TenantNet Forum

Where tenants can seek help and help others



Do I have a case, or any rights at all?

Issues unrelated to specific categories below

Moderator: TenantNet

Do I have a case, or any rights at all?

Postby BrooklynGremlin » Tue Sep 24, 2002 7:08 pm

Ok, bear with me here, this is gonna take a moment or two. From the beginning:
My parents and I moved into this apartment back around 1974. Around 1980, the house was sold and the new owner kept us as tenants. Eventually, the owner moved out and left her daughter and son-in-law occupying the apt on the 2nd floor (it is a 2 family house). They moved out about 2 years ago.

My mother passed in 1985, and only my dad & I remained here, I was 15 at the time.

Around the same time, she began renting out the basement. I am quite positive it is an illegal apt. She's had numerous tenants in there.

In December of 1998, me & my then-fiance moved into the basement for privacy, and I wanted to stay close to my dad, who was getting old and his health was failing. My dad smoked heavily, and due to his health & age did not perform a lot of maintainance in the apt. Even while in the bsmt, I maintained my old room upstairs with my pc, internet connection, bedroom with AC that I used when my girlfriend visited her mom & family during the summer months. No AC was downstairs.

At this point, it was my dad on the 1st floor, who smoked, me & my girlfriend in the basement who both smoked, and tenants on the 2nd. I don't know if they smoked or not. At no point did either myself or my dad have a lease for either apartments.

My dad passed in June 2001, and i took over the apartment on the 1st floor. As per agreement with LL, me & my friends renovated the 1st floor apt, and no rent for that apt was paid, only for the basement which I still lived in until the work was done. Painted all room, new light fixtures, new double doors, kitchen tiles, counter top, "fleckstone" on all cabinets, a bunch of things were done.

The new tenants on the second floor ahve complained that I smoke, and complain constantly to the LL. The LL has told me in the past, around april of this year, that I should leave. She later dropped the discussion, and I'm still here. Now the people on the 2nd floor are burning incense outside my door, and routinely come downstairs to spray an aerosol around my apt. This is ALL due to smoking, nothing else. I am under the impression the LL told the tenants it was a no-smoking bldg. I have only lived here for 28 years, so I wonder if I have any rights at all. Anyone have any advice?
BrooklynGremlin
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2002 1:01 am
Location: brooklyn, NY

Re: Do I have a case, or any rights at all?

Postby palmel4 » Thu Oct 03, 2002 3:42 pm

BEWARE
If this is a two family house, and you don't have a lease, you can be evicted with a 30 day notice. This is exactly what happened to me. And I believe the landlord was renting out the basement illegally.
The fact that you have lived there 28 yrs really doesn't matter if you don't have a lease. Legally, you only have 30 day notice, and in a two family house, you have little to no rights at all. I found this out the hard way.
<<Now the people on the 2nd floor are burning incense outside my door, and routinely come downstairs to spray an aerosol around my apt. >> No one, not even your landlord has the right to enter your apartment without your permission. Are they actually going into your apartment? How do they get in?
<<The LL has told me in the past, around april of this year, that I should leave. She later dropped the discussion, and I'm still here. >> It sounds like the upstairs tenants are presurring the LL to kick you out. Maybe you can try and talk to them.
If its the upstairs tenants that are having a problem with you and not the LL, then I wouldn't worry too much, because you have just as much right to live there as they do. If it's the LL that wants you out, then you have a problem. She can kick you out just because she feels like it, for no reason at all. But since you have a history with them, living there for so long and fixing things up, maybe the LL will be willing to side with you on this dispute.
I would confront the upstairs tenants and tell them to leave you alone, or try and work something out, (i.e. airing your apartment out with fans, air freshners, etc.) or you'll ask the LL to evict them. Good Luck
palmel4
 
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Sep 11, 2002 1:01 am
Location: Bronx, NY


Return to NYC General Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

cron