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Posted by D. Benz on September 27, 2000 at 09:59:07:

The short version on my problem is this: The tenants in my building have been trying to get the landlord to take action against one tenant who is a SERIOUS problem. We want the landlord to evict him. The landlord has resisted; he has equivocated about what he can do, and claimed that he needed us to initiate such action, etc. He now says he will act to evict the problem tenant, but that he needs documented instances with dates, etc. from us to do so. We had previously sent him a three-page letter outlining all the problems. We have such documentation, but we don't TRUST the landlord. We suspect that he does in fact NOT need this documentation in order to initiate a court action, and that ne will use it only to claim it is insufficient and shrug and say, "what can I do?" Which is what he's been doing for a year.

So the specific question I have is exactly what does an eviction procedure look like? What does the landlord need to do to begin legal action? Is his request for our specific documentation valid, or is is BS.

Some more relevant points: Cops from the 78th Precinct are here on a regular basis to arrest the problem tenant. Wouldn't police records be sufficient for the kind of documentation the landlord claims he needs now?

Background: I don't want people to think I'm eviction happy--it's just this guy in the building is really, really bad. There are gunds, knives, drugs, alcohol, regular wife beating, constant broken glass in the hallway, unending noise and screaming and crashing; he steals the mail, has broken into one of the apartments, and has threatened other tenants. We, the other tenants, have called the police countless times. We have complained to the landlord many, many times; one guy even makes a point of calling the landlord whenever the violence occurs, even when it's 3am. What's more, this guy is the SUPER for the building--though, thankfully, he does not have keys to the apartment, but he is the landlord's designated super, who is supposed to clean up and deal with the trash (which he rarely does). The landlord has always claimed he can't do anything. We began withholding rent in August demanding he act to evict the problem tenant. He has tried to say anything to get us to give him his rent. We are afraid that the minute we pay him he will withdraw any action he has initiated.

Follow Ups:

• Eviction of Disruptive Building Superintendent Mark Smith 09/27/00 (0)
• Re: Question about eviction procedure Spirit of DMF 09/27/00 (0)

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: The short version on my problem is this: The tenants in my building have been trying to get the landlord to take action against one tenant who is a SERIOUS problem. We want the landlord to evict him. The landlord has resisted; he has equivocated about what he can do, and claimed that he needed us to initiate such action, etc. He now says he will act to evict the problem tenant, but that he needs documented instances with dates, etc. from us to do so. We had previously sent him a three-page letter outlining all the problems. We have such documentation, but we don't TRUST the landlord. We suspect that he does in fact NOT need this documentation in order to initiate a court action, and that ne will use it only to claim it is insufficient and shrug and say, "what can I do?" Which is what he's been doing for a year.

: So the specific question I have is exactly what does an eviction procedure look like? What does the landlord need to do to begin legal action? Is his request for our specific documentation valid, or is is BS. 

: Some more relevant points: Cops from the 78th Precinct are here on a regular basis to arrest the problem tenant. Wouldn't police records be sufficient for the kind of documentation the landlord claims he needs now?

: Background: I don't want people to think I'm eviction happy--it's just this guy in the building is really, really bad. There are gunds, knives, drugs, alcohol, regular wife beating, constant broken glass in the hallway, unending noise and screaming and crashing; he steals the mail, has broken into one of the apartments, and has threatened other tenants. We, the other tenants, have called the police countless times. We have complained to the landlord many, many times; one guy even makes a point of calling the landlord whenever the violence occurs, even when it's 3am. What's more, this guy is the SUPER for the building--though, thankfully, he does not have keys to the apartment, but he is the landlord's designated super, who is supposed to clean up and deal with the trash (which he rarely does). The landlord has always claimed he can't do anything. We began withholding rent in August demanding he act to evict the problem tenant. He has tried to say anything to get us to give him his rent. We are afraid that the minute we pay him he will withdraw any action he has initiated. 


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