Is this a case for harassment?

[Srich]

I live in an 80/20 apt in a luxury building in Manhattan. My rent is just shy of 600 while at market rate it would be about 3800. I recently got 3 Notice to Cure letters threatening eviction bec I complained about the building super's repeat entry without permission. (This guy comes in and cuts up my clothes, panties and vandalizes my property) A week later, I discovered that my bank account was drained out bec the LL took it upon himself to bill me for the legal fees that HE INCURRED in the drafting of these Cure letters. He didn't bother sending any bills, he just pulled the money out of my bank account by slapping the fees directly onto my autopay account which is set up to pay the rent every month.

And here's the kicker-- in order for the LL to have pulled this off, he'd had to have hacked into my autopay account.

I'm pretty sure that this is highly illegal-- the act of not just slapping me with the bill without a court order, but also that he just helped himself to the funds in my account.

Do I have a case to of harassment here? Anyone here have any exp bringing a harassment claim against the LL?

[TenantNet]

A few things...

Did the Notice to cure really say "threatening eviction bec I complained about the building super's repeat entry without permission?" I doubt it. If nothing else, you can't cure complaining. What did it really say?

As for the repeated entry, call the cops. Seriously get the police involved. And get a Nanny cam to get the proof of the unlawful entry.

On the legal fees, only a court can order legal fees. You could sue to get it back, or you could stop the autopay and pay less next month. If the LL says anything, I would just tell him you're correcting the inadvertent error or the improper charging the prior month.

You could also threaten the service that provides the autopay, but that might take some doing, and would probably take an attorney.

I think that crosses the line into identity theft. Get the Attorney General's office involved.

I would call it harassment, but I don't know if the government would. The AG has a harassment bureau but no one knows yet if they are serious.

Also DHCR has a Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) but we hear they are mostly to make Cuomo look better for tenants.

You can also sue for harassment in housing court. That would take an attorney.

[Srich]

The Cure Notices said something to the effect, "you have violated the substantial obligations of your lease... And then it goes on to say that I make baseless complaints against the LL and that I am harassing them my making these complaints. So yeah the cure notice threatening eviction was bec I made complaints about this guy.

I actually made a formal complaint with the AG's office but the wrote back and told me that they do not take individual complaints. I tried calling the police a few times but they just shoo me away and say that this is a civil matter.

I really don't know what to do.

[rentstubq]

If the landlord is the one who is setting the amount via the third-party payor system for autopay, then they need not necessarily have stolen your identity in order to have increased your charges. They could have just gone into the system and said "for this month, bill her for XXX instead of YYY." I'm not saying that's how it necessarily happened, but I've dealt with billing systems that do autopay before and it is at least possible that this is what happened...

As far as the notice to cure, I don't know that complaining to management is a violation of the terms of your lease. If you can afford a tenant lawyer and are willing to retain one, I would talk to them.

This may be a stretch but if you can install some surveillance equipment in your unit and catch the super in the act of entering your apartment without your permission when you are not home, that is a BIIIIIIIGG no no.