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We are a home owner in Nassau county, NY. we've rented out the basement of my home to a crazy woman for last two months. Within two days we realized our mistake and have been telling her to leave. We desperately need to get her out of our house as she drives us crazy with her constant whines and complaints. We are planning to hire a lawyer but What can we do to make this process as quick as possible? Are there any home owners here who've dealt with evictions and know any lawyers or sources of information? Any information and assistance would be greatly appreciated in my time of need.
There is no lease and this was month-to-month rental. She never gave any deposit. The apt is not regularized as it's still a single family home. Are we in trouble for that?
Well that's what you get for renting out an illegal apt! Happens to many landlords on LI. Guess you did not do your due diligence & do thorough credit & criminal background checks. So simple to do these days. If she is a "professional" like someone else mentioned you can still weed those people out. If evictions are done through the courts then it will show up in the public records section of a persons credit report. As the courts do report them to the credit bureaus. As for formal evictions. Right now the approx. time is a minimum of 7 months for Nassau county. Not sure about Suffolk. Probably same though.
As for anyone looking to rent part of their home. It is illegal to do! Unless of course you are one of the very few that make it legal. And most tenants know this as well. They are all nice just to get into apt. Because they can't find anything very easily. Then once they are in the claws come out. Most prospective tenants will lie just to get into apt. Like if you say no pets.They will lie. Then move their pets in. Because just about every landlord on LI say no pets & no kids. Oh yeah forgot to add. No programs either. Not much you can LEGALLY do. So if you try to screw them. Chances are they will ********* back. There are bad landlords & there are bad tenants too.
FYI..Basement apt = illegal apt. There are exceptions. Like in the case of accessory apts. Then there are some people that say their apt is legal because they added an egress window which give that 2nd way out in case of emergency. But bet those homes are still not legally listed as 2-family. Bet they do not have separate electric meters either. Or pay taxes to based on the fact that they have rental. Or income taxes. One meter means it is a single family home only.
We just saw a "Landlord Tenant" lawyer who was in rush to get us sign the retainer for "Flat" fee of $1500 plus "process server fee" of $125. We haven't signed the retainer yet but planning to do so tomorrow morning. Since it's our first time, we think we should not take chance of doing it all ourselves.
Yes, this will be the hardest lesson of our life. AndreaII, thanks yes, we would like to call us sharing expense. This is my house and I take pride in keeping it immaculate. Obviously, that's why the woman has no intention of leaving at all. I myself showed her bunch of rentals and she came up with allpossible excuses such as--it's dirty, filthy, it's far, it's too small, it doesn't have separate entrance etc. We have all high quality furnishings, kitchen, separate entrance, egress window etc. Obviously we are paying for the stupid mistake we did when my husband gave in for her sob story and gave her the key to our basement!
Mumbly Joe, Can The Coalition of Landlords, Homeowners, & Merchants, Inc. help us guide to preserve our rights of property even if we hire an attorney? I know that even if we have all safety features in place, the county will slam us with all the violations. This is a very VERY expensive lesson indeed!
Thanks all for all the valuable suggestions and support. I will NEVER rent out basement of our house again!
Even with the lawyer it will take at least 7 months to get tenant out LEGALLY. As you still have to go through the eviction process legally no matter what. Just out of curiosity what lies did this lawyer possibly tell you?
Like how long did he say (if you asked) it would take him to get the tenant out? He probably told you what he wanted you to hear just to get you to sign on the dotted line & fork over those $$. Then I bet his "promise" will change.
No lease? No deposit? Wait till she's out; put all her crap in boxes and rent a storage unit for a month. Change the locks. When she comes "home", tell her to get lost, and give her the key to the self-storage, and the balance of any unused rent, if you want to be really nice. If she tires to do anything (like sicking the authorities on you) tell them you don't know what she's talking about, and she's out of her mind.
In NY that is illegal to do. And OP will be in big trouble if they did that. The laws as hard it may be to hear are on the tenants side. NY (LI especially) is very pro-tenant. If a landlord enters apt. or does turn off any utilities the tenant can call the police for harassment. It is done. Seen it & know the laws in cases like this. She probably already has mail addressed to her at OP's address. That makes her by law a legal tenant. Odd but true.
