part 3- eviction (ask me to leave) as she please

[Lilllian325]

Thank-you for all your help. Now to clarify the whole thing, I will state everything here:

There is only 5 clauses on my lease (on a scrap paper). The 4th one is the one that troubles me the most.

It states (translated from chinese): At anytime if either party (LL or tenant) decide to terminate this partnership, they may do so with prior notice(28 days), otherwise I won't get my deposit back.

It sound like the one-sided, but I did signed the lease. At that time, I thought I have the right to teminate her and decide not to continue living there, but never the other way around.

To this point, I still don't see a legitament in why she want me out other than...GREED. So she can rent the whole upstair out!

Tonight I did something very bold, I rang basement's door bell, pretend to be a potencial renter. A man opened the door, and is not one of her son. I asked the man who answered the door, how long he has been living here with his family, he said over 2 years. I asked if he is family to the owner, he said no.

That is a good thing on my behalf, because she is renting out her basement illegally. I also took the liberty to check on the Internet if she is a register renter. Lord behold, she is not.

In another word, if she ever did file tax reture, she may never put her rent money down as income, since she ask for cash only. (Cash only is not on the lease...I won't be paying her cash anymore)

So do I have more ground now? even though clause #4 may give her a upper hand. Since everthing she has done so far looks illegal, she should have no ground over me at all. Right???

[Lilly]

On one hand you have a lease for 1 year and 1 day;
on the other hand you have what is called a month-to-month tenancy, except on a month-to-month tenancy there has to be 30 DAYS NOTICE, not 28 days as your lease states. I would think that in and of itself would invalidate that right of the LL to cancel. Also, the law provides that if you have lived in a place for 30 days or longer, or have a lease, then the ONLY way the LL can get you out is by taking you to court. The LL cannot change the locks, or throw your stuff out or do anything to prevent you from living in that apartment. The only person who can legally physically evict you is a city marshall, and the marshall must have a signed order from a housing court judge. The only way for your LL to evict you is to take you to court. Keep your rent receipts in a safe place and make copies.

[Lilly]

P.S. If your LL should do something really stupid like change the locks, then take your rent receipts(to prove you live there and prove you paid) to your nearest police precinct and speak to the desk sargent-tell them that you have been locked out -an officer should come back to the apoartment with you and force the LL to let you back in. The ll can also be arrested(possibly)

[Cranky Tenant]

Originally posted by Lilly:
On one hand you have a lease for 1 year and 1 day;
on the other hand you have what is called a month-to-month tenancy, except on a month-to-month tenancy there has to be 30 DAYS NOTICE, not 28 days as your lease states. I would think that in and of itself would invalidate that right of the LL to cancel. .

I also wonder if a lease written in Chinese is legal in New York.

From http://www.tenant.net/Rights/atgrent.txthttp://www.tenant.net/Rights/atgrent.txt

PLAIN ENGLISH LEASE

Leases must use words with common and everyday meanings and must
be clear and coherent. Sections of leases must be appropriately
captioned and the print must be large enough to read easily.
(General Obligations Law Sec. 5-702; C.P.L.R. Sec. 4544

Either way, a Chinese language lease certainly is discriminatory, since anyone who doesn't read Chinese wouldn't know what they might be signing, and it would probably require an independent translator in court.