Subletter Has Made Me Homeless!!

[inmanx]

Can anyone please help me. I returned from a trip to another city and my subletter to whom I only sublet for four weeks in an informal arrangement refuses to leave. She says she has "rights". I don't know what rights she has. This is a studio and my primary residence and I not a landlord. I am a tenant myself. I am homeless. I spoke to the police and they said I have to go to Civil Court to evict her, which could take days. In the meantime, I am homeless and I have no place to live. Can someone please give me some advice or refer a reasonable landlord tenant lawyer. I am unemployed and quite poor [I went out of NYC to try and get some freelance work] and now I return and am broke and homeless. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't know what to do. I am a female so I cannot possibly live on the street. Thank you.

[custudent]

I am very sorry for your situation.

You are a landlord. You may not feel like a landlord, but by subletting your apartment you became a landlord.

This process is not going to take days. It is going to take months. You have to serve your tenant with a 30 day eviction notice. Hire a process server for this, or send it registered mail. If she does not vacate the premises, then you go to court to begin eviction proceedings.

DO NOT under any circumstances, change the locks, remove her belongings, threaten her, or enter the premises without her approval. Any of these acts could get you in a lot of legal trouble.

In the meanwhile, you need to find a place to live. Fortunately, summer sublets are pretty easy to find. Or maybe you could live with a friend or family member for a few months?

[inmanx]

I don't have any money to live elsewhere. Can I at least share the apartment with her? I am unemployed and homeless.

[custudent]

You are not entitled to share the apartment with her.

You can ask her if she is interested in entering into a roommate agreement, but she is not required to allow you into the apartment (except for certain emergencies, such as urgent repairs).

Could you imagine if your landlord showed up at your door one day, bags in hand, and announced that he was going to share your studio with you because he didn't have any other housing options? You would call the police in a second.

You should make finding short term housing a priority. I know this will be difficult with limited funds. Is there anyone you can stay with; even outside the city? If not, I would consider subleting student housing for the summer.

[jot0n0]

If subletter stays pass the sublet lease expiration date, you don't need to give her 30 days notice, but can immediately give her 3 days notice of eviction, if she does not vacate after the 3 days then you would then hire a process server and begin eviction proceedings.

[custudent]

But the tenant doesn't have a lease. They have an "informal arrangement". This sounds more like a month-to-month tenant than one who overstays their lease.

[Lilly]

It's real easy: You just move back in. If she changed the locks you change them back, and take that out of her security deposit. You do have a copy of your lease with your landlord, right?
In any event you have an absolute iron clad right to occupy that apartment, with her in it if need be. The fact that it's a studio is irrelevant, not a violation of occupancy limitations or anything. If she doesn't like it, tough shit. Just show up with your stuff and move back in immediately.

[inmanx]

The only written stuff she has is the check I cashed for the four weeks. Plus a small handwritten receipt from me saying that I had accepted this amount from her as rent from April 1 to May 1. That's it. There is absolutely no other agreement / lease of any kind. That was the only piece of paper , which clearly specifies the dates.
There was never any deal made that she could stay or renew. It was mutually understood that I would be gone for a month, she could stay for only that month and leave when it ended. Now she is claiming all kinds of "rights."

[HardKnocks]

How did you find this girl? Did you run an ad? If so, this may serve as proof that the agreement was only for four weeks. Did you find her through a friend? Then maybe the friend can try to intervene.

Just be careful... her grip on reality seems tenuous at best. I saw a movie once about someone like her. But if it were me, I'd throw her crap out on the street, change the locks and move back in. Because it's my apartment, my name is on the lease, and she was pretty much nothing but a house-sitter. And house-sitters don't have the right to continue occupying the place after the actual occupant returns. She's trespassing, if you ask me. But... I'm no lawyer.

[HardKnocks]

OK, I suppose the house-sitter theory was a little rash...

But was this a "real" sublet, where you asked the landlord, the landlord approved of the person, an agreement was signed, blah blah blah...? or was it just "Hey, 'Sally,' I'm going away for a month, wanna stay in my apartment while I'm gone?" In the second case, I doubt "Sally" has the same tenant rights under the lease as the OP does. How could she?

How long ago did this happen, BTW? If another rent due date has passed and "Sally" hasn't paid either the entire rent or her half, we may have a different situation entirely brewing here...

[inmanx]

This was not a real sublet. I put an online ad--in the past I have met really great, trusting young people in New York and we have always worked together with mutual respect. I sublet the place while on a trip, if they need anything they call, if I need anything I call, otherwise when I return they are gone leaving the place immaculate -- and sometimes even with thank-you notes and flowers.
I found this bitch on the Internet. She seemed nice enough, Said she was a "tech" person. But she has acted like she was brought up in a zoo. She is an old lady, 40. Boasted about how rich she was and how she lived in a downtown mansion [then why is she taking over my poor old rent stabilized apt??]. She did have a hard face, though and seemed a little rancid. She told me her husband has left her. So maybe that should have sounded the alarm bells -- a bitter aging lady! Anyway, my experience in the past had been so positive I felt she was just a little sad and pathetic, but since God had been good to me, let her stay. I had so many people who had wanted to stay. I rue the day I chose her.
It was a "Hey Sally" wanna stay for a month while I am away kind of deal. I did not talk to my landlord about it. I didn't know I had to. I just found out a few days ago it's illegal of me to sublet. My landlord has found out about this--so far he has said nothing.
But someone told me -- if it's illegal for me to sublet, my agreement with this lady is void??
Not only does she not want to leave my apartment while I am homeless, she also asked me to come over and clean the apartment. I just cannot believe this. She is a little psychotic. She also hit me, giving me a black eye. When I called 911 and the police came they said it was my word against hers. The fact that I had been crying and had mascara all over my face and looked really weirded out did not help, while she stood there all calm and composed [psychotically so] and sweet talked the policemen.

[inmanx]

She was supposed to move out yesterday.
And yes, all my furniture etc. is still there. All my clothes. Everything. Plus I am interviewing for jobs in the city and cannot even get the basic stuff out to wear. She is just holed up in there all day.

[Lilly]

At times like this a girl needs some "friends" to come visit with you for a few hours, while she's there, if you get my meaning if you get my drift.......not that I'm saying anything or advocating anything(much)