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Hi all im new to the forum and i seen some great advice, Well to start off i just recently found out i am living in a illegal basement apartment me and my two kids i live in union county. The way that i found out it was illegal was when the inspectors showed up at my door (did not let them in) they left a letter under the door, so what i did was call the landlord and explained that they were comming back with a warrant to look around the house. the landlord asked me to please leave for a couple of days so he can iron this out. I like were i live at and i wish i can stay here for longer but i think what the landlord is going to do is not going to work so if he fails and the inspectors does find this to be a illegal apartment what are my rights?
were would i go? would i get help for relocating? do i get compensated for the hassle any information on this would be very helpful thank you for your time and god bless.
You pretty much can't do anything but if something bad had happened, your rights could have changed. Right now you could sue in small claims because it was illegal but believe me, it is not worth it. Just be glad that nothing bad happened. I would say to just look for a new place.
Remove all the beds or any furniture that suggest the basement is used as bedroom before inspector comes. Then, it should be fine.
In general, basement is NOT good for human being living, on the other hand, housing is expensive, some people have no better alternative, at least, till final solution found. Inspector is doing his job, so you need to respect what he expect to see; that is "basement is NOT used as bedroom".
If I were you, have to rent an affordable basement to save money, I would just use the "inflated bed" that you can get at Walmart camping section. That way, you can have comfortable bed equivalent to sleep, and when inspectors show up, you can fold them into a bag.
In this country, you either live like a king or become homeless. The law is "binary". e.g. many years ago, my sister rented a condo with basement about 1800 sq ft to a homeless family with single mom and 5 kids, but then Section 8 insisted that "finished basement" with 2/3 above ground is NOT a bedroom, although that 900 sq ft was easily divided into 3 rooms, so they have to move out in order to qualify for Section 8 voucher.
Besides, due to the size of the family, they need to rent 3br or 4br, and the Section 8 money was not enough. For homeless family, an 1,800 sq ft one bed room finished basement condo is very luxury, but Section 8 insisted they live even better place.
Also, I can see the landlord renting out the finished basement; in general, the landlord also needs to pay mortgage, and it may be too much for landlord to pay.
I just met a single mom with a son at Asian Food Center who told me she lost job after she bought a 2br condo with basement at East Brunswick and got injured during moving. She was afraid that after 6 month disability insurance, she may not be able to find a job. She may have to sell the condo, but then where can she move to? if she does not have a job? She not even qualified to rent an apartment.
So, the best solution for her is to "finish the basement" and rent it to two or three IT professionals working at Wall St, each paying $800 a month. They may leave home early at 7am and came back home after 9pm. How about inspector visit? Inspectors normally don't visit for no reason. Many inspectors visit only once every 5 years, and when they visit, usually 9 to 4pm Monday to Friday when nobody home, so, as long as there are NO beds at basement, that would be no problem. So, using portable beds, or inflated air beds can solve the problem.
Keep in mind, the law in this country is made by "wealthy people" who tend to believe "everyone deserves a high quality living space". On the other hand, they have absolutely NO idea how poor people or homeless family's life are. If you would send a "homeless guy" or "food stamp family" to US Senate or House, I am sure the law will be changed to be more natural and humane.
Before that happen, the law is the law. Try NOT to use basement as bedroom, if there is NO choice for the time being, use "inflated air bed", don't use permanent bed so that inspector will feel good and feel respected when visit your basement.
You pretty much can't do anything but if something bad had happened, your rights could have changed. Right now you could sue in small claims because it was illegal but believe me, it is not worth it. Just be glad that nothing bad happened. I would say to just look for a new place.
Thata not what i heard. keep looking cause if your apt is illegal you have many rights
My landlady comes by daily and when she founf out we went on vactation she pulled her ****, we called her at 7am and by 4.35 she was calling us cursing us about out cat and everythings else. we gpt home home on a sunday night about 9am and went to sleep. well 11.30 pm she came banging on the door cursing about the cat being in the apt and she wanted the rent right then. we had it but an arguement started and as it escultated she grabbed my wrist and sprained it and then i had tripped while walking backwards and she stomed on my ancle. which is also sprained. well what this comes down to is as soon as she finds out that people that are out of town she goes into their aot and snops. she knoes where my panities are if that isnt sad i dont know what is,,,,,,, Joannenewbrunswick nj
Wait, is this an actual apartment with a separate entrance/exit or are you renting a basement in a home that's generally attached to the rest of the unit? If the former, you have rights if it's not a legal apartment - and you can generally file a suit in small claims. If it's the latter, where you're subletting you still have rights but things are a little murkier.
I would THINK that something has to be filed to make an apartment legal in NJ (I'd like to say certificate of occupancy but that doesn't sound right.) I know that if you did sign a lease and the apartment is in fact, illegal then the landlord is in violation of that lease and that's easily enforceable. Thing is though, that small claims will probably take a little while in this matter and you'll have to figure out a place to live in the meantime when you get kicked out (you can include these costs in the lawsuit I believe).
I'd call the town in question and see what they define an apartment as and see if there was some kind of complaint that caused an inspector to come out. Inspectors don't just randomly go to apartments without some suspicion of cause.
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