Taking over a lease

[lisaann123]

I've lived in a rent stabilised apartment for almost two years. The lease holder hasn't lived in the apartment for three years or more, she lives abroad but comes back once a year to sign the lease.

The building recently changed management and they have been using aggressive tactics to drive people out(no gas for months, turning off the water with only hours notice etc, a fair housing lawyer has gotten involved). When the new management took over a few months ago almost half of the building got eviction notices, including the apartment I live in. It turned out my roommate at the time was 5 months behind on rent(5 months of my rent went straight in her pocket). She went to management on behalf of the lease holder but they refused her payment(borrowed money from many boyfriends), the case got taken to housing court, in the end my roommate had to wire funds to the lease holder for her to pay it all off. It was a whole battle in itself that I had no control or say in and the result of all this is that I have to send my money to the lease holder for her to pay the rent(my money going into an almost strangers pocket...).

I talked briefly with the lease holder as I looked into it a little bit and found no legal reason I couldn't pay the LL myself, she told me she never requested to sublet and that it goes against the terms of her lease. She's living abroad indefinitely and doesn't know if she'll move back to the US even. The apartment is filled to the brim with her personal belongings and street furniture that she hoards, things are falling apart but I have no leverage to get them fixed and she won't even let me repaint. She has pretty much said to me that she could come back with no notice and kick me out.

I talked to a few friends at the beginning of the potential eviction and they suggested to let the eviction happen, approach management myself and take over the lease. I didn't look into this at the time but now that it's been made clear to me that the lease holder is a bit of a dick I have no problem being the reason she loses the apartment. Of course if this means I don't get to live there anymore I don't want to go through with anything.

If I approach management to take over the lease on the grounds that she has breached the lease, do I have any rights as a tenant? Would the apartment lose its rent stabilised status? Could they evict her and evict me as a result? She is paying preferred rent right now, if I offered to pay the legal stab rent would this give me a better chance of taking over the lease? Should I just shut my mouth and deal with the piss covered sofa?

[TenantNet]

Seems you're in a sublet that might not be legal. But your post is very unclear as to the nature of things.

What's happening with the new management throughout the building is one thing. I hope the tenants have organized a tenant association. FYI, a "Fair Housing" lawyer deals with housing discrimination for a protected class, i.e., race, gender, etc., not necessarily with landlord harassment.

At first, I thought your roommate was the prime tenant on the lease, but you also claim she was acting on behalf of the leaseholder, so your post is confusing. Who pays the rent - the roommate or the leaseholder? Is the aggregate rent you and the roommate pay to the leaseholder more than the legal rent? If so, you can probably complain of an overcharge. Please clarify. as to who is who here, and even more important, how you got the place. Who offered you the place to stay ... the tenant, the roommate or the landlord? Is there a sublet agreement? Between you and who?

[lisaann123]

Sorry for being unclear, it's a confusing situation even for me.

The roommate was paying the rent until recently, it's now the leaseholder who is paying the rent. The roommate is who offered me the place to stay and there is no signed agreement.

We aren't being overcharged, the leaseholder just wants to keep signing the lease in the event that one day she'll want to return and she doesn't want to lose the sweet RS deal.

Do I have any chances taking over the lease or is it most likely that the LL will evict us all if they find out she's subletting illegally?

[TenantNet]

OK, so some initial thoughts....

If the roommate paid, and the LL accepted the rent - if the check or MO were in the roommate's name and not in the name of tghe lease holder, then it can be argued that the roommate established a legal landlord-tenant relationship giving the roommate tenancy rights. This stuff gets complicated and its really at the discretion of a judge. If that's a defense that's being made - if it goes to court - the roommate should have a lawyer.

You're saying or implying that the roommate brought you in without the knowledge or approval of the tenant. That gets very dicey. Technically you're in a roommate situation, not a sublet, and 3 people might exceed the limit for roommates (read the roommate regs). It was wrong for your roommate to do that.

Do you know for certain if you're being overcharged or not? Have you seen the original lease?

I can't say if you have a chance or not. Remember, even though the tenant appears to be out of the picture, she has rights until she gives them up, or a court takes them away. Then it might be that the roommate would be ahead of you in line if taking over the lease were possible, and I'm not sure that it is.