Quick question regarding lease extension

[stacey131]

Hello- I live in a privately-owned, non rent control/stabilized apartment on the upper east side of Manhattan. My 1-yr lease it set to expire November 1, 2008. I planned to move, but the apartment I was moving to is no longer available. I cannot move out by Nov1 and want to extend my lease until 12/31 to give me time to find a new apartment. The landlord refuses to grant me an extension and wants me to sign a 1 year lease. I don't want to get embroiled in a whole legal issue over this...but I have nowhere to go! Do I have any rights here? Thanks

[TenantNet]

As a non-RS tenant you don't have a lot of rights. Did you ever check to see if you are supposed to be RS? Don't just accept the LL's word for it.

So assuming you are absolutely not RS, it really is up to the LL to offer any renewal for the time they see fit. It's time to negotiate. When the lease expires you become month-to-month (see the Reference section for M2M tenants) and LL can seek your eviction.

But he must go to court, and the court can take at least a month or more. And in such situations, LL's can often be persuaded (especially if tenant has a lawyer) to offer a few months to move out. Happens all the time.

[stacey131]

Thanks- I can check on the RS status as suggested in other threads.