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Paying the rest of a lease

NYC Housing Court Practice/Procedures

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Paying the rest of a lease

Postby dangriff » Thu May 08, 2003 4:16 pm

In summary - I broke the lease in favorable conditions (a month before vacating), they lowered the termination fee, told me I did not owe anymore money. THEN - 2 weeks after I left the apartment - they stated construction on the wall in the patio of the apartment unit (has sole access to the outdoor patio). I moved out April 18th with their knowledge - construction started May 4th (estimated from super). This construction will take time to complete - and was not necessary by any means - it could have been done with me as the tenant there. Instead - they wait until I move out and thereby showing all possible new tenants the mess of the apartment property - of course no new tenants have signed a lease. In addition - the unit itself has not been repaired or cleaned (actually, has been made to look worse) even after the close to 3 weeks after moving out.
I understand that I broke the lease and am liable for the lease agreement - but has the landlord broke any "GOOD FAITH" attempts in renting the apartment? I had long conversations with the landlord more than once telling them that I would go way out of my way to find a tenant to replace me - where as they emphatically denied any help from me. Are there any habitability laws or other rental laws I can use to not have to continue paying the rent - at least while this un-necessary construction of apartment premises is occurring? Any laws also take into account that this "beautification" of the apartment was not started until at least 2 weeks after vacating the apartment? This construction and all other "repairs" to the apartment that would even begin to take this long WHERE NOT caused by me - and have been pre-existing conditions well before my lease start date. I did find a brief statment on a web page - but do not know what law it pertains to. It reads:
Make sure the landlord is doing everything he can to mitigate his losses. What does this mean? The landlord is required by law to do everything in his power to re-rent the unit as quickly as possible. He isn't required to give your unit any precedence, but neither can he just leave it empty to keep collecting from you.

Any help would be great - thanks
Dan Griffeth
dangriff
 
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu May 08, 2003 1:01 am
Location: DC


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