EVICTIONS

[Gray Jacket]

• House is an 8 apartment brick house – bought in 1975

• House was bought by my mother and father with another couple.

• Each partner took one apartment in the building. Both apartments were rent-controlled previously. The apartments never have paid any rent or collected any formal rent from each other. Though they agreed to set aside money like a rent to help meet the costs of the house in the beginning.

• I was 16 at the time and lived with my mother, father, and brother.

• Brother moved out about 15 years ago because he was ashamed of our parents. Whatever that means.

• Supposedly each couple would carry the running of the house for one year and turn over the papers and the running of the house after the year to the other partner. Never occurred. My father permitted the other partner to deal with the running of the house all the time. - My mother and I were kept out of the running of the house and kept in the dark about all of its business by my father who did not want my mother involved in any matters of the house.

• Mother did not get to receive profits from the house until about 1998 or thereby which many friends told her that the house should have left profits much earlier on that she should have been entitled to.

• My mother and I took my father to family court for harassment. The judge found against him and ordered that though we would all live in the same apartment, that my father was not to address any of us.

• I provided emotional support to my sick mother who passed away on 2003. My father since then has been harassing me to have me leave the apartment primarily since I gave my mother emotional and financial support against father’s hostilities towards her since she had a bad heart.

• My father says that he asked 2 people who assured him that once the owner lives in the apartment for a period of 5 years that the apartment can then charge whatever the market bears.

• The other partner’s daughter evicted a family receiving city assistance so that she could live in the apartment herself next to her mother. The apartment was rent controlled. My father made up the lease which started at the time around 1996 or 1997 with a rent of $480.00, following proper rent-guideline regulations.

• In the apartment that my father and I share after my mother passed away, he tried to change the locks of the apartment on me once, but then said that someone told him that to do so would cause him many legal problems, so he put back the old door locks.

• Sometimes my father asked me to help out with expenses of the house but I never got any receipts from him. I paid in cash. $100.00, $220.00…etc from time to time. I never thought that things would turn out like this.

• I have paid the electricity, the gas and the phone bills since my mother passed away 8 years ago, though it is still in my mother’s name, because I wanted the emotional need to still see her name on mail.

• He just recently said to me that since he is moving to the apartment on the ground floor where a tenant moved out that the rent he would give me is $2,000.00. Which I told him that was excessive for an apartment that never had a rent.

• All the apartments save ours have had their rents hiked up illegally from the time that they were rent controlled. – something the tenants do not know. He might try to base a rent to give me for the apartment based on the levels of illegal rents being collected now.

• I have lived continuously in that apartment. for over 36 continuous years.

• My mother passed away 8 years ago, and left a paper witnessed by two other co-workers at the hospital she worked at wanting me to have her ¼ of the house and to live in the apartment that she and I had lived on for over 38 years. (this is where my father and I still live together though on separate rooms)---I am told that since I was not on the original deed of the house that I get absolutely nothing---everything passing to my father who hated me as per New York Laws.

• He is now trying to get rid of me. I have refused to leave and even in the past when I asked him to give me a lease…..he refused to do so in the past.

• My father and his partner have retroactively registered the apartment for the last five years as owner occupied in an effort to get me out.

• He now has begun with help from the other partner and daughter to have me evicted from the apartment calling me a hold-over tenant. He is still staying in the apartment to get me out while he gets me out before moving to the ground floor and renting the 4th floor apartment for whatever they can get.

• CALL ME CRAZY: but I think that once they get rid of me, that my father’s partners will get the house from him.

• Got a 10 day letter and now they want to take me to court to have me removed.

• QUESTION: what options do I have?

• QUESTION: Do I have any heir rights to my mother’s part.

• QUESTION: am I up the creek without a paddle.

[TenantNet]

Geez, not every sentence needs a bullet! You had much personal and identifiable information on this post. I took it out. If you read the forum guidelines, we ask posters to not put in anything that allows landlords to identify them. Even so, these circumstances will probably be identified.

First, you don't say if you are a beneficiary of your mother's estate. That could have a big impact on this case.

You don't say what sort of ten day notice you got. It might be illegal and you might have tenancy rights.

You might not understand the difference between rent control and rent stabilization.

It sounds as if the other partner illegally evicted the RC tenant. When there are two or more individuals who share ownership of a building, and as long as the building is not owned by a corporation, then only one owner can claim owner occupancy and kick out a tenant. One owner can claim one or more units. But the second owner can't do that. Of course if a unit becomes vacant on its own, then the second owner can move in.

You rights might depend on if your mother's estate was left to you, wholly or partly). Did she leave a will? With the paper leaving you 1/4 of the house, did you contact an estate lawyer? Did it go through probate at all? Have you paid any "rent" along the way? In order to assess your situation a complete history needs to be looked at.

I would contact a tenant attorney who can look at the history, give you a complete assessment and suggest ways to proceed.

"My father says that he asked 2 people who assured him that once the owner lives in the apartment for a period of 5 years that the apartment can then charge whatever the market bears."

I have no idea what that means -- haven't heard of this. Many people offer advice which often turns out to be bogus.

Whatever you do, do not capitulate. It sounds as if you have some ownership of the building, and maybe independent tenancy rights.

[Gray Jacket]

Sorry about the bullets and the building lot number. Thank you for removing them. My gross error. The first letter that was posted on the door of the apartment my father and I share is a "Ten Days Notice to Quit License"

Now after this period, another letter (6 pages) wanting to take me to court in roughly a week after notifying me supposedly. There never was any formal paperwork for the estate. Just a regular sheet of paper witnessed and signed by two of her co-workers. Dont know the particulars of whether the other owner has claimed owner occupied status for her apartment. I do know that I requested a status of the apartment from Rent Preservation Office in Queens and it showed that the apartment has been retroactively listed as Owner Occupied. I guess they are pulling all the stops to try to make a case stick against me.

Correct, better get an estate lawyer. Does anyone know a good one for a reasonable price. In hindsite there are so many things that could have been done in the past, and because of ignorance so many things have gone wrong.

Thank you again for any help or hope offered.

[TenantNet]

Yes, get an estate lawyer. Your father might have claimed all the estate without your knowing it. It might be too late, but look into it. Make sure the lawyer specializes in estate matters. Don't grab the first lawyer who has an office above a shoe store - and who also does immigration and personal injury.

It appears they are claiming you are a "licensee" usually that means a roommate, but it means they have the right to revoke your "license." Your defense might be that you are not a licensee, but a person with a) ownership interest in the building, or b) with tenancy rights. For that you will need a tenant lawyer. A number of tenant attorneys advertise on this site. Look at the ads on the top left of the forum pages.

This will likely get contentious, complicated and expensive. But if you don't protect yourself, you can kiss your home goodbye. And if you win you might get partial ownership in the building (and that can also mean owner obligations, but that's a different matter.

Start documenting how long you've lived there, and any money you've put into the place.

The second "letter" might be a court Petition, not a letter. That means you have to go to court, so get legal advice ASAP.

[TenantNet]

One thought ... if you did get a court petition, then I would find a tenant lawyer first, as there's a deadline involved.

Some lawyers might be able to handle both issues, but I would get advice separately from someone who practices in estate matters as well. It might seem overkill, but your estate claim might get complicated, and you can presume your father will oppose your estate claim (as well any siblings).

Also try to remember if they gave you any documents or said anything to you that might have been designed to strip you of your rights.