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Building owners in rent dispute! All tenents being evicted!

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Building owners in rent dispute! All tenents being evicted!

Postby RichardK » Mon Aug 06, 2012 8:12 pm

I got an interesting situation on my hands here...

I am one of three tenants in separate apartments whom are renting on a month-to-month basis (no written lease) in a building who's multiple owners are are having a rent dispute (who gets the rent from the tenants). The original landlord who is normally contacted for apartment issues and paid rent from all three apartments and who is also the original owner of the building (before others were brought in) recently contacted all the tenants and notified them to no longer send the rent checks to the business below the apartments, and to instead send them to his personal PO. Box for which he gave the address to.

Everything was fine up until about a week after the rent was due... Today I found out that ALL three tenants in the building were given a single sheet of paper which stated the following:

"JOHN DOE AND MARY ROE
Intending to name all tenants and occupants of **************

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that ********, LLC, owner and landlord, hereby provide you with notice that you are required to vacate the premises on or before September 30, 2012.

********, LLC By: *Signature*, Member

*Lawyer contact info*"


When the landlord was contacted by phone, he stated that he did not issue these notices and that his father who is a co-owner of the building and business below issued them. It is important to note that the person who issued the letters is and has never been contacted for apartment issues or paid rent directly and that all rent checks previously sent had the name of the original landlord as the pay to.

The lawyer information printed on the bottom left of the notice is the lawyer for his father (the co-owner) who issued the letters. The letters were NOT mailed to the tenants but were handed out, I actually got mine from one of the other tenants!

The original landlord when notified about these letters was verbally angry about the situation and stated that he had also been notified by the two other tenants who had just received these notices (both of which had recently moved in and only lived there for less than a month!) and that he would take care of it and told us (and the other tenants) that his father is just "pissed off" and to "ignore it for the time being".

I have NOT been issued a formal eviction notice and as far as I know the co-owner who issued this letter has not gone to court to formally evict anyone at this time and has only given notice to vacate.

Now I pay my rent on time, and have been doing so for the nine years I have lived in this apartment, there have been ZERO complaints about me to my knowledge and I have recently renovated and made improvements on it out of my own pocket and I would very much like to keep living here.

I cannot for the life of me find ANY information regarding eviction due to a dispute between multiple building owners and I am not aware of my legal rights to have this eviction contested should I refuse to leave by the above date.

Any information about my legal rights is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
RichardK
 
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Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 7:32 pm

Postby TenantNet » Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:48 am

First, never put personal information on a public forum. I removed your location information. And you're asking for trouble by using your real name as a user name. Change it.

As you're not covered by rent regulation -- or even a lease -- your protections are minimal.

The only protection for a month-to-month tenant outside of NYC is the requirement for one-month notice and the content and manner of the notice. See http://tenant.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5024

Here you might have a small advantage due to the confusion and dispute as to who is the controlling landlord. In my mind that is the key element here. One LL tells you to move; the other one says to ignore the notice. It appears you are pawns in this fight. I would band together with the other tenants and seek legal advice from a tenant attorney in your area. Also check with your county as to who is listed on the current deed as owner. If it's a LLC, then you need to find out who controls the LLC., or who can legally speak for the corporation.

Perhaps, if the original LL has the legal right, maybe he might give you a lease and then that would slow down the other LLs.

If they want you out, they will get you out, although you might be able to slow the process down a little and perhaps buy some time. But be cautious. Upstate courts are known for cavalier justice against tenants.
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Postby ronin » Sun Aug 12, 2012 1:55 am

First. The tenants have to inform the father downstairs that they have paid their rent as requested to the son. Show him the cancelled checks. Let the LLs fight it out, the tenants weren't in a position to deny the son his new mailing address.

Second. The tenants have to write both LLs saying they need proof of ownership so they know who to pay. The father's LL should have the proof in hand ready to give you guys. Contacting your own lawyer to review the proof is a prudent idea.

IMHO

Good luck!
ronin
 
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