Also just curious did you do ANY checks on this tenant at all? I mean even a simple no nonsense one. Like make sure you get their legal picture ID. Then google their name even? You can check if they have any arrest record for free with just a few clicks. I eliminated tons of prospective tenants with just a simple free search. Not like these people are going to outright say. Oh by the way we were just arrested for dealing drugs last month. But my search showed that. Who wants known drug dealers in their homes?
In NY that is illegal to do. And OP will be in big trouble if they did that. The laws as hard it may be to hear are on the tenants side. NY (LI especially) is very pro-tenant. If a landlord enters apt. or does turn off any utilities the tenant can call the police for harassment. It is done. Seen it & know the laws in cases like this. She probably already has mail addressed to her at OP's address. That makes her by law a legal tenant. Odd but true.
Well, yeah- but ya gotta be creative. Don't admit to anything, and no paperwork, it's hard for "them" to pin anything on ya. Of course, now it's too late for that, since the crazy lady has already had the fuzz there and all.
Me? The bee eye tea sea aitch would be out of there in a day. But then, I'm Eye-talian...
Kinda reminds me of the time a friend of mine gets called by some Smithtown official because they found his signs on light poles. The guy pays a $500 fine, and has to waste time in court and everything. The same Smithtown official calls me about my signs on lamp posts, I ask: "Did you see me putting up any signs? Is it possible that someone else could have put up those signs? Please leave me alone! [click!]" and that was the end of it. (I feel no pangs of conscience when dealing with crooks- be it telling a robber I have no money, or beating a politician, who puts his election signs up on those same poles, at his own game!)
When dealing with a corrupt and unjust system, whatever ultimately leads to rectifying a matter in an equitable manner, is fair game. Unfortunately, good people usually aren't as good at such tactics as are the habitual abusers of the system and crooks- but if you want to maintain some semblance of fairness in a place like LI, fighting fire with fire is fair game, IMO.
Burn the place down, collect on the insurance and build a new house that is more efficient and affordable. Wait til tenant is out start fire in apartment with a cigarette and nail polish remover. leave a few bottles of booze out. It'll look like the dumb broad was tanked while doing her nails, did not put out butt fully and went out somewhere leaving butt and acetone unattended. Works every time most of the time.
Burn the place down, collect on the insurance and build a new house that is more efficient and affordable. Wait til tenant is out start fire in apartment with a cigarette and nail polish remover. leave a few bottles of booze out. It'll look like the dumb broad was tanked while doing her nails, did not put out butt fully and went out somewhere leaving butt and acetone unattended. Works every time most of the time.
I'd be too tempted to do it while the tenant is in- just in case they save the house, at least the tenant would no longer be a problem. Just make sure if she has any pets, to put them outside first. (Of course, now if the tenant does get blotto and leave a smoldering butt.....this ain't gonna look good for the OP! )
My feeling is if having a tenant is the only way you can afford to live here, LI is too expensive for you
I get that and have a friend who had a great tenant for 10 years until he decided to move to a bigger home. Not everyone gets a great tenant who pays rent on time or is not messy or noisy. I am sure that extra income would help us and a lot of other people but my husband said it's not worth the aggravation.
It was our biggest mistake that we gave in to her sob story too soon without doing any background check. Too bad, now we have to pay heavily for that. We have hired the lawyer as there is nothing much we can do at this point. Both of us are working professionals with busy work schedules and young kid. Lawyer says 3-4 months, we are helpless at the moment so will have to wait and watch.
@monstermagnet, do you want to know what the woman whines and complains about? We invite you to come and live with her free of cost and find out why she is crazy. She will tell you 100 times over and over again how her ex-husband (and so many other people) abused her and she had accident where her skull crack opened and then she had this surgery..that's why she forgets so many things (How convenient!). She calls me 10 times (literally)a day on my cellphone to tell me something nonsense or irrelevant such as someone stole her apple/banana or yogurt. The latest is she has brain tumor so she can't drive much and she also has pancreatic cancer! But I never saw her going to any hospital/doctor for any treatment.
These things got me very sympathetic in the beginning but within a week week we realized how she is taking us for ride. Now. it's too late.
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