Forum: Legal
November 20, 2009
severe dammage by tenants
I need a bit of help. The 3rd floor tenants are rent controlled.They rigged up a shower back in the past with out the consent of the previous landlord. I asked them to put up a shower curtain they did not The water damage ran all the way down to the basement causing the repair of joist @ 14,000. We,incidentally thought the leak was from a toilet that the previous landlord...however it was from their rigged up shower. Appertly the leak has gotten even worse. I had closed of my kitchen cabinets when I opened one to get a glass I discovered the cabinets were filled with black Mold and the wood was totally destroyed. I am now facing having to gut my kitchen (which I don't have the money for and having to repair their bathroom and do mold containment. I frankly want them out or at least held accountable for their destruction. I figure another 10,000. bringing up the cost to 24,000. Can I do this with out a lawyer...our lawyer is fairly expensive and they are rent control. HELP!
November 18, 2009
shredding papers
we're about to move and while going through our stuff we are uncovering lots of papers and documents that need to be shredded. This is more than our little personal paper shredder can handle. Can anyone recommend shredding services where we could bring them a few boxes or where they could come over to do the job.
November 11, 2009
Creating a condo
I just recently saw an ad for a "condo" being sold in my neighborhood. From the address, I know that it's a building that at some point was a 6 family. It's now being sold off apartment at a time. The ad states, "put in a kitchen and it's a great place to live". Now personally, it sounds like someone bought the building, couldn't finish the renovation themselves and is now trying to sell the apartments piece meal.
I'm just curious as to what you have to do to change a multi-family building to a condo? I'm surprised I don't see this more often.
November 10, 2009
Lease Termination Notice
I am 6 months into a 12 month lease; there is an issue with a creature living in the ceiling of the apartment that the landlord has not been able to resolve. As they have been unable to remove the pest and it continues to scratch loudly on the ceiling (it wakes me up at 2, 3 or 4 am) I would like to terminate the lease.
I called the landlord 2 weeks ago to discuss it and have left several messages since that time with no return calls.
At this point I am considering sending a certified letter giving the landlord 30 days notice that I will be leaving.
Does anyone feel that I will still be responsible for the remaining lease term?
Thank you
November 3, 2009
Condo Elections
Our present condo-board took over from our sponsor last Feb. 2009. The offering plan and by-laws call for annual elections on last Thursday in May. The present condo board is calling for elections for next May 2010. They didn't call for elections last May 2009 as the offering plan says.
It is my understanding, annual elections happen every 12 months, not 15 or 16 months. Is these even legal. Our Management company agrees with us but can not anything about it. Our by laws stipulates any homeowners can call for a an election meeting with 25% of quorum and need 50% of building percentage to go to elections, our building is still 50% owned by the sponsor creditors. What can we do?
October 27, 2009
Amending Condo By-Laws
In order to refinance the mortgage on our condo, Fannie Mae is requiring us to add 2 items to our condo's by-laws. Our board voted and approved the amendments, but I'm not sure what we need to do to make it official. Anybody know what the next step is?
October 23, 2009
Condominium Boards Abuse
We are a brand new building, We took the condo board from the sponsor in Feb. 2009 before the May election set in the by-laws. The condo board now want to extend their period from Feb 2009 to May 2010. They are self-serving, taking spaces from the building to storage their own bikes, not disclosing anything with homeowners from building finances, etc. We hired a lawyer back in 2008 when some homeowners got together to sue the sponsor for not finishing the building, Now the are assessed the whole building $34000 for legal fees (the lawyer just requested $2000 to start and at the most $8000 to complete the process) Not even explaining clearly why so much money. One person from the board mention that they are asking so much to at least get half since half of the units from the building, still belonged to the sponsor or his partners. Is this even legal, who can help us, it seems condo-boards have immunity to abuse homeowners. Please advise and help. I'm just about to walk away from my home.
October 1, 2009
Non-Payment of Rent
Greetings Brownstoners,
I am in the uncomfortable situation of having to deal with tenants who refuse to pay rent. There is nothing wrong with the apt. and their reasons are personal (rather not get into it here). So am considering non-payment proceedings.
But I have heard that courts favor the tenant. It seems like a clear case to me, but I'd like to hear what others have experienced.
Also, if anyone has an excellent attorney to recommend I'd greatly welcome the referral.
September 30, 2009
Adding to/Breaking lease
I just spoke with the woman who answers the phones for my building (I have no idea who she is and have never met or spoken to the owner--I rented the apartment through a rental agent), who is about as unfriendly as they come. She claims I cannot add anyone to my lease. And then she hung up on me! I'm about to resign for a second year, and my boyfriend is moving in, so obviously he'd like to be on the lease and have record of having lived there for his credit score, etc., but the receptionist claims it's policy that no one can be added to a lease. What if a single tenant gets married? I don't understand the policy. Has anyone ever heard of this kind of thing?
Also, assuming I sign this lease alone, my boyfriend and I might want to get out of there before the lease is up so that we can sign one together. What usually happens when you break a lease?
September 25, 2009
My Copy of Lease Unsigned
My landlord delivered me two copies of a lease renewal with addtional rider items. I signed them both and returned them the next day. I got one back but it's not signed by the landlord. What is the legal status here? Can I move out and claim I'm only month to month from the previous lease as the landlord didn't sign my copy? There was no change in rent or other means of determining that new terms have been accepted.