7 Important Tips on Landlord and Tenant Laws in New York State
1) My landlord said that he cut off the services of my house because I complained to him about some of the necessary repairs in the apartment. Can he do that?
Answer: No. It is illegal for a landlord to cut off home services.
As part of New York State law, landlords are required to provide a safe and livable environment for their tenants. In addition to taking appropriate security measures, the provision of home welfare services is also part of the provision of a "safe" and "livable" home, which homeowners must take the necessary measures to ensure these conditions. Except in special cases where a court order sets out other conditions, you should be aware that your landlord cannot personally decide to turn off your electricity, water, or heating system.
In fact, New York City property owners are fully obligated to provide hot water to their tenants 365 days a year at a minimum temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
If the landlord interrupts your welfare services or fails to provide these services to you properly, he or she has not performed his or her duties and responsibilities as a landlord.
2) My landlord threatens to evict me. Does he have the right to do so?
Answer: No. It is illegal for a landlord to evict a tenant.
Has the landlord changed the locks of your tenant home? Has the landlord thrown your clothes, books and furniture out of the house? If your lease has not expired, the landlord cannot evict you and tell you that you have to leave. It is important to note that it is important to check the lease before signing it.
In this case, there are special conditions under which the landlord can evict a tenant. These special conditions are as follows:
If the written lease between the landlord and the tenant has expired,
If the tenant refuses to pay the rent to the landlord,
If the tenant has seriously violated the provisions of the lease.
Even when the above conditions are met, the landlord must summon the tenant to court, win a lawsuit between himself and the tenant, and receive a court order from the court called a "tenant eviction guarantee." .
Beyond all these preconditions, the landlord's methods of evicting his tenant from the house are illegal. A letter given to the tenant by the landlord or landlord's attorney is never enough to evict the tenant. If the landlord's method of relocating you is through the methods mentioned earlier, which include cutting off your home's welfare services or replacing your door lock, you should know that this is illegal under New York City landlord and tenant law. .
Also, under the new rules, landlords can no longer use the reason "owner uses the house for themselves." Under the new rules, tenants who have lived in the same place for more than 15 years are not allowed to be evicted by their landlords, and at present, landlords can only claim, with certain exceptions, that one of them Their units need as the main residence called "owner use".
3) My landlord does not do the necessary repairs to the house. Can I pay her a lower rent?
Response. A tenant can probably refuse to pay rent to the landlord under certain conditions.
It is reiterated that the landlord has a duty to provide a livable, safe and hygienic environment for his tenants. These terms do not change according to a tenant's preferences.
Usable, safe and hygienic conditions for a residential home mean that the landlord must properly manage the security of the building as well as the maintenance of utility pipelines, heating systems and electrical wiring.
While refusing to pay rent is a real right to apply through a tenant, it should only be done in very serious cases. If there are actual repairs that need to be done indoors, the tenant must notify the landlord. In this case, the tenant should ask the landlord when these repairs will be made. If the issue is an emergency, the tenant should notify the landlord so that they can make these repairs as soon as possible and as a matter of urgency.
If the landlord is slow to respond or simply does not make this emergency repair, send a letter to your landlord asking him or her to make the repairs. If your landlord does not take any action at this stage, you may want to take action to fix the problem or make these emergency repairs using the method called "Repair and Deduction of Rent".
If the landlord is slow to respond or simply does not make this emergency repair, send a letter to your landlord asking him or her to make the repairs. If your landlord does not take any action at this stage, you may want to take action to fix the problem or make these emergency repairs using the method called "Repair and Deduction of Rent".
In fact, the "repair and deduction from rent" method means that you do these repairs at the cost of what you normally pay as rent. So, instead of paying rent, you do the repairs yourself and deduct the amount spent on emergency home repairs from the usual rent. If you are planning to do this as your next step, you need to make sure that your landlord has the necessary knowledge about what you want to do. The important point here is that you should give your landlord a chance to make these repairs.
If you have decided to take this practical route for emergency repairs to your home, make some necessary estimates before doing anything. You should note that doing repairs at home does not mean upgrading your apartment to a nightclub or building a penthouse on the roof.
Except in cases where failure to repair your home, such as a toxic sewer leak from a sewer pipe, is essential to your health, do not try to make the necessary repairs immediately by refusing to pay rent. For example, if your home power cords are unplugged or something like this has happened, you should notify your landlord immediately in a serious note.
