My lease just ended last month December 31, 2010 but I was not able to
move out on time. I gave 60 days notice of my intention to vacate
apartment. So my landlord (Sunnyside, Queens, NY) never sent me a new
lease. I also discussed my overstay and I even have a recording of my
conversation with the property manager (PM) where he allows me to stay
for extra 7 days and gave me prorated amount to pay. But every time I
start talking about how this will influence my security deposit, PM
gets really out of control and starts screaming, yelling and harassing
emotionally. As a result I asked him if he can provide a letter where
it states that I pay for overstay and I'm still entitled for SD. But
PM says he's not giving anything to me and a few times hung up on me.
I'm OK paying but I don't trust this guy and I suspect his plan is to
get me into deemed lease or find something wrong with my apartment to
deduct from SD. The new prorated amount is based on the increased
monthly fee which I'd pay if I signed a new lease.
But let me explain why we are moving out. Last year as soon as we
moved in we experienced a floor vibration from the water pump under
our apartment. We complained but nothing was changed. We invited DEP
(Department of Environmental Protection) a few times to measure the
vibration but they could not because vibration always slowed down when
they were coming.
Secondly, there is a laundry room under our apartment and we
discovered that our child always had a cough and sneezing when we are
at home but it suddenly stopped when we were out for vacation until we
were back.
On top of this, the whole last month (Dec 2010) our living room
radiator wasn't working. It could be working for half an hour with
loud banging noises (I was able to wake up in the night from another
room) and then radiator always stopped and generated no heat. It never
worked until you hit it slightly and then banging begins and it stops
working again. Super tried fixing it but it never worked. He wanted to
spend more time fixing it but when he knew we are moving out he never
got back to us though we were still under lease.
The big question in this story is do I pay them or not? Should I tell
them to deduct these 7 days from my SD or should I just pay and hope
they will not find any reason to keep full SD?
Any advise what to do is valuable. Thank you!!!