LL has not returned executed copy of lease renewal -- wh

[mkraft]

My landlord hasn't returned an executed copy of the lease renewal on my rent stabilized Manhattan apt.

I believe the reason he didn't return it is because he included, separately, a 'rider' with it (actually 2 pages of additional lease riders) that I said I wouldn't sign because the RS Code requires that lease renewals occur on the same terms and conditions as those in the expiring lease.

I returned the lease about a month ago. Current lease expires 7/31/02. What should I do next, and when -- i.e., how soon?

Thanks.

[Cranky Tenant]

According to the DHCR Fact Sheet #4

"If the owner does not return a copy of the fully executed Renewal Lease Form to the tenant within 30 days of receiving the signed lease from the tenant, the tenant may file the Tenant's Complaint of Owner's Failure to Renew Lease and /or Failure to Furnish a Copy of a Signed Lease DHCR Form RA-90 "

[mkraft]

Thanks -- do I have to do anything? Am I at any disadvantage by doing nothing & just starting to pay the new rent when the new lease begins on August 1?

I ask because my former landlord never, to my recollection, returned a lease renewal copy to me.

Having returned the renewal lease (although not by certified mail, or with any other proof that I did so), do I have any responsibility to respond to the landlord's failure to return a signed copy to me?

[Phil Cohen]

A good question, and one that I can only answer with an educated guess. Perhaps someone else has a better answer.
If I were in your position I would pay the rent as per the Aug. 1 lease, as it was indeed signed by you and the LL and is a binding contract. I don't know what, if any, the penalties are against the LL for not returning the lease to you.

[mkraft]

The landlord has not signed the renewal lease, or at least he has not returned a signed copy to me.

I'm primarily interested in my own culpability, if any -- in the absence of a fully executed renewal lease -- rather than the landlord's. His failure to return the lease may simply be an oversight on his part. But if I need to act before August 1, I don't want to count on that.

If the landlord does nothing further before August 1 (including not returning a copy of the renewal lease to me) and accepts the new rent for August, the new lease will, I believe, have vested with or without an executed renewal lease. Can anyone here knowledgably confirm that?

Thanks.

[Phil Cohen]

Good gawd, you have no culpability whatsoever. On the contrary, the LL is violating the law, not you. No way on earth you can be disadvantaged even if he rips up the lease.
Your best bet is to go ahead and pay the new rent under the terms of the lease YOU signed. And complain to the DHCR.
It doesn't matter if he "accepts the new rent" or not. If he says to you, "pay me less than the new rent"--fine. Doesn't hurt your rights in the least. You have a right to a new lease. You cannot be evicted, or charged more than the amount permitted by law, just because the LL doesn't sign the lease.

[mkraft]

> i would also include in the letter you send with the lease renewal
> that the LL has 30 days to sign and return it per certified mail.

Actually, just for the record, the regulation concerning lease renewals doesn't specify that the renewal lease be sent via certified mail, either by the landlord (when offered) or the tenant (when returned).

Given the 60-day window (for a tenant to accept the renewal lease) I'm not sure why that is, since one might assume that in the event of a dispute a record of dates would be important.

In terms of the current wording, assuming certified mail was not used, I don't see how anyone can establish either the beginning or end of the 60-day window -- i.e., the landlord has no proof of when the renewal lease was received by the tenant and the tenant has no proof of when the lease, signed and returned by him/her, was received by the landlord.

<small>[ June 28, 2002, 01:50 PM: Message edited by: mkraft ]</small>