me and my roommate lived in the shitty building in harlem ny for almost year. our lease ending the end of july.
we had really ugly and disresponsible company manage our building,no one fix our mailbox,no one fix our leaking sink,we don’t have super in the building,anything ugly you can think about. so we absolutly moving out this month.
we trying to let lardlord keep security deposit as last month rent since we know it’s hard to get it back because he is a slumlord for sure,even the apt is in completely rentable condition. but the slumlord called us in an ugly accent and sent us email said if we failed to pay before monday he will commence legal action against both of us and our guarantor Once legal is commenced it will stay on both our SSN for the next 20 years.(can he do that?)
we were awesome tentants,we never failed to pay rent on time,but should we pay that slumlord while he is harassing us, or if anybody has any idea? plz help!
they said SD could be the last month rent before we finally signed lease last year. now they telling us no since we moving out. but it’s ont on the paper.
we promised them the apt will be in rentable condition and if anything we have to pay when they doing inspection, we will,my roommate talked to them already,they were ok,now the slumlord said no,wtf.
becides the harassment,he was really not responsible the whole time we lived there.have u ever experience bad management for your apt?

I am currently renting a room in East Harlem in New York City. I moved into the room on July 18th, 2008 (paid half month rent on July 16th), then August’s rent on the 25th of July. The building is above an internet cafe and only has 2 apartments in the building; the landlord’s and my roommates/mine. Yesterday I received a call from my roommate claiming that she had complained about my having 2 guests in my apartment, simply because one of them had been sitting on the staircase for 5 minutes (by the internet cafe, not within the grounds of the apt building), and one of them had gone in/out of the building a couple of times after 12pm in the afternoon. My roommate has lived here for 6 years, but hasn’t had a lease for the past 2 years. I was informed by my roommate that the landlord wants me out of the apartment by September 4th (she didnt even speak to me). Does she have grounds to unofficially evict me? Also, isn’t there a specific time frame that she has to give me to leave the apartment? What should I do?
So, if the landlord did not give me, or give my roommate to pass along to me, a written notice of eviction, I do not actually have to leave?
Also, my brother and friend were over for one night, while my other roommates were not home. I haven’t had any other guests aside from that night since I’ve been in the apartment. My roommate claimed that problems arose out of the landlord complaining about our other roommate’s boyfriend staying over frequently, and his 2 friends from switzerland staying in his room while he was out of town.

Hi
I just moved into an apt in Harlem NYC about two weeks ago. Today I discovered that the apt two floors down from me is completely uninhabitable. It has a padlock on the door and my Super randomly showed it to me when I asked about the padlocked door.

Turns out the former tenant (who died over a year ago) who lived in said apt for over 20 yrs paid only $150/mo rent, and my landlord refused to renovate it and apparently isn’t planning to do so anytime soon.

This apartment looks like something out of a movie. The walls are torn up, there is exposed plumbing, leaky pipes, sagging floors, rotten wood, mold, rust, no sinks, etc etc and it even has the former tenant’s furniture and personal belongings still inside. In other words, it is completely uninhabitable I would not be surprised if it harbors rodents, roaches, bedbugs, etc.

The fact that my landlord would allow someone to live in an apartment only half as dilapidated as this one DISGUSTS me. I have no tolerance for such slumlord-money grubbing behavior.

My question is can I use the condition of this apartment & my landlord’s neglect as grounds for breaking my lease? Or at least can I blow a whistle that will require him to fix it?

I am not sure what recourse I have since the unit is technically not my unit or is it a part of the building’s public space.

I just do not want to live in a building that obviously harbors such a blaring health hazard or one that is owned by a person who would have the mindset to leave an apartment in that kind of condition to fester.

I am currently in the Bronx, but am looking for a place to rent/lease for a year in Manhattan, starting Sept/Oct 2007, preferably either in
1. the upper west side or
2. morningside park area,
3. riverside drive. Is it possible to get a 1bedroom apt around 1200-1400 on the west side? (preferably not harlem and not inwood please!)… i would want to stay away from brokers if possible, but what are some good ways to start my search? websites? newspaper ads? i have been looking on craigslist but found nothing there available from W60th to 100th streets! any help or tips would be greatly appreciated!

I am considering moving from San Diego to New York City in a few months. I am looking for a one bedroom apt, and rent budget at about $500-$1000 a month. I am interested in the East Village, Bronx, Harlem, Queens in no particular order. Is that wise to make such a move due to the winter coming? Also, what area has the best transportation lines? I have saved up $3,000 for living expenses to start. Is it enough? I’ve never been to NY, so any insight would be nice!