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It is totally sick to read how cruel and predatory some of these postings are. Being a landlord is a JOB, not a get rich quick scheme. If you are a good landlord who screens applicants carefully and takes care of the tenants living in your building then you will rarely have problems. You're dealing with human beings, not cash cows. Two weeks late on rent? Better than months in court and no rent paid. Any LL who would rather take a tenant to court than try to work with the tenant to resolve issues is an IDIOT and should not be managing properties.
The laws in NYC protect tenants FOR GOOD REASON. Many people were taken advantage of and abused by slimeball LLs, some of which seem to frequent this forum. Where do you suppose the term 'slumlord' comes from? There are rotten apples on both sides, clearly, but a decent understanding of the law and how to deal with human beings can make all the difference in the world.
According to KK...all us landlords are greedy and ruthless people. Lol
LLB_ING is correct...when you treat people like human beings, communicate, act reasonably and fairly, as well as do a great job at screening tenants, it is rarely the case you have any problems. Sure some tenants on occasion need some leeway to pay rent 2 weeks late, or whatever the case may be....things happen in life...and you work with them. So long as it is not every month, just work with them.
Being a LL is a fulltime job, and not for every one...especially in this city.
Landlording is a good way to make money except in wonderful liberal NY where you have rent stabilization/control where the system is designed to supress the so-called "greedy" landlord. It's designed to protect tenants (even undesirable tenants) and designed to prevent apartment turn-over which creates stagnant/dying communities in which there is little to no movement of people because apartments are never vacated, or at least not available.
That creates poverty which becomes entrenched, generational, due to the artificial limitation of a natural ebb and flow of people coming in and out of the communities....and the ghettos of today are a direct result of this stagnation. We now have a permanent underclass whom suffocate entire swaths of the city for generations because, well, the vast majority of apartments are on stabilization/rent control and will never be available so nobody else can move in/out.
Thank God for old liberal New York and all the other liberal bastions that don't allow the greedy landlords to put the screws to tenants. Every case is different and once in a while the landlord is right but not usually.
On average it takes about three to four months for an eviction to take place.
Am basing this on most landlords do not commence proceedings (three day notice) until a tenant is two months behind on rent. By the time tenant responds in court (if they do not pay the amount in TDN) you are deep into two months when the case is heard.
Depending upon the situation and how things turn out in court tenant could be facing eviction by the end of the second month or third.
Changes to the RS laws awhile back mean not being able to afford the rent is no longer a valid defense when answering a petition for non-payment. So unless there are certain limited conditions (required repairs, safety issues, etc...) the only way to solve a nonpayment case is to pay the back rent. Often if you are claiming "issues" the judge may direct rent to be paid to the court and will go to LL when it sees the work has been done. Either way stringing out non-payment eviction notices for several months does not happen anymore unless landlord agrees.
One says "agrees" in that often a LL will consent to a stipulation agreement where back rent is paid in installments along with keeping forward rent current. There persons have been known to default on such agreements and the whole thing ends up back in court. To get around this today LL's attorneys often insert into a stip agreement that the tenant agrees to the eviction notice being granted but will be stayed (not acted upon) if terms of the stipulation are met. If the tenant does not comply with the agreement (making on time payments) the LL can go right court or marshal and have a 48 hour notice sent (eviction) without having to bring a new action/return to court.
A tenant in such a situation can file an order to show cause, but it is going to take some heavy lifting for a judge to agree to stop the eviction. Things such as funds to pay the back rent were coming from a third party such as a charity or the City (one shot deal), and have not yet arrived. However merely not having the money is not going to cut it.
Have sat in housing court (went with friends on two occasions for moral support) and was gobsmacked at how tenant after tenant in this judge's court was told " ... I don't have the authority to make a landlord wait several months for his money (rent)", and granted the eviction petition.
Can tenants game the system? Of course, especially if they get all lawyered up and or know how to go about it; but by and large NYS/NYC has listened to landlord complaints about the length of time it takes to evict non-paying tenants.
