From one slumlord to another...

[BabyBatty]

I grew up in a building owned by Nicholas Haros. If you follow NYC Tenants Rights issues you probably know who he is. If not he's number 7 of the 10 worst slumlords in NYC. I've been active with tenants rights issues since I was about 12, and will not tolerate another slumlord.

My fiance and I just recently moved to Bayside. The apartment was previously rented my my fiance's brother, and his sister before that. I pretty much left my fiance in charge of dealing with the LL (Mistake #1) and they made a verbal agreement (Mistake 2) rather than having a written lease. Neither party mentioned pets, and we have two cats and three rabbits. Another issue is that the LL clearly told my fiance that the rent would be higher if anyone else moved in (which is illegal) so he didn't mention me to her, and then we told her about a week later that I had moved in, and that we knew the law and she couldn't raise the rent.

LL found out we have pets and pretty much flipped. We didn't know it wasn't allowed, and I've read that in any case if the lease is silent on the situation they're allowed.

You're probably thinking I posted in the wrong place, but here's the issue at hand... The apartment is illegal. Facing possible eviction I did my research and found that the CO designates this a two family residence (J-3) and we're living in the basement.

I know that the landlord can not legally collect rent, and we can go on living here until she can force us out, and she still wont be able to collect back-rent, but I also know that we have very few rights as tenants in an illegal apartment, and she's a bit nuts. She found out about the pets by looking through our window, and then instead of calling us, she called my fiance's parents.

We can't afford to move right now, we moved in less than two months ago and the holidays are coming. If we tell her we want her to pay for any moving fees, the brokers fee, and maybe the first two months rent or something (Like I said, I'm anti-slumlords and all for making them pay) if we agree not to take her to court, is that legal?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated, and sorry it's a bit long, just wanted the whole situation to be explained, since it's a bit of a mess =/