Month to Month Lease and Landlord Wants to Evict...Need help

[meg777]

Hi,
I have a two-part question.


I am currently renting a two-bedroom home in Sag Harbor, NY. I have been renting for nine years now. We had an original one year lease, and after the first year we went on a month-to-month basis. My landlord has been really good about the rent (I pay much less than other people in the area), but I have just gotten a letter from him saying that I have six weeks to vacate the house. He did not give a reason. Do I have move? I understand that I can holdover but is it beneficial to me to do so?


Also, he recently sent me a letter saying that the repairs I had undertaken to the house in the past nine years were at my expense. He did not approve these repairs, but I thought I was doing him a favor. I replaced a door, and I replastered the basement walls. However, I did this thinking that I would live here indefinitely. Do I have any recourse to get my money back now? Also, he approved me to replace the roof at my expense. Can I now get that money back?

[dealing3000]

You replaced the roof at your own expense? The roof is normally the LL's responsibility. As a month to month tenant all the LL has to do is give you 1 month's notice to vacate. It seems he has done this. Without a lease you had really no rights regarding staying in the house. I can understand replacing doors and making other cosmetic changes (especially since you are paying less than market rate rent) but the roof? I think you are out of luck and unfortunately most likely will have to move. What I would do is to basically tell the LL that you replaced the roof with the intention of staying for a while. The LL definitely does not have to pay you back but you can also bring up if he refuses, that you have every intention of holding over and thus dragging this out. Maybe he will pay you back to get you out on time. This makes sense and it is the fair thing to do but of course just because it is the right thing to do does not mean the LL will do it.

If the LL lied to you by saying you could stay for a while then it might be worth finding a couple guys looking for work down on the corner and pay them $100 to "get your roof back" by piling it all up on the front lawn. This would of course send the LL a message but use this advice at your own risk.