One of their major gripes was by dragging things out for three, four, five or whatever months it leaves them with vast amounts of back rent owed. All they can do then is get a judgment and then hope to place a lien on property/garnish wages. Sometimes that works, others it does not.
My biggest gripe with housing court is the numerous orders to show cause. The housing judge who is usually sympathetic to tenants, always gives the tenant 4-5 weeks to come up with the rent money. If the tenant can not come up with the money, they go to court and request an order to show cause to "explain" to the judge why they couldn't come up with the money. So the judge once again gives the tenant another 4-5 weeks to pay. If the tenant once again can't pay, the tenant would request an order to show cause. Before you know it, the tenant is 9-10 months behind on rent payments.
Housing court should be more straight forward and to the point. You either have the money or you don't. And if a tenant is claiming repairs need to be done, fine. Set a date for the LL to fix it but have your rent money in escrow to show good faith in your intentions to pay.
Have you ever tried to get your rent rolled back to the LEGAL rent when a typical landlord tried to subvert the law by overcharging a new tenant. Try keeping track of how long it takes to get your rent set at the legal amount.
The "legal" rent should be whatever the landlord and tenant negotiate in a free market. It should not be set by law.
It depends. I represent tenants. How long have they lived there. Are there children or seniors? Are they on welfare or section 8? Which borough? Which judge? Are they represented by an attorney?
Is the apartment rent regulated? Did the landlord accept a city loan in the 80s or something to make HUD regulations apply.
Do yourself a favor. Go to the self help center in housing court with your documents since this question is too complicated for a non attorney to answer.
I am an attorney, and I still need more information from you to respond.
My biggest gripe with housing court is the numerous orders to show cause. The housing judge who is usually sympathetic to tenants, always gives the tenant 4-5 weeks to come up with the rent money. If the tenant can not come up with the money, they go to court and request an order to show cause to "explain" to the judge why they couldn't come up with the money. So the judge once again gives the tenant another 4-5 weeks to pay. If the tenant once again can't pay, the tenant would request an order to show cause. Before you know it, the tenant is 9-10 months behind on rent payments.
Housing court should be more straight forward and to the point. You either have the money or you don't. And if a tenant is claiming repairs need to be done, fine. Set a date for the LL to fix it but have your rent money in escrow to show good faith in your intentions to pay.
You need a better attorney. *LOL*
Orders to show cause can be appealed IIRC, and the issue forced regarding if tenant can truly afford to live in the apartment.
Chronic late payment of rent is also grounds for a hold over proceeding in view of ending the lease and eviction.
Orders to show cause can be appealed IIRC, and the issue forced regarding if tenant can truly afford to live in the apartment.
Chronic late payment of rent is also grounds for a hold over proceeding in view of ending the lease and eviction.
Yes chronic late payment holdover gives you grounds to evict a chronic late paying tenant but the way it usually plays out is that the housing judge will give the tenant about a year probation to pay the rent on the 1st. If the tenant defaults and depending how liberal the housing judge is, the tenant can get evicted for defaulting or the judge can warn the tenant not to do it again and give them one more shot in paying the rent on the first. The latter is usually the case.
This whole NY housing court system is "SO F'D UP", this laws seem to protect the non paying tenant who just finds it ok to live off of a hard working tax paying person. My family and I have been back and farther to court with a tenant that has not paid rent in over 9 months and she just continues to get over on the system. Our last court appearance she got issued a judgement to be out by the end of the month(yes, we finally thought it would be over)..... but low and behold this good for nothing non rent paying,non bill paying, unemployed,poor excuse for a human being has now filed an order to show cause for more time, which now have me and my hard working, going to work everyday family to go back to court. What i'm really trying to wrap my head around is the fact you were asked to leave 9 months ago in which time you should have been finding you someplace to go, what is getting more time going to get you now that you have not acquired in the last month, and how do you feel comfortable as a grown ass person living off of someone else's blood sweat and tears. It is just so frustrating and at this point we could care less about the money she owes, we are never going to get it anyway and (she has already put us in debt) WE JUST WANT HER GONE AND OUT OF OUR LIVES!!!!
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