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Lease renewal

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Lease renewal

Postby HonestTenant1 » Thu Apr 05, 2012 10:19 pm

I have been renting my apartment for the last 8 years and have often been late on my rent. Sometime up to 3 months but have always made good on payments as well as any legal fees or additional charges. As a consultant and independent contractor I receive my fees in large installments sometimes 5 times a year and therefore usually my payments are behind. In February of 2012 my lease expired and my landlord is not willing to renew due to my rent history, even though I was told months before that I would be given a new lease if I was fully paid up to date. On March 14th I was sent a letter from the management office asking me to kindly vacate the premises by April 30, 2012, giving me more than 30 days notice. I am currently 3 months behind in the rent but offered to pay in full if the landlord agreed to renew. I was told that they wouldn't discuss unless I paid first - I told them that I would like to pay even several months in advance as well to assure that they would in fact renew. I was again declined a renewal. I recently received a NOTICE OF PETITION (Holdover-Residential) against me requesting I appear in CIVIL COURT OF NEW YORK CITY on May 2nd for final judgement of eviction asking for all outstanding rent. I am willing to pay everything I owe but only if I am granted a new lease. What rights do I have? Can I plead to the judge if I agree to pay in full on date of court? I'm willing to offer more months up front or increase my security. How long after the court date do I legal have to vacate if the ruling is not in my favor even if I agree to pay?
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Postby TenantNet » Thu Apr 05, 2012 11:41 pm

Since you are not regulated, the LL is under no obligation to renew the lease. The legal fees were probably illegal, but that's apparently not the issue now. The 30 days notice appears to be proper.

From the way you describe it, the LL doesn't want to accept your willingness to pay up front, but not monthly. That's their choice.

And yes, they've started a holdover. And since you have no lease, they will win and you will see an eviction notice. You have no rights in this. Sorry, but that's the case. The only leverage you have is that you're in the unit now and owe some back rent. But they can even get a judgment for that. Even if you pay the back rent the LL is under no obligation to give you a lease, and the court can't make him do it.

You are in a jam, but I have to tell you the truth in this. You will probably be out by June 1st unless you have some other defenses, but that at most might buy you some time. Then you should consider the tenant blacklist if you get a court order. You might consider a stipulation where you agree to move by a certain date and there's no judgment against you. Even that gets a little tricky and I would get some legal advice on that.

If the LL has said what it will take to get a lease, then if you want to stay there, I'd consider sucking it up. If not, there's not much you can do. Sorry.
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Postby HonestTenant1 » Fri Apr 06, 2012 12:31 am

Thanks for the solid and sound advice. What would be some examples of other defenses if I wanted to buy more time? Does the "tenant blacklist" happen when I stick it out until the bitter end and get a court order that evicts me? Am I getting evicted for back rent owed or simply because he just doesn't want to renew my lease? Clearly if I stick it out without paying I'm assuming the tenant blacklist is like getting listed with the credit unions for non-payment.
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Postby TenantNet » Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:43 am

Read more about the blacklist in the forum's Reference section. Other defenses are usually when the tenant is accused of doing something wrong, giving the LL grounds to terminate the lease, or a warranty of habitability defense. But those presuppose there's still a lease. That's not the case here. Even if there were merits to other issues, the lease ran out.

Did you check to see if the unit should be rent stab? When was it deregulated? Is it old enough (pre '74). Was it deregulated properly? Not much time, but that's about the only defense I can see at this point.
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