illusory prime tenant

[rajiv]

i just moved to nyc and retained a reputable city based brokerage company to finfd me a furnished rental. they agreed to do so for 15% of the yearly rental which i paid them upon their getting me the apartment. the so called landlord gave me a "guest" agreement giving me exclusive use of his furnished apt including weekly maid service once a week. i signed the guest agreement and gave him 2 months advance rent and one month security. about a month ago, 2 months into my occupancy he started calling and saying that i had to leave. i told him that we should meet and discuss it but he refused to. one day when i was not at the apt he just had the locks changed with all my possessions in the apt. i called the police and they got me into the apt again but refused to register a complaint. since then i have found out that the landlord is actually the prime tenant who has hardly ever lived at this rent stabilized apt. further he has a home and business in another part of new york state and lives there full time. apparently he has been subletting this apt for many years now as a business and i have found out who some of the other sublettors were. the rent i am paying is 4 times what he is paying to the actual landlord which i am told is illegal. what should i be doing as i am told filing a rent overcharge complaint is futile??? is there any merit to the proposition that i should hire a lawyer and seek damages from him and ask the judge to ask the landlord to recognise me as the actual rent stabilised tenant in place of the prime tenant of record at this time?? of course i dont want to get fleeced by lawyers either

[Lilly]

This is a good one! You do 3 things:
1)You contact the landlord and send him a copy of your "Guest Agreement" as well as copies of your cancelled checks for the rent.
2) You file an overcharge complaint with DHCR-25 Beaver Street, 5th floor-bring everything with you
between 9am-4:15p
3)You sue this person in small claims court(if less than $3000) 111 Center Street in it was in Manhattan.

[TenantNet]

Given the facts stated in the original post, the prime tenant should be exposed, but I wouldn't contact the landlord just yet until the poster gets a good sense of his rights to occupancy, if any. He can either file with DHCR or file in small claims or civil court, but not both. He should act, but not without knowing where he's going.

[Cranky Tenant]

I would strongly suggest contacting a lawyer. Most lawyers have a relatively low fee for consultations, or no fee at all.

If the broker charged 15 percent of a years rent, that might emply the tenant should have received a lease for a minimum of one year.So there might be a case against the broker as well. Why shouldn't brokers screen landlords just as they screen potential tenants? After all, it's these potential renters who are paying for the service.