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Month to Month Tenancy/Retaliation HELP NEEDED PLEASE!

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Month to Month Tenancy/Retaliation HELP NEEDED PLEASE!

Postby jaycapano » Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:47 pm

We have quite a long story to tell but I will make it as short as possible. My wife and I live in an 8 apartment unit up in Schenectady county. In May the ownership of the building changed. When the ownership changed we made it evident to the new property manager that we did not have a copy of our lease and we needed one. He said he would get back to us and never did. After several failed attempts to contact either the property manager or the landlord the tenants started to talk to each other. No one had a copy of their lease. Four months later, 5 out of the 8 apartments decided that we should write a letter and all sign it and send it certified mail. Within the next day everyone had a copy of their lease, except us. We found out that the owners lost our lease. We talked to a legal advisor and they said to get something in writing stating that our lease was gone and that we would be on a month to month tenancy until adequate notice was given. We did not want to be held responsible for the subsequent month's rent until the end of the lease that was lost. Anyway in making a long story short, we told the property manager that we would give 60 days notice so that he could fill the apartment. We also said that we would pay 2 months up front if he liked to make sure that we wouldn't screw him over. He said no. He said that because it is so hard to rent the apartment that time of year we needed to be out in 30 days. We begged again because I will be out of state until mid october. He said maybe, he would get back to us after he talked to the owners. Now he is saying he will do it ONLY if we pay a $150 marketing fee for a newspaper ad. My question to anyone that can please help us is, Can he do this to us? We haven't agreed upon anything. We know that this is retaliation. I am the one that wrote the letter and formed the "association" with the majority of the tenants. We only want to stay until October 31st, and then we will be out. We know that they are going to keep our security and deposit because we know the type of landlord they are. Can someone please help my wife and I? We do not want to be homeless and we know that we have rights as tenants. We do not want the hassel of being evicted. We have paid our rent 1 week early every month for 15 months. They have only been our landlords for 4. We would call the owners but they will not get back to us, and when they do they tell us that everything must be taken up with the property manager. I have a wife that is so upset and I don't have any answers for her. Please help me. I am in need of some major legal advice. All I need is until October 31st. Is it that much harder to rent in October than September? Why should we have to pay a marketing fee if they never got back to us? If someone could please help us so that we can finally sleep easy. Thank you very very much.
jaycapano
 
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Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:22 pm

Postby brianmosher » Fri Sep 12, 2008 8:32 pm

I'm not a lawyer. I have dealt with nasty landlords before. If you don't have a copy of the lease, and no one else does, you're month to month. As far as I can tell, if you're paid up through September, they need to give you 30 days beyond that in order to have you leave, which means you're all set to leave at the end of October. What I would do, If I were you, is take copies of any correspondence you've had with the property management, and letters from other tennants in your group stating the situation, along with another write up of your own, explaining what your dealing with, seal them all up in an envelope, and send them to yourself via registered mail.
When you get the envelope back, don't open it. Hang on to it, incase they try to make you liable for anything in court, and have the judge open it on the bench. That way you'll have a registered, dated folio of all evidence you've compiled, in case a "lease" comes out of nowhere to mess up your situation.
brianmosher
 
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