Sue landlord over Illegal apartment? (Lindenhurst: apartments, renters, car insurance)

[Azelyn]

My boyfriend and I have rented an apartment for 3 months ( this month being the third) and have had a horrible experience. Our correspondence with the landlord went from Nice, to trying to get along, to them completely not caring that we are here and doing whatever they please. They are extremely loud, obnoxious, and bang so much that our counters shake. They did not allow us our own mailbox, and we have no receieved mail in 2 1/2 months UNLESS we check it ourselves, which has been twice. When packages are delivered, they do not forward any notices or anything, and we have to find out by calling places. The landlord has taken my mail and held it against me, forcing my boyfriend to have to OPEN it infront of her just because it had my mothers name on it ( It was car insurance and was obviously for ME ) They bang on the ceiling at us for so much as walking but will blast their music and TV through all hours of the night and have over 5 kids running around screaming and shaking our rooms which is unbearable. The times we've called to complain theyve basically blown us off, or complained that 'we make noise too' which is rediculous because we do our best not to, and they only hear us walking which cant be helped in an old house and have even banged on the walls at 2 AM...then proceed to blast music at 6 AM and we lose sleep. She wouldnt allow me to have my mother even come and visit me. The kicker is, We can hear them complaining about us from the backyard and through the floors because they talk so loud. They insult us and complain about the utilities we use when they are -included-. The landlord is constantly yelling and screaming and it just makes me nervous. The other day someone opened the door leading my apartment after Banging on it when I was in the bathroom, yelled " HELLOOOO" up the stairs then slammed the door. I have no idea why, but it made me very nervous. We didnt have Hot water in our sink for the first month, there was a leak in the sink which ruined some of our food and caused a horrible rotting smell in the kitchen and rotted out the bottom of the cabinet. Everytime we shower we get burned or frozen because the water temp changes for some reason..the windows are not insulated and we have been very cold because the heat will not stay in the rooms..and theres more i just wont name here, lol.

ANYWAY, what Im getting at, is after my boyfriend called her to complain after it sounded like a constant rumble downstairs from kids running and screaming, she told us plainly if we didnt like it, to leave. So we are leaving. BUT, she tried to tell us that she was bringing people upstairs to see the apartment when we definately didnt want anyone up here, there is no Lease, there was no agreement on this, and we just dont trust her-after her talking very arrogantly about how it was her apartment and she had a right, my boyfriend called the town and found out it was an illegal apartment.

What I want to now is, Can we take them to court and get our rent paid back? After all the trouble theyve given us we just want to recover and move on. It's very hard tryng to find an apartment right now to go to during this season, but the money would definately help. We have paper receipts that we had to force out of her showing we paid the rent.

We live in Lindenhurst, NY. Thanks for reading all of that if you did, and if anyone can help that would be great...

[TomMoser]

I don't know that you would be sucessful in a law suit simply because the apartment is illegal. If you are so inclined, you should report the illegal apartment to the town.

Why is it that so many renters only seem to care that an apartment is illegal if they are having problems with the landlord? They are really two seperate issues.

[Azelyn]

We -did- Report it to the town. Im pretty sure ' Calling the town and found out it was illegal' is included in reporting it to the town.

[KarenBo]

It sounds like a horrible situation. I'm a little surprised that you didn't know the apartment was illegal if you had no lease or rental agreement...but I guess you've learned an important lesson. Never rent without some kind of documentation. You can print up simple rental agreements online.

Its my understanding that they will lose any rent they collected because the apartment is illegal however I'm not sure if it goes back to you or it taken in fines by the town. If you really want to retaliate by reporting the apartment, you are probably safest if you wait until you have vacated the apartment.

[cottercutie]

Originally Posted by KarenBo

It sounds like a horrible situation. I'm a little surprised that you didn't know the apartment was illegal if you had no lease or rental agreement...but I guess you've learned an important lesson. Never rent without some kind of documentation. You can print up simple rental agreements online.

Why is it that people seem to think that if you have a lease or rental agreement that the apartment is legal? I can print a 'lease' off my computer right now to rent out my closet doesn't mean I have the proper permits or anything for it to be legal.

And the absence of said documents means diddly too. There is an implied warranty of habitability. By offering the space for rent to someone, the owner is implying that they have the legal right to do so and that the space is suitable for habitation and will remain so for the duration of the tenancy. This would cover any permits a town requires.

By renting the illegal apartment, they breach the implied warranty of habitability.

Sec. 235-b. Warranty of habitability.

