Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Re: Non-leased renters dispute

At best, you are a month-to-month tenant, which only entitles you to 30 day notice to vacate. Since you have no written agreements, your responsibility is for the final month of the lease regardless when you vacate (mid-month or the end).

I suggest you try to negotiate an earlier move with some credit for the days you have vacated, if his brother can come in earlier.

Walter

Re: Non-leased renters dispute

The question here is what agreement do you have with your apartment mate. If you have a written sublease agreement with your apartment mate it will control. If you have an oral sublease agreement to sublease your portion of the apartment for less than one (1) year, the oral agreement is enforceable. If the oral agreement is for a longer sublease term your agreement is not enforceable.

Under any circumstance you have, at a bare minimum, created a month-to-month month tenancy for which you are entitled to a month notice prior to termination. You are without question entitled to the return of your portion of the security deposit from your room mate after you vacate the premises (enforcement/collection is never guaranteed). If your apartment is located in New York City it will take your room mate a significant amount of time, not to mention money, to evict you as a holdover tenant. He cannot even begin the eviction action until after the expiration of the 30 day notice period and he must have you formally served with legal notice that you are a holdover tenant after the end of your sublease term but before the commencement of the Holdover Proceeding. Your apartment mate is legally prohibited from locking you out of your apartment without a court-issued warrent of eviction. Keep documentation that you live in the apartment, and demonstrating that you have been paying rent, accessable to you (outside of the apartment ie. in a work file cabinet) for use in the event that you are locked out by your apartment mate and need to enlist the support of the Court or the police. If your apartment mate commences a holdover proceeding at a court within New York City to have you evicted and you do not default, it will probably take months to get a final warrant of eviction (assuming that your apartment mate does everything correctly) even if you lose your trial. The process will take longer if you are represented by counsel. This knowledge should help you negotiate with your apartment mate from a position of strength. Good luck.