trading rent-stabilized unit for unit in other city?

[wearyolden]

Hello,

I'm a long-time rent-stabilized tenant at a building in NYC. I've not been in NYC and not interested in NYC and have been legally subletting my unit furnished to an acquaintance for some years. This subletter wants me to put them on the lease with me next year, which I do not want to do. Nor do I really want to continue subletting my furnished unit to them. No buyout has been offered by landlord.

Is there any forum or means by which I could trade my stabilized unit to someone in another city, where they have a non-stabilized but preferential rent unit?

And if and when I could find someone to trade to—how would I even go about doing this without putting this new stranger on the lease alongside me, since me giving up the unit and moving out of it and then shepherding them to it would mean I would have no way to "give" them the unit and would also precipitate a vacancy increase?

Please advise.

[TenantNet]

First, your IP address indicates you're posting from Europe, on a spam list or maybe through a VPN. Normally we would just delete such an account as most are spam. So we're watching carefully. We get over 800 spam requests daily, so we exercise caution.

In any case, you are barking up a wrong tree here. It appears you're treating your RS tenancy as if it can be bought, sold or traded. That is an abuse of the system. Shame on you. That kind of attitude hurts all tenants and endangers the system.

You say you've been "legally" subletting your unit ... well that depends on several factors. Saying it's legal doesn't mean it's legal.

You can not put someone on a lease just like that; that is up to the landlord and if that happens, the LL can increase the rent, perhaps substantially. It's considered a new vacancy lease with new tenants added.

If you wish to end the sublet, that's up to you. If you want to move, then that's up to you. If the sublet wants to take over the lease or start a new one, that needs the LL to agree to it.

There are no forums where you can trade your unit to someone elsewhere. Legally, it's not permitted. The LL could offer a buyout, and in many such cases, it's when a tenant gets greedy and has no concern for the overall housing system in NYC. With buyouts, you would be liable for taxes and attorney fees.

We'll give you a pass as perhaps you didn't know, but people do need to know why schemes are bad, stupid and illegal. We're locking this topic to keep it without others piling on.