4) I asked my landlord for my deposit and he said that he had spent this amount of the deposit, because he had the legal right to use this amount of the deposit to make the necessary repairs at home. Doing house repairs is something that has not been done in the apartment where I live. Can he do that?
Response. Definitely not. The housing deposit is an amount owned by the tenant.
Apart from repaying rent that has not been paid by the tenant or damage to the home, the landlord does not have the right or privilege to be able to spend the money as a tenant's security deposit. It should be noted that the money that the tenant gives to the landlord as a security deposit still technically belongs to the tenant.
Under the new rules, the deposit in New York City is limited to one month's rent. The landlord must present a receipt of the deposit amount to the tenant, which includes the name and address of the bank where the deposit is made, as well as the amount of the deposit.
Receiving a security deposit receipt ensures that you, as a tenant, know that your money is in a locked box under your landlord's bed, which is something you can not even be sure of. Whether or not this amount exists is safely kept in a bank.
You should note that this security deposit must be deposited in a separate account. Therefore, the landlord should not and cannot mix your deposit with his own personal money.
After the expiration date of the lease and the time to vacate the residence, the tenant has the right to request the amount of his security deposit with the amount of interest from the landlord. Under the new law, the security deposit must be repaid to the tenant within 14 days of the eviction. The landlord is obliged to return the amount of the security deposit to the tenant, regardless of whether the tenant has specifically requested it in this case.
5) I have been paying $ 1,000 a month as rent over the past year. Suddenly, the landlord asked me to pay him an extra $ 500 a month as rent. Shouldn't the landlord have informed me that he has increased the rent?
Response. Yes - Under New York City rental rules, landlords must notify their tenants 30 days in advance if they plan to increase their rent by 5% or more.
With the passage of the new Housing Rental Act, tenants in regularly rented apartments will be largely protected from significant increases in rent.
The increase in rent for a tenant is based on the development of the value of the property and is limited to 2% per year, and now, the increase in rent is limited due to the renovation of an individual residential unit, and with methods that in the past It did not exist in New York City, it will be set.
Whereas in the past landlords were able to increase their rent by up to 20% when a home was vacated, or when a home was removed from the rent fixation list when the rent was less than a maximum. New York City's new rental law now prevents landlords from doing so.
If you have signed a lease for a flat-rented apartment and the rent for your home is less than the legally set rent, your landlord can no longer lease your home when the lease is extended. To the full legal level.
6) My landlord sometimes enters my apartment. He doesn't even knock on the door and it really bothers me. Does he have the right to enter the house because it is his property?
Response. Definitely not. A landlord cannot enter property owned by the tenant without proper notice to the tenant.
If you do not have a problem with your landlord accidentally entering your home, you do not need to read this part of the article. But if you are considering the fact that a person has access to your home at all times and enters your home intermittently or perhaps even most of the time without prior notice, you should be aware that your landlord Can't do that.
Given that the landlord owns your home, you may reluctantly think that he or she has the legal right to enter your home at any time. But be aware that this is not the case at all, and he has no right to enter your home without your knowledge.
Like many other things a landlord can do, he or she can only enter your home in certain circumstances (emergencies). If there are any repairs that need to be done or if the landlord needs to show their property to potential landlords, he or she should tell you logically. If the landlord's entry into your home is listed on the lease, he or she does not need to logically inform you about the entry.
A homeowner can only enter a home without prior notice. Entering your apartment outside of these conditions means that the landlord comes to your house to harass you.
7) I told my landlord that I was going to move my friend to my rented apartment. Now, a month later, he tells me that I can not have a roommate, because it is illegal and he must leave my house immediately. Is that right for him?
Response. No. The tenant can definitely move a roommate into their own home.
If you have decided to have a roommate, you must notify your landlord within 30 (30) days of moving to your home or at the landlord's request. In general, if you are not looking for a roommate to make noise in the house or listen to loud music at 3 o'clock in the morning, it is a good idea to have a roommate.
In fact, the tenant is allowed to transfer first-class family members and an extra person and dependent children to their home. It is up to the tenant to decide which of these people will pay part of the rent. But because there are laws to prevent crowds in a home, the landlord may limit the number of people a tenant can live in. However, be sure not to confuse this with a house sublate.
The apartment you rent is another matter and requires the permission of your landlord. Otherwise, you have to live in your apartment to share it with a roommate or family. Basically, a flat apartment means renting the apartment to a sub-tenant. In most cases, your landlord cannot unreasonably deny that you rented your rented apartment to a sub-tenant.
