Landlord is ignoring housing court judgment

[ggmama]

Hello, I have an ongoing problem with my landlord. I am a rent stabilized tenant who has shared the apartment with my brother since 2001. In 2007 I spent 6 months away traveling (it was still my primary address) and in early 2008 I moved out.

In Jan 2008 the landlord began a holdover case against us claiming an illegal sublet. There were three different cases brought to housing court.

The first two were thrown out because
#1 --the landlord failed to appear;
#2 --due to improper service;
#3 --went through a full trial which lasted 10 months. At the end, the judge ruled in our favor stating--there is NO illegal sublet, my brother proved he has rights to succession, and the landlord must give him a lease in his name.

It's now more than 5 months later and we still have yet to receive a lease. We have been withholding rent while we were in court, and continue to do so until we have a new lease.

The landlord refuses to communicate with us.

Last week we received a SEVEN DAY NOTICE, and this week a FIVE DAY NOTICE--both improperly served. In effect preparing for another housing court case--or at least the threat to do so. In these docs he is claiming we owe rent from May 09--which is true, however he has increased our rent as of August 09 by 8.5%.

According to rent guidelines documentation, rent stabilized increases for that time period of were 4.5% for one-year lease; 8.5% for a two-year lease.

Our previous lease renewal was a one-year lease. However the landlord has gone ahead and increased us as if we have a two-year lease. This brings us over $2000/month limit, which has bearing on the rent stabilization eligibility of the apartment.

At this point we still have NO LEASE. He is completely ignoring the housing court judgment.

This landlord has a long history of harassing tenants who don't cooperate with his greedy plans. He has made offers to drop all of these legal battles if we agree to a $600+ month rent increase with a non-regulated lease. He told us he would continue to "drag us into court" if we don't do it. Of course we said no. (I have a recording of this call.)

His cases have no merit. He is abusing the court system to harass and intimidate and exhaust his tenants into giving up their homes. (He is also doing this to at least one other person in the building that we know of.)

We are prepared to go to court again bc we are certain we will win especially with the previous judgment in our favor, and the fact that he has no honored it.

So now my question is this...how do you force a landlord honor a court judgment?

Please help.
Thanks,
gg

[TenantNet]

The $2000 trigger only holds is the unit is vacant, which it isn't.

What are the 5 and 7 day notices? That sounds odd.

Your rent would not increase without a proper lease renewal on form RTP-8, without the unit being properly registered. Check all that. If the LL refused to do all that during the previous trials, then the rent can't be raised going back until the last time that he did.

A Housing Ct petition the LL must state that the unit is RS and so on. Without that the case can't move forward.

Make certain he hasn't filed an appeal on the case you won.

Consider making a motion for contempt on the last case. I would get a consultation (at a minimum) from a tenant attorney. Housing Ct judges are notoriously soft on LLs without a strong advocate.

[ggmama]

Thanks so much for your prompt response.

The 5 and 7 day notices state: Take notice that's you're required to pay $xxx within 5 days. And then outlines each month of rent that is due + late fees (which is not allowed since late fees are not mentioned in my lease, and he has been refusing rent for over a year).

LL raised the rent as of Aug09 when we normally would have signed a renewal, although they never sent a renewal, and thus we never signed one.

We never signed a RTP-8. I am not sure if the unit could be registered with Housing for this increase, without us signing a renewal. And if it was registered as such, is that legal? How can I find out if the LL registered the unit?

And if he has not registered, it is it legal for him to note this increase on the 5/7 day notices.

The landlord has refused to give us a lease for the past two years. In 2009 we were still in the middle of trial, and in 2010, the judge ordered him to give lease, which he never did.

Can the rent be increased at all during the time that we did not have a lease, or should it remain at the amount of our most recent lease--the one we had prior to all the the trials? I am not sure of the legalities with this.

I am pretty certain that he has not filed an appeal. He had 30 days from the judgment date--April 30th. We would have received notice from the court by now if he had, right? Do you know how I can investigate this to be sure?

We have an attorney if we need to file a motion for contempt. In your opinion will this force him to honor the judgment?

We are approaching 3 years of this sort of nonsense and harassment and I don't know how to make it end. Two years ago, I filed a harassment claim with the DHCR, but I get the feeling they don't even read the docs we send. They tell me it's still pending and are awaiting more evidence of harassment. They are not the most helpful agency to say the least.

Please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks!
g

[TenantNet]

The statute RPAPL 711(2) calls for a 3-day demand prior to commencing a non-payment proceeding. There is no 5 or 7 day demand unless the lease provides for a greater time. That's why it sounded odd. But 5 days is probably OK.

You can get registration information on your unit through DHCR. Every unit subject to RS must be registered by July 31 of each year, and reflect the legal rent as of April 1 of that year. Of course LLs lie all the time and DHCR doesn't check. Still it can tell you what the LL is reporting to DHCR. If the LL claims your lease was renewed on Feb 1 (for example) of this year, that should be reflected in the July 31 registration ... IF they registered. Make certain the LL did not offer a valid renewal lease. If they did, and you ignored it, they can "deem" the lease renewed.

Without a lease the rent can't be legally increased. However, in litigation, a stipulation or court order can raise the rent.

