Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New York
Harassment by Landlord
I moved in on May 1st of 2003 as a guest of an existing, established tenent(my Friend)He was Given Verbal Permission by the owner of the dwelling to house me in His room.There are 4 rooms with one common kitchen and bathroom-I have been paying rent to him and he in turn payed the owner of the building. This basement dwelling is considered an Illegal Dwelling or illegal Subdivide based on the # of rooms and no Fire exits(Barred Windows) Also Tenents pay in Cash with no receipts and no lease of any kind. need to stay a couple of months if possible. The Incident that I'm most concerned with though, is one where the owner(a Woman) came in Screaming at me to leave and then bullied her way into the living room of the dwelling. She screamed Racial comments such as, ''WHite Bastard'' and ''White Trash'' and said she would wait for me and follow me around the neighborhood telling everyone that iwasn't paying rent. When I left to go to the store she pointed me out to neighbors and screamed outside of her house ''White Bastard''. Can I File a complaint in Housing court for racism or Bias and also Can I buy Myself some time to Move Out(to save a couple of checks from my new job) .
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Harassment by Landlord
This is an exciting environment! This landlord may not be entirely rational or able to conform her behavior to the law. I would try to move as quickly as possible because of that reason alone!
The harassment gives rise to a number of actions, none of them a defense to eviction. However, she will have difficulty evicting you if every transaction is in cash and you claim that you did/do pay rent. It becomes your word against hers and her un-businesslike procedures will not help her with any judge.
This landlord has many problems, and your rent seems like a very small one. You can stay as long as you like, but do you want to? This is an unreliable, volatile person. good luck.
Re: Harassment by Landlord
You probably can, and you also most likely can make it very difficult for her to evict you�..however, we would need some more information before making a complete and proper determination. You are welcome to contact us for a free consultation.
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