anything in writing from her re: moving out, claiming that we had an oral agreement even though that is untrue as well; I am moving out in 2 days just to forgo the hassle of dealing with her). Although the rent has been late n the past, she has accepted it without any mention of late fees, which were never brought up when I moved in and have never been mentioned since. I'm pretty sure she can't legally claim the $350 in late fees, but I am concerned that she can tack some nasty things on my credit report. Is this possible? Can landlords do anything to your credit report? What can she do if I refuse to pay the fees?

[Anonny27]

P.S. The rent is only $800, which is why I think the $350 is excessive.

[BenSteel21]

That sounds like a bad situation. Bravo for getting out of there. I am having a similar problem concerning late fees with my landlord. My last lease expired last May and I was living under a verbal agreement on a reduced rent rate and now they are claiming the difference plus late fees!
From what I have learned from studying the law for my own battle is that the primary remedy for land lords' to collect is through civil court. Your land lord will have to prove the amount that you owe and make the claim that you have not payed it. You in turn will show confirmation of the payment that you have made through canceled checks, bank statements etc. This is why having as many things in writing as possible is beneficial to both parties.
Because you don't have a written lease, it might be hard for your land lord to try to recover for late fees that you never agreed to or were never made aware of.
From what I know of "At Will Tenancy" which is what I believe your verbal agreement could be classified as, your land lord should give you one rental period of notice to terminate the agreement. Both yourself and the land lord reserve the right to terminate the agreement at any time but must give the one term notice before doing so. If you don't leave after the land lord has given you notice, then he/she can take you to court to file for eviction. An eviction is something you DO NOT WANT on your credit report. It can only be put there by the court itself.
Now about the late fees and the credit report. I am not sure if your land lord can put it on there without the out come decided by court. If he/she does put it on your report and is in the wrong you can take 'em to court. If the judge thinks your land lord was particularly fraudulent and or nasty, he could award you something like tripple a months rent in damages.
Your best bet is to be as polite as possible and to move out peacefully. Court is a real pain.
One more thing. If your land lord witholds security deposit you can sue for that too, but that is also a pain.
Sometimes its better to cut your losses and save yourself some hassel.
Good luck!
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"Kill all the lawyers" - William Shakespeare

[Cranky Tenant]

Anonny27
The whole idea of renting out individual rooms to students, in Manhattan, sounds a bit shadey to me. Are you sure she's the landlord or just a tenant / leaseholder who rents out rooms?

<small>[ April 17, 2003, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: Cranky Tenant ]</small>

[TenantNet]

Late fees have to be reasonable. 5% might be considered reasonable, but 25% isn't. There's case law on that if you search for it. But she would have to take you to court. As for changing the locks, download the Illegal Eviction page on tenant.net. If you're really concerned about that speak to the local precinct before she tries it and slip a copy under the door so she can't plead ignorance - and so she won't try it with someone else.

[Anonny27]

Thanks for your replies. I am definitely relieved, since I don't think she'll actually take me to court. I think she is just making threats to scare me. It is actually a realty company that owns the building, or several units in it, and they set up several apartments for "student housing" where each person pays the rent for one bedroom in each apt. I think the realty company gets some kind of tax break or something for offering "student housing" like this, not sure. But I'm out, and free!! (for good I hope. But at least now I know that what she is trying to do is illegal).