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Could you imagine how many homeless people there would be on Long Island if everyone with an illegal apartment evicted their tenants tomorrow?
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And could YOU imagine what wonderful schools and services Long Island would have if all the ILLEGAL landlords would bring their apartments up to code and pay the correct taxes?? But, of course, they don't want to. Instead, they want to bring in all that extra undeclared income and not pay a penny in local, state, or federal tax.
If Long Island charged less taxes for those lovely schools, I bet fewer people would have to have strangers living in their homes. Taxes is one of the biggest reasons I'm trying to get out of here. I pay a huge amount of my property taxes for a school which I will never use, and I'm in a district that's not too bad in Long Island terms. I'm sorry, but think about how lovely those schools could be if the admistrators weren't greedy and corruption rampant. Time for an audit, I say!
1) she isn't going to get the full rent back, doesn't make sense, no judge is going to award it. She can sue for Damages, which she declared as 100 per month of non access.
2) she can report you to whoever she wants, her right etc... So IRS and town may come knocking. for unreported income, for illegal apartment, for basement finished without permits, for illegal bathroom assuming you're like 90% of LIers who finish their basement.
3) as just a point of interest, the IRS doesn't talk to the town, but the town might talk to the IRS. My point is, you could have reported the income on your taxes even though its an illegal apartment and the town won't know. But if the town gets involved thinking you're renting an apartment and not reporting it, they might decide to place a call to the IRS.
Taxes are high, cost of living is high, life on LI sucks I get it, I live it. Everyone has an excuse and I don't care. Certian blocks have half the houses with an illegal apartment, you can't even park in front of your house. If you can't afford the house without a rental income, you can't afford the house, live with it.
All the NIMBY people need to get it in their head that LI needs high density housing, Coop buildings, rentals, and townhouses for the younger generation to get them out of the basement apartments.
All the NIMBY people need to get it in their head that LI needs high density housing, Coop buildings, rentals, and townhouses for the younger generation to get them out of the basement apartments.
This is the reason why the younger generation isn't staying here, there is not affordable place to live. They can't buy houses on a single college grad income and they can't find affordable legal rentals either.
I'm all for increased legal rentals (don't get me started on that NYTimes article a couple weeks back with the young couple saying "well, WE saved up to buy...") but illegal apartments don't solve the problem and I don't have much sympathy for the landlords.
My husband and I rented our basement which not registered with the town of islip out a year ago, our agreement was for $900.00 a month including utilities and cable, laundry and use of the backyard. The tenant has no lease, it's a month to month rental. A couple of months ago, my tenant couldn't get access to do laundry all month because I wasn't comfortable leaving the security alarm off while am at work. The next month, she paid the rent less $100.00 stating she used it for laundry and transportation to get there and back. I asked her to give back $50.00 because it was unreasonable or move out in 30 days.
She found out the apartment is not registered and now the town is after me, a friend of mine tells me she can sue and get back all the rent paid over the year because I wasn't paying taxes on the extra income, is this true? can she really get back all $10,700.00 that she paid even though the town will fine me? Please help, I know I need a lawyer but I want to know if this is possible.
She was absolutely right to expect you to pay if you deprived her of the use of the laundry.
You bought all this down on your own head by being an a**. You should have apologized for depriving her of the laundry (it's part of her rent) and took the rent she offered. You inconvenienced her, cost her time and money, then threaten her with eviction? What a jerky way to behave.
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Afterall IT IS MY HOUSE
Yes, but you did rent part of it out. For profit. Illegally. If you do not want people in your home, then you shoud not be renting part of it out. It is not fair to the people who are renting . Their rent was not all that low considering that they were in an illegal basement apartment (I am not sure of the location but I assume that it wasn't Lloyd Harbor) .
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not only is this homeowner going to have to pay fines for having an illegal apt but they will also have to remove the illegal apt and prove it has been removed within a 30 day period or receive more fines.......if it is a bsmt apt they are in no way possible to make legal.......
Not sure what type of recourse the tenant has in regards to getting back their rent.....yes they did live in an illegal apt that was rented to them, but anyone renting a bsmt apt must know that its illegal.....I can understand if you rented an apt within a house.....(1st/2nd fl) where you might assume it is legal but a basement....NO...
I think if she was taken to court, they may just get back their filing fees and thats it......the op did say that she did hold the $100 for non use of the laundry.....so she did have use of the apt an all other agreements other than that........
A judge I'm sure would ? the homeowners reasons and comment on the county legalities and IRS but I don't believe they will have anything to do with it.....
I'm curious as to whether or not the op received the rent in cash or check and gave receipts......
this could make the difference as to what the tenant can prove......
Am even more confused than I was when I posted this, everyone has an opinion but does anyone know the ACTUAL LAW that says she can or cannot sue for all that money?
she was paying with checks so she can prove it and I know I will be dealing with the town, state and IRS.
Please advise me on what to do in regard to the tenant because the month is almost ended and I need to know if she can do anything to screw me up just in case she refuses to move out. With all am hearing I'd rather have her leave but I don't want her to sue me for this BS when she had a roof over her head, a good one at that.
Please tell me if there is a law that says she can sue and win. Thanks
I found this post on tenant.net forum board.....its a little old but it applys to ny maybe you can research it alittle more...
In Reply to: does anyone know about illegal apartments? posted by louise on August 04, 2001 at 17:53:07:
The landlord can't legally evict you without going to court. If the landlord goes to court, there are two claims he can use. Either he evicts you for nonpayment or for "holding over" after the tenancy has expired.
If the landlord evicts you for nonpayment he is basically a fool, because no court of law can enforce something that is illegal. In other words, the court can't order you to continue paying rent to the landlord if the landlord is collecting rent illegally.
If the landlord evicts you for holding over, all you have to do is show the judge proof that you are legitimately looking for a place to go but that you need more time to find a new apartment. If you pay to put an ad in your local newspaper in the "apartments wanted" section and save a copy of the ad and the receipt showing that you paid for it to be placed, this is an effort to find a new place. If you get brought in for a holdover, and its an illegal apt., there is also the chance that the judge will tell you to get out within 5 days, because it cuts both ways -- the judge can't rule that the landlord has to continue to honor your tenancy if the tenancy is illegal.
If you get hauled in to court for an eviction, I would bring proof that the apartment is illegal. BAsements and attics are illegal, as are unregistered rentals. Use the fact that the apartment is illegal as a bargaining tool, and get three months rent free so you can find a better place to go in a reasonable amount of time with money in your pocket. If you end up not settling, the judge can order you to leave but he can also order the landlord to : 1) pay taxes owed on the rental income, 2) pay you back all the rent money you paid since it was collected illegally, 3) pay your moving costs. I wouldn't try to go all out to get all this stuff because doing so is risky, judges don't like to work with you if they think you are knowingly staying in an illegal apt just to get back at your landlord and take his money. You aren't exactly innocent either since you agreed to stay in an illegal situation all this time --- at least that is how a judge might look at it. If you do decide to stay indefinitely until you get all your rent and moving costs back, don't do so without a lawyer.
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