Shady landlord claiming unpaid rent in court

[toyakumar]

I live in a rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan. Been living here since 2007. Landlord is suing me now for unpaid rent. The amount they claim as unpaid in the court letter is wrong for several reasons:

My lease expired in Aug. 2009. They never offered lease renewal yet started charging me at an increased rate, but I continued to pay at the old rate, notifying them several times by email and letters that I'd like a lease renewal offer and unless they do that, I will continue paying at the old rate. They finally sent it to me in 09/10 but it was not in a RTP-8 form, was set to commence on 10/09 and was dated 09/09. I sent it back to them unsigned, explaining why I didn't sign it. Now, their account shows a carry over balance of over $900 because of the difference every month in what i pay and how much they charge me. Besides that, there shouldn't be any other balance in my account. I have pointed it out to them but they never respond to what I tell them by email or letter. They claim I owe them (in court letter) over $3400 when in fact I have sent and they have cashed checks totaling almost $2500 during the period in question. there are scanned checks images I can download from my bank account as proof.

I don't know what they are trying to do by taking me to court because I think I am legally right in what I am doing. But I am also a bit worried because it'll be their lawyers in court vs. me (can't afford a lawyer) and who knows what kind of tricks they try to pull to win the case in their favor. I have email records, and letters I sent them over the past year to bring as proof, but what else can I do/bring/show to prove my point and win this case? Also, in case the judge rules the case in their favor- do I automatically get evicted? Or will I just be asked to pay whatever the judge deems I owe the landlord? Will I also have to pay legal fees that the landlord had to bear? I want to continue staying at this place, so any advice you can provide on how I can resolve this without getting evicted would be highly appreciated.

By the way, I don't know if this matters but the landlord also doesn't fix things when needed, so to get their attention (as they wouldn't respond to my letters and emails) I sometimes sent my rent check late (by 2-3 weeks)...wonder if this will hurt my case...

Thanks in advance!

[ronin]

In my opinion your argument is sound. You can try to make that argument to the judge.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, Housing Judges usually suck. They prostitute themselves to the landlord's lawyers. So don't be surprised if they turn the law on its head. But if they do come back here and post the details so it can be used against the judge if they ever try to get a promotion.

Since you are being sued for unpaid rent, the issue of your late payments is not a factor (but it could be for a future action against you- so try to clean up your act if you can).

That being said, go in there and give it your best shot.

Repairs matter and can be raised in non-payments. The repairs issue could result in you paying less rent. In order to raise the repairs issues, you will have to mention it in the first answer that you file and you will have to be very specific about what you allege was not done. So make a list to take with you to court when you go answer to the clerk, or find a written answer form you can fill out, if you can get the Housing Court dirt bags to let you file one!!


Good luck!