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demand for rent/non payment proceeding

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demand for rent/non payment proceeding

Postby andym5015 » Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:01 pm

Is there a limit to how many months a landlord is able to request and/or how many months back they mammy be entitled to when hit comes to a demand for rent/non payment proceeding?
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Re: demand for rent/non payment proceeding

Postby TenantNet » Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:20 pm

If I understand the question, how many months of back rent may a LL seek in housing court? The short answer is six years (72 months). That's the Statute of Limitations for rent and some other things. This is spelled out in the NYS Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR).

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/CVP/213

Other statute of limitations for other types of debt or liabilites may vary. Also see https://www.nycourts.gov/courthelp/Goin ... hart.shtml

That means if a LL were to file a suit seeking back rent today (6/3/21), they can only go back to June 2015. Anything prior to that cannot be sought.

But LLs will often play around with dates. So if you paid rent for May 2021, they might apply it to rent you withheld back in 2014, and then seek back rent in court of 2021, not 2014. There are often lease provisions for this - so look at all the fine print of your lease.

You get around this by "earmarking" your rent payments. So the check or money order you send in for May 2021 should have in the memo field, something like "rent for May 2021 and for no other months." Earmark every check or money order. I'm not sure how this is done with electronic payments.
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Re: demand for rent/non payment proceeding

Postby andym5015 » Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:47 pm

I swear an attorney once mentioned 2 me reason there was some sort of stipulation that the landlord's demand for rent could only go back 6 months (or something to that nature). As the fact the landlord has waited so long to request the unpaid rent and/or approach the tenant about the backrent illuminates the landlord's hesitancy as there's some sort of unlawfulness going on that prevented the landlord from doing so.

If I remember correctly it was a French term or something foreign that she called it by.

So just to further clarify, there's no such law/rule that exists?

I apologize if u feel like I'm/you're 'beating a dead horse' lol :|
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Re: demand for rent/non payment proceeding

Postby andym5015 » Thu Jun 03, 2021 7:59 pm

PS - is there a way to look up civil/housing court rulings by a particular Judge? One that doesn't involve paying fees and/or a membership?
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Re: demand for rent/non payment proceeding

Postby TenantNet » Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:34 pm

There is also something called laches, which gets a little complicated and could force the matter to a higher court, i.e., from housing to civil or supreme court. I don't think that stops a LL from seeking rent more than 6 months, but it adds complications. I have heard different explanations of laches. Going to a higher court can be more expensive for the LL, but also for the tenant. The rules are a bit more formal. Some tenants can wing it (i.e., pro se - represent themselves) in housing court. But in Supreme, that is not advisable.

The case might also have had a stipulation where both parties agree how far back they can go, or a judge might have issued a decision on a motion limiting things.

Do not confuse the 6-year SOL with the 4-year lookback period for RS tenants. Those are different things.

Looking up cases ... Google "ecourts" and "scroll." They will show up at the top.
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