defrauded on sublease

[dgeenberg]

I attempted to rent an apartment at the beginning of the summer that I found on an online classifieds site. I was in a rush to find temporary housing (I was at school and coming to NY to work as a summer intern) so I had some friends see the apartment instead of myself. After they said that it was alright I signed an agreement to rent. Upon arriving I met up with a friend of the person whom I had agreed to rent from and delivered payment up front for the apartment in the form of certified checks. Upon getting to the apt I found that it was a mess; the prior tenant hadn't completely moved out and had left a note saying that he had gotten into an argument with the person he was subletting from, who had made violent threats, causing the prior tenant to leave in a hurry.

Upon seeing this I immediately believed that I was taken in by a scam, and thinking that whoever I had just given the checks to may not even hold an agreement on this apartment I reported the certified checks as lost and had payment stopped.

The person who I had agreed to rent from immediately started calling me and threatening to sue for the full 3 months rent of the lease and was harassing me at my job. Believing that I owed him something for breaking the contract, I agreed to pay him one months rent plus $200 ($2000 total for an apt I never lived in on a lease originally in the amount of $5000 for 2.5 months) to settle all accounts under the contract and cover the damages for him being unable to rent the apt to anyone else. Foolishly, I took his word instead of getting a written agreement. As soon as he received payment, the individual immediately began to take steps against my bank to remove the stop payment on the cashier's checks. The checks were from 2 different banks and after the individual threatened legal action against the bank they paid him in full for the check of $2000---he obviously conned me and now has $4000 for an apartment I never lived in.

Please let me know what sort of law this falls under if you know, or send me any resources that you might know of that can help. I'm thinking about getting a lawyer but know that the legal fees may be high on a case where im looking to recover $2000. Also, would I be able to sue for legal fees? Also, im relatively sure the sublet is illegal (I'm sure that the building owner doesn't know about this, the person I was renting from alluded to it)--- is there any action I can take against this man, besides a civil suit for the $2000 he took after we settled on a verbal agreement?

Thanks so much, I'm really in a bind.

[Downtown]

If the apt was rent stabilized or regulated PT cannot sublet without LL approval and cannot charge more than actual rent (or if furnished small surcharge I believe). If the above is true then you are entitled to all your monies as the court will not enforce an illegal sublet.
If non regulated then a different story. Would have to check with LL if tenant had a subletting clause in lease.
That said...always get it in writing. PT if sublet was legal had a signed lease (?)which leaves you vulnerable for full payment. However, if you sue in small claims can probably get the extra $2000 back...as PT/LL has an obligation to mitigate damages and re-rent. Bring copies of all cashed checks and any friends who witnessed this.
Do talk with LL and see if apt was rented again as PT cannot double dip.

[Anna]

All sublets are illegal unless the PT has the LL's written consent, RPL 226-b, not just rent-regulated apts; except, of course, for those extremely rare PT's who have sublet privileges in their leases.

Sue in Small Claims for all of the money. Visit a tenant-clinic for more help or pay for an hour's time from a tenant atty before you give up.

[Cranky Tenant]

Originally posted by geeny:

The person who I had agreed to rent from immediately started calling me and threatening to sue for the full 3 months rent of the lease and was harassing me at my job. Believing that I owed him something for breaking the contract, I agreed to pay him one months rent plus $200 ($2000 total for an apt I never lived in on a lease originally in the amount of $5000 for 2.5 months) to settle all accounts under the contract and cover the damages for him being unable to rent the apt to anyone else. Foolishly, I took his word instead of getting a written agreement. As soon as he received payment, the individual immediately began to take steps against my bank to remove the stop payment on the cashier's checks. The checks were from 2 different banks and after the individual threatened legal action against the bank they paid him in full for the check of $2000---he obviously conned me and now has $4000 for an apartment I never lived in.

I don't really understand how he could force the bank to cash two stopped checks but this sounds like it could be criminal

Have you considered calling the District Attorney's office?