I live in Stuytown and had a major setback that made me fall behind on rent. This morning I was just served a non-payment petition. The amount they're demanding in judgement is only $1400 (though I owe much more). I can easily pay this, and in fact have been trying to pay $7000 that I owed for a month but Stuytown blocked payments through their portal and their legal department hasn't responded to our attempts to reach them for exactly a month.
However I'm not sure how to go about paying this. I can't pay Stuytown directly, so will I need to appear in court? If so, will I definitely need an attorney? The case seems pretty straightforward since I can pay the $1400 and can pay off the rest with a payment arrangement within 3 months.
My final question is where can I get an affordable attorney to get advice and/or even represent me if I need to go to court? I make too much to qualify for legal aid, but because of this setback I can't afford much while I'm paying back-rent to stuytown.
Thanks for any input.