No lease, moved out, now landlord taking me to court!

[fmingione]

I lived in an NYC apartment for nearly 10 years, half of which with no lease. I had two roommates.

In August, I received a letter that the rent was being increased and that I needed to sign a lease. I advised the landlord that I would be vacating the apartment. However, my two roommates would be in contact becasue THEY wanted to sign the new lease. I moved my things out, left my keys with my roommates, and was done with it. I asked for my security deposit but never received it. I later heard that my roommates decided not to keep the apartment.

Flash foreward six months. My landlord is suing me for 3 months of rent, from Sept-Now.

What are my legal obligations or penalties at this point?

[TenantNet]

What court? Does he claim there was a lease in effect?

[fmingione]

Sorry it's in NYC. He's taking me to housing court.

I guess he's claiming there was a month to month lease, although we hadn't had anything in writing for years.

[TenantNet]

If you are no longer in possession, he can't take you to HC. There is no such thing as a MTM lease. Have you read the court papers? What do the say?

[fmingione]

Hmmm, ok, good to know. I'll need to take a closer look at the papers, which are home right now. Perhaps I came to the wrong assumption that it's housing court, and it's civil court instead?