Hi Flora,
I'm a bit surprised and uncertain as to why you've chosen to waste time (and your sanity) responding to the nonsense in this blog. Many of the posts appear to originate from a bored and/or belligerent younger crowd. In any case, you'd do best to take the responses with a grain of salt, and pay attention only to those that offer productive suggestions and sound advice.
It seems as if your tenant is legitimately mentally unstable - to what extent, I'm not sure.

Here are my two cents:
1) You could consider the $220 and paint job a loss (and lesson) and appear as appeased and non-confrontational as possible, until your tenant becomes less irate. If this is successful, tell him that family members will be moving in when you undergo your next operation. (This is a good, neutral and unarguable reason to vacate a premises, as long as the required notice is given). Or you could offer some other health-related reason that would be legitimate in his eyes.

2) Go the other route - send him a letter addressed from a lawyer. There is always a possibility that he is 'playing chicken', and will change his attitude when he sees that you are serious about taking him to court.

Posted by: andrea43 at July 10, 2008 2:04 AM in response to tenant problem

Housing court decisions don't scare tenants.
Ny is pro tenant and the judge will give 6 months for the tenant to vacate.
What is worse after the time is up tenant can appeal the decision in another court,
You can be out close to a years worth of rent.

Another bad scenario is the tenant can file a bankrupcy with no lawyer required on his part. On top of the appeal.
Bankrupcy automatically stops creditors including landlords dead in their tracks.

In ny it is scary to take tenants with no credit or background check.

So many bad laws for everybody in ny.

Creativity seems to be king involving legal matters here.

Posted by: Ysabelle at July 10, 2008 10:31 AM in response to tenant problem

Does anyone else think that Flora and her tenant deserve each other?

Posted by: guest at July 10, 2008 4:41 PM in response to tenant problem

I'm having a similar problem but in my case, the tenant's father co-signed the lease. The apartment is in Brooklyn, the co-signer is in Philadelphia. Should I send a rent bill to daddy?

Posted by: guest at July 10, 2008 5:08 PM in response to tenant problem

Let me correct myself, the tenant's father signed a guaranty of lease. Can I send a bill for the unpaid rent to the father? Anyone ever dealt with this?

Posted by: guest at July 10, 2008 6:27 PM in response to tenant problem

To guest 6:27pm

I think if push comes to shove the guarantor is responsable to pay if you desire to take him to court to collect unpaid rent.

The purpose of the guarantor is legally to guarantee payment if the tenant defaults.

In other words the tenant has no credit or bad credit which is why there is a guarantor.
It doesn't matter where the guarantor is. The law still applies.

Posted by: Ysabelle at July 10, 2008 7:42 PM in response to tenant problem

Sure you can - read the guarantee - it says so! (That was the whole point of getting the guarantee, no? Use it now - don't wait.)

But if by similiar problem, you mean you are arguing about stupid stuff like painting the apartment, or reimbursing for stuff that you led the tenant to believe you'd cover, then the practical advice would be to fix the problem first - going to daddy won't fix your communication with the tenant.

Posted by: guest at July 11, 2008 2:00 PM in response to tenant problem

Sometimes tenants wihthold rent (whether legally entiled to or not) to induce the landlord to act to fix something - it's the only leverage they've got. And if the landlord needs the money (like to pay the mortgage) it can be a quicker and easier way to get repairs, though potentially risky.

I had to threaten it once - be uncharacteristcally late with the rent - in order to get the landlord to focus on the fact that my bathroom ceiling was moldy and caving in and dangerous due to water damage. Letting him know weeks earlier about the problem didn't get his attention - not getting his rent check on the 1st the following month had a way of focusing his attention and getting him (absentee landlord) to get someone in to fix it, once I explained I'd be happy to resume paying promptly once he did that. I wouldn't do it for small stuff though - but I was pretty sure I was within my rights given the scope of the problem and various dangers (mold, ceiling falling on me in the shower.) I knew it wouldn't come to court stuff though - he knew I'd pay if he focused and met his responsibilities (I always paid on time), and that if I didn't, I had a legitimate complaint that he needed to focus on. Worked quited well.

Posted by: guest at July 11, 2008 2:09 PM in response to tenant problem

2:09- you're lucky it worked because legally you are still not entitled to withhold rent without going to court first. Had he taken you to court it could have resulted in the court deciding against you and even allowing him to evict you. It happened to a friend of mine who took it upon herself to act without getting court permission and it backfired, badly.

But in your case it sounds like your landlord probably has a lot of trouble on his hands with other tenants (if your apartment was allowed to get so bad, there must have been others, right?) and probably figured the smart thing to do was fix the problem before it went to court. Good for you though- I'm glad it worked out.

Posted by: also guest at July 12, 2008 10:35 AM in response to tenant problem