Landlord issue with move-out date

Long time lurker, first question, in need of expertise. My current lease ends on June 30, and I just signed a lease on a new apartment beginning July 1. So of course, now my current landlord says that he has prospective tenants who “have to” move in to my place on June 30 because “that’s when my lease ends.” However, I’ve been advised that legally, I’m not obligated to vacate before midnight on the night of June 30\. Normally I could be accommodating, but I have no wiggle room with my new apartment. Lease starts July 1, period. Same reason: current tenants of new place can’t leave before, and no one’s asking them to. If possible, I’d talk directly to the prospective tenants of my current apartment to see if we can make an arrangement on July 1 (as I’ve done with the new apartment), but my current landlord keeps pushing this issue. What are my rights here? Anyone have experience with this? Now just to be clear: If I have to move out and turn over keys on June 30 at 11:50 PM, and park a van on the street overnight, I will, because I those are the contracts I signed. But in that case, I’d think that my landlord’s new tenants should have to do the same. And I don’t think my landlord should have any right to promise a new tenant a June 30 move-in. Them’s the breaks, am I right? Thanks, Brownstoners. I do heart this blog.

grippy

in Landlord 13 years and 10 months ago

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FinanceGuy | 13 years and 10 months ago

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You have a property right to remain in the apartment until the end of your lease. After that you are a hold-over tenant and you have various rights and obligations mandated by statute that roughly speaking give you a property right to remain there until evicted and give the landlord rights to compensation for any damage he suffers. A landlord who attempts to evict you by self-help — before or after the expiration of your lease — is a criminal and will be treated as such by the law. Call 911 and report a burglar/forced entry if the landlord attempts to enter before you’ve returned the keys. The police will take it quite seriously. As fsrg points out, the legal process for eviction is slow and expensive, but you don’t hold every card — the LL could refuse to return your deposit, which means you’ll have to go to small claims court to get it back, which is a hassle and takes time. You will win in the end, however, unless he can show some damages resulting from your holdover. However, if you feel like being reasonable, property rights are the wrong way to go. Instead, why not ask for the new tenant’s contact info and offer to call them directly to see if there is some way to coordinate the moves so you get out early on the first and they come in later that day. Or you could try to do the same with the tenants of your new place on the last day of the lease. It shouldn’t be a big deal to coordinate local moves if people are being reasonable — everyone out in the AM, in in the PM on either the last day or the first day of the lease — and long distance moves usually are even easier, as the movers usually want a couple of days anyway. Just approach it as tenants doing each other favors rather than LL’s asserting non-existent “rights” to force you out of your home.

fsrg | 13 years and 10 months ago

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Your rights are that you have to move by June 30 – but if you dont, nothing anyone could do about it (LL would have to go to LL tenant court get a holdover proceeding, etc…) it would cost landlord thousands of $ and months of legal bills. Just tell LL you’ll give her key on July 1 and if she wants it earlier to give you a couple of bucks…Once LL consults with an attorney, she’ll see things your way – in NYC c 2011 – you hold virtually all the cards

donatella | 13 years and 10 months ago

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Do not move. Tell him that you too, have an equally compelling reason to stay in your apartment. A) You have a lease entitling you to this. And B) you do not WANT to move. And you have no apartment yourself. Do not get a U-Haul, do NOT do anything that would endanger your stuff by storing it someplace on wheels for a day. This guy has nerve. Just state that and if he has a problem with it, consult the lease which he signed. Unbelievable. If you have a problem, call 911\.

BrooklynButler | 13 years and 10 months ago

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$500 in cash and a confirmed hotel reservation at a decent place gets you out a day early.

Boerumresident | 13 years and 10 months ago

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Is there some reason why the other answers are not visible? All I see is alot of blank space before the fill-in box. Anyway, you are correct that you do not have to move out before the end of the day on June 30\. If your landlord wants to make it available before then, he or she should pay you to move out early.

Putnamdenizen | 13 years and 10 months ago

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I think in olden times the moving date was April 1 in NYC.

bkmatthew | 13 years and 10 months ago

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This phenomenon is an annual event in Montreal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_Day_(Quebec)) where most leases end June 30 and begin July 1\. They’ve even made a documentary about it. On moving day in Montreal it is not unusual to find all sorts of detritus around the streets, abandoned by people moving homes, in fact the city has to pay the trash collectors to go around and clean it all up. It is also not unusual to arrive at your new pad to find the previous tenants have left you with all sorts of stuff they don’t want. They’ve even made a documentary about it. Hire a U-Haul truck for two days, get some really good locks for it. Pack up your stuff on June 30, park the U-Haul at a motel overnight and stay there, first thing on July 1 move in. Either that or you negotiate with the people moving in to your current place and out of your new place such that the move outs happen on the morning of July 1 and the move ins in the afternoon.

slopegirl | 13 years and 10 months ago

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Just remember this is your home and the legal system feels the same way. The lease confirms your rights. Yes, sounds like you will have to be out by the end of the day on June 30, but certainly it’s not anyone else’s right to be in that apartment on that day. If the landlord wants you out early, let him make you an offer. You’re not being an asshole to insist on this. I once got “asked” to leave an apartment within two days because the owner had sold it and I had no idea what my rights were. This was in Florida and they have free attorney system which I used and after talking to a lawyer I felt SO much better asserting myself. You might be able to get some basic info for free by calling a housing lawyer. Then if things don’t settle down, you can say to your LL, talk to my attorney, so and so. Very powerful feeling. Now is probably a good time to read up about security deposit too.

landlord | 13 years and 10 months ago

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Sounds like you will have to be out by 11:59 pm on the 30th. At the same time you should have the right to access your new apartment moments later, at 00:01 am on July 1st. Pack and load your truck during the day on the 30th, go out for dinner and enter your new apartment at midnight. Good luck.

brikenny | 13 years and 10 months ago

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As a landlord myself, I can assure you that what your lease says is the binding on your landlord as well as the you as tenants. He (or she) has already outlined your rights in a legally binding contract. You get to stay until that last day. If he wanted you out earlier he could always offer to pay for a hotel for 2 nights while all of your stuff is in a truck, but he didn’t. He thought throwing in an earlier move-in date would help the deal with the new tenants but, without clearing that with you first, he created a problem. Now he wants to make that problem of HIS your problem. You can point out that the lease that HE provided AND signed says what it says. You have nowhere to go until the first, and you can legally stay there through the 30th. Likewise, I’m sure his new tenants signed a lease that starts July 1\. They should wait until July 1 unless the landlord makes some other accommodation for them, if not for you. If he disapproves, he has only his own bad business practices to blame. Best of luck with this situation, although it is pretty clear-cut.