Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York
Withholding rent deposit when no written lease was signed
Last month I had agreed to rent a one bedroom studio apartment at the amount of 750 per month. No actual lease was signed or an oral agreement for a rent of a year, only a handshake and an understanding that I would be renting the place with a receipt given. Moreover, the one bed room studio is illegally updated to a 2 bedroom apartment to acommodate his mom. He informed me of his mom's period short stay; however, i've found out that it was for few months, not a few days like he said. During the period while I occupied the apartment, she created nuisances like watch TV at 4am and reprimanded me over everything. In addition, the landlord frequently came to the apartment and congregated with his wife and their friends, along with their children to occupy my tv for video games. Being constantly disturbed, I decided to leave, and now he refuse to give me back the deposit of $1450 which was 2 months of rent. Will I be reasonably successful in my case against him in a small claims court?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Withholding rent deposit when no written lease was signed
You cannot have a verbal lease for one year
in NY
Your lease will most likely be characterized
as month to month
As such, you probably did not give proper
termination notice, namely, 30 days, given
prior to the start of the last month
Further, I hear no mention of condition of
the property, which is the prime reason for
security deposit. Damage and cleaning
come from the security deposit.
Hence, you may owe one months rent for
lack of proper notice, and a portion of
the balance for cleanup and damage
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