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Leaving Horrible Apt After Lease Ended - Do I Owe Rent ?

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Leaving Horrible Apt After Lease Ended - Do I Owe Rent ?

Postby cat_atonic » Wed May 05, 2010 6:14 pm

Hi, just wanted to say that I have gotten wonderful advice about tenants rights from this site before and really appreciate this forum.

I have looked on the board and haven't found anything regarding my current situation:

I have been living in a studio in Manhattan for over 1 year now and have had constant problems with both noise and a lack of hot water for most of my time here. Most of my complaints went ignored, but about 3 months ago (around the time my lease was going to expire) I verbally told my LL I would be withholding rent until the problems were resolved regarding noise and inconsistent hot water. The LL did not respond to that but said he would look into the getting the problems fixed.

Here is where it gets interesting:

I ended up withholding rent from then on, which happened to be right when my lease ended, so I have been staying here without rent for 3 months. In these 3 months my LL has not tried to contact me regarding the rent, renewing the lease, or about the noise/hot water. I have had it with the problem and am planning to move by the end of this month, but today a letter slipped was under my door stating that it was a final notice of Dispossession notifying me that I have 3 days to pay the 3 months of rent I owe or I will be evicted. The letter looks like some generic eviction warning form with my name, address, the date, and the past rent amount written in with pen. There are no signatures on it, and it was only slipped under my door, so I am not sure if this would be deemed a formal letter.

If I was not on the lease (this is a non-RS apt. btw) during that time and I had personally told him I was going to withhold rent due to the breach of habitability, would I still have to pay for the months I was not on a lease?


Just to make the details clear, here is a list of the facts:

- I have been off the lease for 3 months.

- I have not paid rent for those months.

- I told my landlord I would be withholding rent b/c of noise and lack of hot water.

- In the 3 months I have not received any contact regarding rent due, a response to my decision to withhold rent, or about renewing the lease.

- A letter with no signatures was left at my door requesting due rent to be paid in 3 days or the realty group would seek my eviction for non-payment.

- The building is non-Rent Stabilized.

- I am fed up with the problems and am planning to move asap anyway






Ideally I'd want to not the back-rent because of the horrible problems I've dealt with, especially in the last few months, and perhaps not having been on a lease makes my case stronger. From just the hot water and lack of sleep b/c of the noise I have lost a lot of my contracts (I'm an independent contract writer and teacher) that amount to more than the past due rent so I would feel doubly-screwed to have to pay it.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks! :D

- Cat


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Update:

Just did a google search on my LL and there is A LOT about him, including news articles about how he acts like a slum lord; constantly turning off the heat and hot water for weeks at a time in all of his apts, harassing rent-controlled tenants just to encourage them to move so he can bring the apt up to market.. There is even one about him going to jail for unlawful management practices. At the time of one posting, he hadn't even had a license and I don't know if he does now.

In any other situation I understand how I am liable to pay the rent, but this guy is a real jerk and purposely tries to screw with his tenants. I hope there is a way for me to at least withhold some of the rent, if only to help compensate for all of the contracts I have lost and the weeks on end where i've had to shower at the gym..

All the best,

Cat
cat_atonic
 
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Joined: Wed May 05, 2010 3:21 pm

Postby ronin » Wed Jun 16, 2010 4:56 pm

Are you still in the apartment now? Is there any update to this?
ronin
 
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Joined: Sat Mar 16, 2002 2:01 am


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