Lease Extension Denied
My lease is up at the end of the month (jan 31). rent stabilized, been there for years. I’m moving on Feb 28 so I requested a month extension from the management company (one of the big, huge, evil ones…) and just found out it was denied. So what are my options? I can renew…
My lease is up at the end of the month (jan 31). rent stabilized, been there for years. I’m moving on Feb 28 so I requested a month extension from the management company (one of the big, huge, evil ones…) and just found out it was denied.
So what are my options? I can renew the lease for another year and sublet for 11 months (after I move out)… or some people are telling me I can just stay there?
What do you folks think is my best course of action? I’m happy to pay rent for the month of Feb–as I definitely need to stay there.
From what I understand, eviction proceedings take a long time, but will there be any ramifications if I just stay there and send in my normal rent check?
Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!
Thank you!
modsquad = goodolboy = feudalists?
Oh please, goodoleboy. I guess I have a difference of opinion with you on this one.
Legally, things are a touch more on the side of the LL.
But morally/ethically, in my view, things lean toward the tenant here. Particularly given he isn’t out to screw anyone and will be PAYING for the courtesy of living in his own damn home until he moves.
You’re probably one of those who also view underwater homeowners who default on their mortgages as being ‘immoral’, while the banks who refuse to renegotiate mortgages, and who, by the way, made mega bucks and were free to do whatever they wanted to do in order to maximize profits, are on the right side of ethics and morality.
Escape From The Planet Of The What, I wouldn’t be so quick to notarize and certify in this case. the OP is essentially bending the law or depending on how you look at it, see goodoleboy above breaking the law. Best he just use the weakness in the system.
Strange to bring up morals and ethics in a simple case like this. As a matter of business courtesy and, maybe, ethics, LL should have an obligation to accommodate tenant’s reasonable requests; legally, of course, not.
Legally what you can do, and morally/ethically what you can do are 2 different things. I’m sure you can go around and do millions of things that legally may be hard for anyone to ever call you on (from cost vs benefit analysis). but who cares right, it just some evil landlord. nevermind property rights or respect for others. if the landlord wants you out, then it seems like within reason (your lease is up, and they probably offered for you to renew it 6 months ago, at which time you probably could have asked for a 1 month extension. or better yet, you could have signed the original lease for 13 months) they should be able to have you move. whatever fact/circumstance you have (probably want some better place that isn’t available for 1 month) should be your own problem.
if they cash the check for february, they are basically saying “ok you can stay this month”
worth a shot!
Make sure you send all your communication notarized AND sent certified. They are then legal documents that can be presented in court if it came to that, and the management company knows that and HAS to take you seriously and act accordingly once you state your best intentions. Just to cover your butt, so to speak.
Or, you may want to play their game.
You could relatively easily sublet your place as a ‘furnished’ unit (if you left a couch and mattress behind) and charge – I think – up to 20% over your legal rent. So you’d make a small chunk of change every month. You’d just need to be certain you know or trust the subtenant you choose. Landlords of this kind can’t legally deny a tenant a reasonable request to sublet. The only time I think they can is if they plan to live in the unit, or take the unit over for personal/family use, which, with an ‘evil’ company of this size can’t be the case.
I can guarantee you that they WANT you to leave. They will likely swoop in like vultures to make ‘capital improvements’ to get the place closer to a market rent, and they will get a vacancy allowance as well when/if you leave.
Management companies often deny courtesies to rent stabilized tenants, at lease in cases where the tenant is paying below market rate. Their policy seems to be: “the worse we treat you, the sooner you’ll leave.”
Nothing personal.