1. In every written or oral lease or rental agreement for
residential premises the landlord or lessor shall be deemed
to covenant and warrant that the premises so leased or
rented and all areas used in connection therewith in common
with other tenants or residents are fit for human habitation
and for the uses reasonably intended by the parties and that
the occupants of such premises shall not be subjected to any
conditions which would be dangerous, hazardous or
detrimental to their life, health or safety. When any such
condition has been caused by the misconduct of the tenant or
lessee or persons under his direction or control, it shall
not constitute a breach of such covenants and warranties.

2. Any agreement by a lessee or tenant of a dwelling waiving or
modifying his rights as set forth in this section shall be
void as contrary to public policy.

3. In determining the amount of damages sustained by a tenant
as a result of a breach of the warranty set forth in the
section, the court;

(a) need not require any expert testimony; and

(b) shall, to the extent the warranty is breached or cannot
be cured by reason of a strike or other labor dispute
which is not caused primarily by the individual
landlord or lessor and such damages are attributable to
such strike, exclude recovery to such extent, except to
the extent of the net savings, if any, to the landlord
or lessor by reason of such strike or labor dispute
allocable to the tenant's premises, provided, however,
that the landlord or lesser has made a good faith
attempt, where practicable, to cure the breach.


The only issue I think that the OP really has is the mail issue. Open a PO box and forward your mail to it. And report the mail theft to the USPS

[omigawd]

Originally Posted by cottercutie

Why is it that people seem to think that if you have a lease or rental agreement that the apartment is legal?

\


I can assure you, I am an educated person and very intelligent. However, when I first moved out here from NYC, I had no clue that probably 90% of the apartments out here are totally illegal. I had never heard of an "illegal apartment" before. NEVER.

The place where the original poster is renting sounds like the place I used to live and got out of because of the SLUMLORD who owned the place. Let his kids bang, scream, annoy, and harass us to no end. Had to put up with the slumlord and his skank wife pulling their car directly in front of our window and sitting there with the bright lights on and blasting music. Our mail being stolen constantly....

Then, when we moved, the dirtbags had the audacity to try and sue us for the last month's rent (we gave them a security deposit) AND a month's rent for not giving them 30 days' notice. Needless to say, they were thrown out of court because the apartment is illegal and they weren't entitled to a penny in rent. The judge told them in no uncertain terms that they weren't entitled to a dime.

And what FOOLS they were for going into a court of law and, UNDER OATH, admitting to having illegal apartments in their house.

Oh, and before I moved, I informed the town of the illegal apartment and allowed the inspector to come in and see the place, take pics, etc. He also took pics of the property (and the 5 ft tall grass/weeds) and I signed an affidavit letting the town know about the other illegal apartments in the house (a one family converted into a 3 family).

[cottercutie]

Originally Posted by omigawd

\


I can assure you, I am an educated person and very intelligent. However, when I first moved out here from NYC, I had no clue that probably 90% of the apartments out here are totally illegal. I had never heard of an "illegal apartment" before. NEVER.

Same here, coming from Mass... it just irks me to see the advice of "make sure you get a lease/rental agreement" being constantly handed out on the LI forum (Karen, not singling you out at all.. I've seen it from numerous other posters too) like that suddenly means that the apartment is legal. Best to educate people that when on LI ask the potential LL to see the certificate of occupancy and rental permits or call the town rather than worrying about some lease that isn't really worth the paper it's written on.

If you're coming from somewhere else, you assume that, like your prior state/area, if a LL is renting an apartment, it's fit to be lived in. The unfortunate reality on LI is that there is a problem with apartments and legal issues which make it so that lots of LL's rent apartment that have no Certificate of Occupancy, and therefore, uninhabitable.

[Azelyn]

This is my first time renting since my father moving forced me out of the house, I dont really know how to handle stuff like this, and it kinda sucks that my first place had to be such crap. So, no one knows if I can get my rent back? ( or any compensation for money paid at all? )

[omigawd]

Azelyn, you can't get your rent back or any compensation.

The best advice I can give you is to get out of there and rent a legal apartment in a building or a complex or something like that. Don't rent from these LI Slumlords who think that because you're renting from them, you're at their mercy and they can come and go as they please in your apartment and allow their mongrels to harrass and annoy you.

[omigawd]

Originally Posted by cottercutie

Best to educate people that when on LI ask the potential LL to see the certificate of occupancy and rental permits .

When we were looking for a new place (after my last illegal apt), one of the first questions I asked the RE agents was "is the apartment legal?" Naturally, their answer was "of course". That is, until I said "cool, then there won't be a problem in my seeing a current Certificate of Occupancy or other paperwork from the town showing the apartment is legal? Of course, their tune changed then, stammering "uh, oh.... I'm not sure.... I'll get back to you....".

THANKFULLY (and thanks to a wonderful person from this forum), we found a great apartment with a great landlord and are very happy and content in our new LEGAL apartment!