Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New York

How do i recover a lease if the lease i had is lost?

Hello,

I live in a 2 bedroom rent controlled apartment with my mentally disabled brother. On a bad day for him when I was at work he decided to rip up and throw away a lot of important documents including my lease. Now it seems I'm going to be going to court for being a nuisance and ill need my lease in case I need to show it in court. Is there any way to get a copy or something?


Asked on 5/21/07, 11:10 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Lissa Luke Luke Law Offices PLLC

Re: How do i recover a lease if the lease i had is lost?

You may not need your lease at this point unless the landlord is alleging that you are not the rightful tenant of the apartment. In fact, the landlord may have the burden of proving that you are the proper tenant to sue. So the Landlord would have to provide a copy of the lease to the Court. You can obtain a copy from the legal documents that the landlord submits to the court. Also, you can simply ask the landlord - as the landlord should have an original copy. The only problem with this is that you may be alerting the landlord that you no longer have a copy of your lease - which may work against you. There are a few other issues that I need clarification on before I can proceed. For example, how do you know that you are a rent controlled tenant as opposed to rent stabilized tenant?

Lissa Luke. Esq.

This information is provided for educational purposes only. This response does not establish an attorney-client relationship with this firm. An attorney-client relationship with the Luke Law Offices will only be formed once this office has been formally retained as counsel or has recognized such a relationship through a written document.

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Answered on 5/22/07, 12:47 pm


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