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Landlord & Tenant Practice
Representing landlords and tenants to protect and enforce their numerous rights.
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Landlord & Tenant Practice
We represent tenants and protect and enforce tenants’ numerous rights concerning the services to which they are legally entitled including their right to remain in their apartment unless ordered out by a judge of the Housing Court after a formal trial or court proceeding. Tenants have the legal right to receive all essential services including heat, hot water, security, proper plumbing, painting, plastering and all necessary repairs.
These rights are granted to tenants pursuant to Real Properly Law Section 235-b. Which provides that all rental agreements in New York whether written or oral are deemed to include a warranty of habitability that the rented premises is fit for human habitation, will be maintained by the landlord and that all essential services will be provided.
If the landlord breaches this warranty of habitability, the tenant has the legal right to withhold his or her rent and to commence legal proceedings commonly known as an HP action to obtain repairs against the landlord in court. The text or the Warranty of Habitability Statute, Real Property Law Section 235-B appears below.
Due to the fact that withholding of rent can result in the landlord commencing an eviction proceeding against the tenant, a tenant should not withhold rent without first meeting with and retaining an attorney. Additionally, a landlord may not force a tenant to vacate his/her apartment unless they are ordered out by a judge after a trial or hearing.
There are basically five types of eviction summary proceedings:
- Nonpayment proceeding: In this proceeding a landlord attempts to evict a tenant for nonpayment of rent.
- Holdover-No Fault-Proceeding: In this proceeding , a landlord is claiming that it wants possession of the tenant’s apartment. This type of action does not allege that the tenant engaged in any wrongdoing. This action can only be maintained in connection with non regulated tenancies where there is no lease or where a lease expired.
- Holdover-Fault Proceedings: These are proceedings in which a landlord claims that its tenant violated a substantial obligation of his/her tenancy, i.e. Subleasing, illegal activities, washing machine, pets, etc.
- Holdover – Owner Occupancy Proceeding: In this type of proceeding a landlord claims that it is not required to renew the tenant’s expiring lease and has the right to evict the tenant. This is because the landlord claims that he/she intends for the premises to be occupied as the landlord’s or the landlord’s immediate family member’s primary residence. To maintain this type of proceeding, the landlord must first serve a factual Notice of Non-Renewal of Lease during the period 90-150 days prior to the expiration of the tenant’s lease.
- Holdover Non-Primary Residence Proceeding: In this type of proceeding a landlord claims that it is not required to renew the tenant’s expiring lease and has the right to evict the tenant. This is because the landlord claims that the tenant does not occupy the apartment in question as his/her primary residence. To maintain this type of proceeding, the landlord must first serve a factual Notice of Non-Renewal of Lease during the period 90-150 days prior to the expiration of the tenant’s lease specifying the basis for the landlord’s allegations.
Landlord & Tenant Practice Areas
Here are a list of our Landlord and Tenant practice areas:
Non-Payments, Holdovers, Appeals, Article 78s, Marshal’s Notices, Orders to Show Cause, Non-Primary Residence Proceedings, Owner Occupancy Proceedings, Overcharges, Subleases, Pets, Jury Trials, Injunctions, Leases, Lease Negotiations, Residential & Commercial, Demolition Cases & Buy-Outs.
New York Basic Tenant Rights
Evictions
It shall be unlawful for any person to evict or attempt to evict an occupant of a dwelling unit who has lawfully occupied the dwelling unit for thirty consecutive days or longer or who has entered into a lease with respect to such dwelling unit or has made a request for a lease for such dwelling unit pursuant to the hotel stabilization provisions of the rent stabilization law except to the extent permitted by law pursuant to a warrant of eviction…
Tenant Rights
I owe my landlord rent and the landlord has demanded that I pay the rent. What should I do? This depends on whether or not you have a lease and upon your reasons for not paying. Remember that the landlord must go to court and get permission to evict you. You cannot be evicted without the court’s permission. The demand for rent is not a court paper and is not an eviction case. Generally, the landlord must make a demand for rent…
Bankruptcy Can Stop Evictions
There are situations in which a tenant who is facing eviction may file for bankruptcy protection. By doing so, the tenant may be enabled to restructure the tenant’s debt to his creditors including the landlord and avoid eviction. There are basically two types of bankruptcy filings affecting individual tenants. Most people think of Bankruptcy as the filing of a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy which eliminates many types of debts and may require a liquidation of the individual’s assets.
Figeroux & Associates are very experienced Tenant Rights Attorneys and have successfully represented tenants in hundreds of Landlord and Tenant Court eviction proceedings. We offer free consultations. Please contact our office at (888) 670-6791 to schedule a free consultation. To schedule a consultation online, please complete that request by booking an appointment on this page.