No lease since '94

[Rahti]

Our lease hasn't been renewed since we moved in in'94, despite numerous requests..so I think that means we've been living here under a verbal month-to-month agreement. At the same time the LL didn't raise the rent for 7 years, sort of an unspoken don't-bug-us-we-won't-bug-you arrangement. Then in 2001 the rent jumped up by $700. We're still below market value in a 3-unit brownstone floorthrough apartment in Park Slope. Right now, we don't have heat yet and I don't want to play hardball and start filing complaints without knowing our rights. But we do have a toddler and don't want to start using the stove to heat the place. How much leverage do we have in this or other situations (such as being asked to move? We haven't been, but underneath that's what we're afraid of if we don't finesse our complaints properly.) R