Hi,
M2M tenant here. I live in a two family building, my apartment is on the ground floor. I've been here M2M for about 7 years, and lately the landlord is talking about increasing the rent by $300. I balked considering that there is a (very friendly, relatively clean) homeless man living right outside my roommates' bedroom windows, which has caused multiple problems in the past. I think there is an implicit agreement between him and the landlord; the landlord has him make "repairs" or do yard work in the yard that is now full of his worldly possessions - lots of debris, lumber, seriously, all kinds of stuff and as many belongings as a small apartment can hold; he's been there now for almost a year and has constructed a kind of dwelling in the yard and side alley which is our fire escape exit. I'm pretty sure this constitutes a violation and I could call the cops if I wanted - but I don't want to do that to the homeless fellow, and instead I've been arguing with the landlord about it, who I feel is exchanging (illegal) living space in return for handiwork at the expense of us tenants' right to a clean outdoor space and peace and quiet.
I actually didn't mind at first, since this fellow keeps OUT worse trespassers, and he does do maintenance work for the landlord when needed. We've gotten to know him pretty well in the last year. (Ethical aside: we've tried to get him housing until he told us he wasn't actually interested in a place to live/ rent to pay. He likes living out there rent free.) But lately there's been some serious nuisance involved with noise. He likes to play his radio/ hammer on furniture at all hours of the night, and since I'm trying to find a new roommate for one of those rooms which he camps outside of, I foresee a problem. We are all females living in this apartment to boot, which, I hope is obvious, can make it quite awkward having a man living right outside our bedroom windows. I've pressured the landlord several times, he kind of half-heartedly addresses it with the guy, then relapses again. In the past a roommate just simply stopped paying rent because it was so bad, which forced him to get things cleaned up - again, only temporarily.
I would pay the rent increase if we didn't have this issue; I wouldn't complain about this issue if he wasn't increasing the rent. Of course, the landlord doesn't see it this way, lol.
Crazily enough (because I guess in NYC my rent can be considered "cheap") I'm interested in signing a lease, which I know involves negotiating a rent increase. Should I leave taking action to correct the yard situation (like writing official letters; bringing up escrow; etc) until AFTER I am on a lease ? I don't want to risk getting kicked out if I start putting real pressure on him, which as I'm a M2M tenant I believe he could easily do?