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Inspection Frequency and Quiet Enjoyment

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Inspection Frequency and Quiet Enjoyment

Postby R. Lyons » Sun Oct 31, 2010 5:11 pm

I have no experience with this and need some help. A friend lives outside NYC in a month-to-month situation. He tells me that his landlord is insisting on a weekly inspection of the unit, as per an old lease, which has long since expired. According to my friend, this "right" was not enforced until recently.

On top of the intrusion, my friend suffers from severe environmental allergies, and people coming into the apartment can aggravate the condition.

Can a landlord insist on a weekly inspection? Seems excessive and against quiet enjoyment. What are a (month-to-month) tenant's rights in this situation in NYS?
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Postby queensborough » Sun Oct 31, 2010 7:38 pm

There is no lease any longer if your friend is month to month, so whatever the lease may have stated no longer applies.

A tenant should be given at least 24 hours notice for an inspection, and has every right to be there. What exactly does he need to see on a weekly basis? That is beyond excessive.

I would tell the landlord that a weekly inspection is out of the question. Unfortunately, month to month tenants have basically no rights. Is this an apartment rental or some type of room rental?
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Postby R. Lyons » Sun Oct 31, 2010 9:43 pm

Apartment rental, according to my friend. I've never been there.

I'm getting the feeling the landlord is trying to "encourage" all the tenants to leave.
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Postby TenantNet » Sun Oct 31, 2010 10:10 pm

QB is incorrect here. There is a "lease" as a month-to-month lease. Although it might not be on paper, it's essentially a monthly and renewing extension of the expired lease, with all its provisions.

But yes, even if in the lease, that sounds excessive, and certainly subject to the access rules (but not NYC rules). See the NYS multiple dwelling law for rules. Also check the access rules in the Reference Section of the forum -- see link above. Essentially any request for access needs to be written and in advance.

However, understand that being a M2M tenant, the LL can give 30 days' notice at any time.
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Postby queensborough » Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:05 am

TenantNet wrote:QB is incorrect here. There is a "lease" as a month-to-month lease. Although it might not be on paper, it's essentially a monthly and renewing extension of the expired lease, with all its provisions.


A "lease" is a written agreement between a tenant and landlord. How could an expired lease give a month to month tenant all the provisions provided by a lease that is no longer in effect?

PostPosted: 05 Feb 2010 02:51 pm Post subject: Reply with quote
A succinct explanation of month-to-month tenancies originally posted by NYHawk at http://www.tenant.net/phpBB2/viewtopic. ... 2172#42172

Saying a person is a month to month tenant with a lease is like saying someone is almost pregnant. neither one can possibly be true.

A month to month tenancy by definition means there is no lease. If the tenant gives the landlord an amount of money for a month's rent and the landlord accepts it, the tenant has the right to stay in the apartment for that month. If the process is repeated there is another month month to tenancy created. it is created one month at a time. there is no lease. This happens when a lease expires, it is not renewed and the tenant keeps paying and the landlord keeps accepting rent after the lease expired.
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Postby TenantNet » Mon Nov 01, 2010 7:33 am

Yes and no. It's a lease for one month, and it gets renewed every month, and it usually carries the same terms and conditions, but unlike RS those can change with notice. Also unlike RS, there is no automatic right of renewal. It's not a lease in a conventional sense, but for the one month, it's legal and binding.
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