If you have a tenant attorney, it's best to follow that advice. Just make certain the attorney you have is a tenant attorney and not someone who concentrates in other areas mostly.

Claiming harassment with DHCR is a joke. It might force the LL to respond, but DHCR almost never does anything about harassment. There is a provision to file harassment within the courts, but that efficacy is also questionable.

[ggmama]

Thanks for your reply. It really helped me to understand what the LL is doing is completely illegal.

He has not offered us a valid lease renewal since our previous one in 08/08. According to his latest docs, he raised the rent as of 08/09 as if it was a two-year lease renewal (8.5%)--even though our previous was a one-year. I am still checking on whether or not he registered this with Housing.

Also, he accepted two rent payments in Fall 09 in the amount of our previous lease. Both of which are not reflected on the latest bill.

At this point he is fighting about the amount we owe, claiming we owe thousands more than we do. We have all of our cancelled checks and refuse to pay more than we owe.

If we file a motion for contempt, because he is fabricating numbers and refuses to give a new lease, will a judge be able to finalize the balance and wrap up this case, so we have a new lease in hand?

I am hoping that this would speed up the process of trying to negotiate with my nasty landlord.

[Sky]

Which borough (Department) do you live in? Different rulings have bearing on different Departments.
I recently consulted with a tenant attorney who for example stated leases cannot be 'deemed' in Brooklyn (a LL registering a rental increase without the tenant signing the lease).

I'd think if you restored your previous case (is there a time limit to do that?) you could get the judge to enforce his decision and/or bring contempt charges and/or seek legal fees.

Or just continue paying the old rent and ignore him. Let him sue you for non-payment. He'll have to prove that the rent he's suing you for - the rent listed on the petition and 3-day notice - is your legal rent. If he cannot prove that, you demand dismissal for defective papers. Ask the court for legal fees and lost wages. The longer he drags this game out, the longer your rent is truly 'stabilized' i.e. not increasing. Why not have 3 more years without an increase in rent? Why the urgency to pay higher rent? Do you have more money than you need? Send some my way.

If he did register the rent at a higher & fraudulent amount w/DHCR, perhaps you could feel intimidated and fooled into paying it. Wait two years and sue for treble damages in an overcharge claim. Use the LL as your personal bank.

[Sky]

Every unit subject to RS must be registered by July 31 of each year, and reflect the legal rent as of April 1 of that year.

TenantNet, can you expand on that?
My LL has often filed later than that: for example in December, for a backdated lease showing an April commencement date. What, if any, repercussions or penalties are in place for late registration? Would it void the renewal?

[Edit torn syntax]

[TenantNet]

If the last time he registered the unit was in December 2009, then not only was he late for the 2009 registration (due by 7/31/2009), but he's late and outstanding for the 2010 registration (that must show the legal rent as of 4/1/2010). You can probably get more detailed instructions on the DHCR registration form for LLs at the DHCR web site.

[Sky]

If the last time he registered the unit was in December 2009, then not only was he late for the 2009 registration (due by 7/31/2009), but he's late and outstanding for the 2010 registration (that must show the legal rent as of 4/1/2010). You can probably get more detailed instructions on the DHCR registration form for LLs at the DHCR web site.

I'm not following.

It was a few years back.
DHCR filing date was in December, for a lease commencement date of April 1 of the same calendar year.
The following years registration was filed in September for a lease commencement date of April 1 in the same calendar year.
Next year was August filing date.

Regardless of the instructions, are you aware of penalties for, or voiding of, such registrations due to lateness? What remedies exist?

This LL just merrily freelanced his way through the lease issue, like musical composer. He would alter the amounts I signed off on (cross them out, put a higher amount); offer me renewals with exaggerated increases; file renewals I'd never even seen; backdate the commencement dates on the leases (he'd mail me a lease in November to commence the previous April); or file them with dates all over the road.

I understand he's retiring to the Bahamas after a fulfilling life ripping of tenants.

[TenantNet]

Registration requirements have nothing to do with lease commencement date. Whatever the legal rent is on April 1st of any given year must be registered with DHCR by July 31 of the same year.

[Sky]

I understand (and my leases always commenced on April 1 anyway).

Are you aware of the penalty or remedy if the registration is late? Is the registration voided?

[lofter1]

When our building was under the Loft Law (and before it came under the full authority of DHCR) the owner often failed to register the building. The position of our attorney at that time was that a tenant was not bound to pay the rent for the period during which the landlord failed to properly register the building. According to our attorney the law was not clear in regard to tenant's liability for the unpaid rent covering the un-registered months once the landlord filed the annual registration. Some said that once the landlord registers, even at a late date, then all the outstanding rent is due. Others argued that the landlord was not entitled to any of the rent, as registration is a prerequisite for the collection of rent.

Ultimately in our case it was all worked out via a settlement, which resulted in the tenant keeping some of the unpaid rent.

What a judge would have done in this case is anyone's guess.

[Sky]

Lofter, I've got a touch of that as well: no HPD building registration for about five months. I discussed this issue briefly with an attorney and his opinion was that as long when the LL eventually registered the building, there'd be an obligation to pay the rent during the unregistered period.