Forum Archive

I have a question about the apartment I live in in Brooklyn. The facts: first of all, technically (according to the lease) it is an “artist’s loft” and is NOT rent-controlled or rent-stabilized, so those laws do not apply. Second, there are 5 of us that live here, yet only one of our names is on the lease (i’ll call him John). john has lived here the longest and he signed a 2 year lease first in 2006, and renewed it last year. third, technically it is a “share” not a “sublet” since he has lived here with the 4 of us for most of the time. so every month he writes the check to the LL and we write checks to him. we recently found out that he is gouging us quite badly. john misrepresented the total rent on the loft to us, so while he writes a check for $3000 to the LL every month, he collects about $2900 from us. he’s not making a profit from us, but he is only paying $100 rent/month while the other 4 of us pay about $700. also, about 6 months ago he quit his job in brooklyn and “moved” to miami to be with his girlfriend. he left all of his furniture here, and just took personal things and clothes. so since then, he has “subletted” (since now he is gone) out his room to another roommate–and charges him $800/month. so now john still writes the check to the LL for $3000/month but the 5 of us write checks to him that total $3600 (4 of us @ $700/mo and the new subletter at $800/mo. so he is making a profit now. john has only come back once since he’s been gone–for 2 weeks, and will not tell us when he plans on coming back again, or for how long. he’s obviously doing this to perpetuate the great deal he has. my question is–do we, as “roommates” or sub-tenants have any rights to pay less/receive damages? again it is technically an “artist’s loft” not an “apartment” so i believe different rules apply, and also it is not rent stabilized or rent controlled. also, because john is the only one who signed a lease, he’s in privity with the LL, and when i asked the LL for a copy of the lease, he didn’t reply to me and instead went directly to john and told him someone was asking to see the lease. john never let me see the lease (but i sneaked and looked at it quickly one day) and that’s how i figured out the rent was way lower.

is there anything i can do?