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LL refusing to comply with the stip and harassing tenant

NYC Rent Regulation: Rent Control/Rent Stabilized, DHCR Practice/Procedures

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LL refusing to comply with the stip and harassing tenant

Postby tenanthelpneeded » Thu May 23, 2019 12:12 am

*Our apartment is rent stabilized.

A few months ago, LL had frivolously brought a Holdover Eviction case against us for something that we did not do (i.e. When we reported about seeing a cockroach on the day of move-in, they immediately blamed us and threatened us to pay the “legal fees” and that they were going to evict us). Since then, they have been using our rent to pay their legal fees. Now, on our account invoice, they made it look like we have not paid the rent in full (thus, late payment fees have been incurring every month).

Fast forward to last week, at the Housing Court, they requested getting a stipulation with reserved rights to pursue the legal fees in a separate court case (i.e. small claims). Since we wanted to minimize incurring more legal fees on our end, we and our lawyers agreed to it with a fair stipulation, including an article that LL should remove the “legal fees” and all associated late fees from our account.

Today, LL says they will not adhere to the stip and refuse to remove the fees. They are still demanding the payment. We asked our lawyers for help, and they said in order to bring a contempt motion so that we could force them to comply, it would cost additional legal fees on our end.

We were wondering if we could, in lieu of contempt motion, just continue to not pay he “legal fees” and all associated late fees? We have been taking screenshots and recording all our payments so we can prove that these are “legal fees”, not some late rent in our account. Here are our questions:

1 - What to do when LL refuses to comply with the stip (aka remove the illegal “legal fees” and “late fees”)?
2 - Can we get sued at small claims even when the lease says no party is entitled to the repayment of legal fees? We are very concerned about having any judgement on our credit report.
3 - Would this impact our security deposit? How do we make sure that we get our security deposit back after moving out? LL is notoriously known to not return the security deposit. When can you sue them after moving out for unreturned/unfair amount of security deposit?
4 - If you know any major tenant screening data companies, please let us know.
5 - Does reaching out to government agencies help with this kind of tenant harassment? If so, let us know which agencies to reach out to.
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Re: LL refusing to comply with the stip and harassing tenant

Postby TenantNet » Thu May 23, 2019 5:37 am

This is harassment in our view.

Understand that "legal fees" can only be incurred by an attorney in the process of litigating an active case. Legal Fees can only be awarded by a court and only after a case is concluded and only by the prevailing party.

So the statements on your account are harassment. And any late payment fees that accrue from this are also harassment.

If you're in Housing Court, and the case is not yet over, then there are no legal fees to be had (by either party). It is premature. Plus, the matter should be handled in Housing Court, not another court. I would never sign such a stipulation; I would laugh at them if they tried that.

Who is your attorney that would agree to this? (please tell us via Private Mail - use the PM button next to this post).

Or, there might be details you're not telling us and to how the case evolved and its current status.

But even so, if the LL refuses to abide by the stip, you can haul him into court with a motion for contempt. But OTOH, it might be a ploy to force you to spend money on your own lawyer, as you point out.

I don't know the nature of the case (and we are not attorneys), but in my mind, any legal fees or late fees at this point are bogus and should be ignored. Has anyone brought this to the attention of the judge? And you can also file a complaint with the Bar Association or for Attorney Misconduct. See http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/ad1/Comm ... ndex.shtml

But be aware that the LL's refusal to abide by the stip does not give you a green light to ignore any provisions that you have agreed to. You must make a motion to vacate the stip. And vacating a stip when both parties have lawyers is not that easy. So yes, this is a pickle.

No 2. So just what does your lease say (or not say) about legal fees?

We are sending you some additional information and a technical document on Legal Fees by regular email. It's too large to be posted on this forum.
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Re: LL refusing to comply with the stip and harassing tenant

Postby tenanthelpneeded » Fri May 24, 2019 10:39 am

Yes, we are planning on reporting harassment to government agencies and elected officials. Here are my responses to your questions.

*Why they would agree to the stipulation:
The attorney said that the judge they talked to seem like they might not award compensation of our legal fees even if we win the case. They felt this way because the judge recommended/suggested why don't you both settle and look for your legal fees at small claims. I did feel like they wanted to wrap up this case ASAP possibly since they were working on other bigger cases.

*Legal fees and provision on the lease:
Yes, I believe the judge should be aware of this. Provision on the lease says "In the event either Owner or Renter incurs legal fees and/or court costs in the enforcement of any of Owner's or Renter's rights under this lease or pursuant to law, neither party shall be entitled to the repayment of such legal fees and/or court costs." And there's a checkbox next to it. The only official copy of the lease has the checkbox, but I can't remember if they had two official copies of the lease (my roommate checked the box and I did not). So that's the tricky part.

*What to do with LL's refusal to abide by the stip:
But if the lease provision says we are not entitled to pay their fees and we have a stip, can't we present them and get them dismissed in the event when we are sued at small claims or debt collector comes after us?

Thank you!
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Re: LL refusing to comply with the stip and harassing tenant

Postby TenantNet » Fri May 24, 2019 12:27 pm

Is your roommate on the lease as a prime tenant?

Even if he/she is also a tenant, there can only be one lease. There can't be two leases that differ in important matters like that. Did you each sign a separate lease? (of course there can be two identical copies of the same lease). So sort that out.

Is this a situation where the LL rents out rooms within a larger apartment? Or did you and your roommate find the place together an rented it as two tenants renting the entire unit together?

Is there a "joint and several liability" clause in the lease?

But if not agreed to, then neither party can collect legal fees, no matter who is the prevailing party in the underlying matter. The legal fees clause in your lease must be there and operative.

Remember, for legal fees, 1) they must be awarded by the court to the prevailing party.

2) It has to be in the lease.

I don't know the details of the case, but you might consider some sort of cross-motion to have the court decide that all legal fees paid so far are illegal or some sort of overcharge, and must be refunded to you ASAP. I'm assuming you raised the issue in your Answer to the Petition. Ask your lawyer.
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