I have a property in New York City. I have a tenant who is renting out my apartment and continues to have people staying there without my permission. I don't live in the building, so I usually don't know what's going on.

I found out he had this guy staying there without my permission for over 6 months. He told me he was a friend from Spain and had his own apartment in Manhattan. He was helping him out by letting him come in and clean 3 days a week. I started to seeing the guy way to often, different hours of the day. So, I confronted my tenant and ask for proof of his friends residence.

He gave me the run around, so I told him his friend had to leave within 5 days or I was going to serve him a 30 day notice for violation of the lease. Two days later, him and the guy got into a big fight and the guy told me he been staying there for 6 months and was paying him $200 dollars for rent. I asked him to put it in writing, but he refused and said he would be going back to Spain in 3 days.

Now, my tenant done it again. My tenant called me in June, stating his cousin is in Med-School wanted to stay until October. I told him she would need to pay a $200 a month, if she was to stay pass 30 days. NYC law states if you there over 30 days you're a tenant and would need to be removed through the eviction process.

So, I called him to see what he was planning to do, and he said she will be staying with a friend instead. So about a week ago, I had some workers come and fix the boiler and heard someone come in with keys upstairs. I said to my tenant we have a roommate, who did you give keys too. He said that was his cousin. I said, I thought she wasn't going to stay here, he said she just came the other day. So I said, can you introduce me.

I spoke to her and found out she's been there since June. I was so mad, I didn't even say anything to my tenant. My old tenant told me to watch out for him, because he wants my building. I need to be very careful, how I deal with this situation.

His lease ends in January, but he might fight to stay. I think it's best to start the action now, plus he has two months in security. I plan on serving him a 30 day notice before Nov 1st.

Do you think I'm doing the right thing? I'm just making sure everything is in order with the property, so he can't pull no tricks. I will not be taking any more payments for rent either.

I would love to hear your view point.

AlexisNYC

So much of this is going to depend on the wording of your lease.

I agree that your best bet is to give him notice to terminate his lease when it's up. I'm not sure why you want to give him so much notice. Are you saying his lease is up Jan. 1, or the end of January? Have you been in the apartment? Do you think there's any damage? I feel like you're giving up too much.

I would give him 30 or 60 days notice, whatever is required by your lease and NY law. And I wouldn't even get into the "guests" or lease violations or any of that with him. I would just tell him that you've decided to do something different with the property and need it vacant so you can remodel it... or something.

Just out of curiosity, why are you so opposed to his "roomates"? Do you pay utilities? Just concerned about normal wear and tear? Like I said, I'm just curious. I've dealt with this issue a lot, and have actually made some good money by charging for extra people. If he's a good tenant otherwise..?