Eviction

[Downtown]

Help, have been subletting for 3 months on a 6 month sublease....found an eviction notice for the prime tenant on the door. Can't find this guy anywhere (he has moved upstate). Do I have any rights...can I get this postponed?

[Chimera]

Once the prime tenant is evicted, the sub-tenant is evicted as well. If you have been paying rent to the prime tenant, I would discontinue doing so immediately, as he might be pocketing your rent payment and not paying the landlord. Try contacting the landlord or management company immediately and find out if you can pay them rent directly so you can continue living there.

[Downtown]

Thought that might be the case. The building will not talk. Is there no legal recourse to delay eviction as I was not told until notice went up.

[TenantNet]

It gets a bit murky and perhaps an attorney can shed some light, but seems they might have to list the subtenant - sometimes listed as a 'John Doe' or 'all occupants' on the court papers. When you say eviction notice, that could be several things - not all are eviction notices (i.e., notices to cure, court petitions, etc.). But nevertheless not to be ignored. If you've been paying rent to the prime tenant, then you should be able to contact him. If you've paid rent directly to the LL or management co., then you might have a basis to assert a landlord-tenant legal relationship (leasehold). Court dates can be adjourned for a short time, but it won't go away. Yes, stop paying all rent until it's cleared up - or unless ordered by a judge. If what you got on the door was a real eviction notice from a marshall, you could try to get an Order to Show Cause to stop it temporarily (see the court pages on tenant.net), but as you're not the tenant, you might have real problems. If the prime tenant has disappeared, maybe the LL would accept you as a tenant - albeit with an increase.

[Downtown]

I am current on my rent with the prime tenant, whom I paid directly. It is a real eviction notice, which only notes prime tenants name.
There is a strong posibility, he is involved in the Iraqi conflict (as he moved to NYC to work on the Ground Zero site as an excavation specialist).
I am going to court to try and get the Notice...as there is no way (in the few days left), I will find a new place. Plus, I have a new place lined up for June (when this lease was up).
Hopefully with the Notice, I can talk to the LL of the building and negotiate the month and a half left.

[TenantNet]

Not sure how to do this (talk to a lawyer if possible or the pro se attorney in housing court), but if the prime tenant is on active duty in the armed services, I think Federal Law might prevent the eviction - I think it's called the Soldiers and Sailors Act. LL's are supposed to - as part of the court proceeding - to make respresentations that they've made inquiries as to the tenant's military status. The only problem is that you might not have standing to make an Order to Show Cause for the prime tenant as you are a sublet. I'd try to track down this line of attack.

[Downtown]

First, thanks for all the great advice. Did talk to an atty. and was told that as a subtenant (with a signed sublet lease and rent receipts), I could request an Order to Show Cause.
Went to the courthouse today. The clerk in Landlord/Tenant was very helpful (even let me read the file...seems this guy never paid the rent I gave him). Judge Lau was equally as nice. She remembered the case and granted the Order based on my lease,current rent and that I had not been properly notified nor included in the previous proceedings.
I still have to go to court. Still can't find this guy nor if he is truely in Iraq. But it gives me time to start finding a new place.

[NYHawk]

how much rent were you charged? how much rent on the court papers?