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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    New York State
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    2

    Default Can a Landlord Violate a Lease, and if So, Are You Still on the Hook

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: New York
    A lease was signed by my sister for one room of a three room apartment that was converted from the upstairs part of a house. The lease includes clauses for utilities being included, but a $25 / day penalty if the AC or heating is on and windows are open. The lease also stipulates monthly inspections by the landlord for damage.

    Since this was signed, several issues have come up.
    1) One day the AC was on, the Landlord claimed a window was open in one of the three rooms. Instead of assessing the fee as in the lease, the AC was disabled/turned off entirely for the day by the landlord.
    2) The landlord seems insistant on doing spot inspections, without notice, of the common areas far more often than monthly, sometimes multiple times a day.
    3) The landlord now is asking my sister to sign an addendum to the lease, which she has refused to sign.

    Also some technicalities about the lease:
    The lease also contains a clause waiving the right to a jury trial in proceedings, which according to the NY state renters rights pamphlet, is voided by NY law in any lease agreement (at least for safety reasons). The lease does not have a severability clause - would this potentially void the entire lease?

    Anyway, on point 3, would my sister be able to get out of the lease if the Landlord tries to force the new terms/addendum?

    And what remedy on 1 and 2 if the landlord agrees to let the signed lease stand (I don't think they have a choice on that if someone were to go to court)?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    1,995

    Default Re: Can a Landlord Violate a Lease, and if So, Are You Still on the Hook

    I don't know under the circumstances, would your sister want to move??

    First off, I know people convert rooms to apartments, but unless it is done with permits, and C/O issued, the units are not legal. The tipoff is "utilities are included" because a utility would not allow extra meters for units with no CO.

    You can easiy pull the CO's, in NYC, they are available on line through the department of buildings website, and the CO will tell you haow many floors the building has, and what is allowed per floor.

    If the unit is illegal, then there is no way owners can enforce the lease, and if it goes to housing court, the case would be thrwon out. In fact, in NYC, landlords can't even sue for past due rent in housiing court for illegal units. However, if the building dept finds out about it, under "emergency dispossess", the building dept may evict the tenant while all the belonignings are in there, so I'd be careful about blowing the whistle.

    Havings said all of this though, I'm a landlord, and I do have a beef with tenants leaving windows open in the middle of cold winters going to work. I also have one rental that I include electric, and the difference between one tenant and another can be $150/month, because of the use of AC's. However, I don't inspect tenant's units, on privacy grounds.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    New York State
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Can a Landlord Violate a Lease, and if So, Are You Still on the Hook

    My sister would be interested in moving, but doesn't want to be on the hook for the remainder of the lease if not living there. This is not in NY City, but the fingerlakes region of NY State.

    I don't know if that changes anything.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    1,995

    Default Re: Can a Landlord Violate a Lease, and if So, Are You Still on the Hook

    Quote Quoting jp10558
    View Post
    My sister would be interested in moving, but doesn't want to be on the hook for the remainder of the lease if not living there. This is not in NY City, but the fingerlakes region of NY State.

    I don't know if that changes anything.
    Local laws tend to be very different. It's much more strict here due to population density.

    You might visit your local town hall to see if there is a proper C/O for the units, and I doubt it. You might discretely check with local code enforcement on how they handle illegal units, if it is, and if leases on them are even valid. Down here, they're not.

    Generally, if it's a valid lease, she' held responsible till the landlord finds a replacement tenant, as the landlord has to mitigate damages.

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