I have a tenant and he rents the lower level of my house. He gets his mail at his parents house and has nothing to prove he lives here except for the key to the door. He recently went on Workers Comp. He is having a problem paying the rent. I do not feel its my problem and he agrees. I've told him he must pay by the 15th of the month. He gave me a third of it in good faith but still owes me the balance. He is month by month. There is no lease, this is not a legal apartment. I live in NY, on Long Island.

I told him I am not his 'lender' and I feel if necessary he should 'borrow' money from someone other than me.

How can I handle this?

Well NY on Long Island, is this a "legal" rental, do you have it zoned as a multifamily renter and approved as a rental. You have said no, The reason I ask this, if this is not a legal rental, actually he can sue you for all the rent he has paid you back. So when you rent a illegal rental you have trouble taking anyone to court for an eviction.

So what do you do, be nice , ask him to leave, maybe pay him some money to help with his moving expense, be his best friend till he moves out.

So basically you are stuck, while you could file for an eviction, he can counter sue for every penny of his rent to be paid back, since to evict him in court you will have to admit he is renting, and how much he is paying, so you will testify to every thing he needs to use in his own law suit

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Originally Posted by Ponytail

I have a tenant and he rents the lower level of my house. He gets his mail at his parents house and has nothing to prove he lives here except for the key to the door. He recently went on Workers Comp. He is having a problem paying the rent. I do not feel its my problem and he agrees. I've told him he must pay by the 15th of the month. He gave me a third of it in good faith but still owes me the balance. He is month by month. There is no lease, this is not a legal apartment. I live in NY, on Long Island.

I told him I am not his 'lender' and I feel if necessary he should 'borrow' money from someone other than me.

How can I handle this?

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You say it's not a legal apartment so you are not legally entitled to ANY rent. In NYS if it is an illegal apartment and you take him to Small Claims you very well likely will be ordered to return any rent he has paid to date. He also can sue you for the return of any rent he has paid and report you to IRS - which I have seen Judges recommend. I trust you claim the rent on your income tax.

I think your choices are to accept his terms OR evict him and bite the bullet. At the moment he has the upper hand.

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Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

well NY on Long Island, is this a "legal" rental, do you have it zoned as a multifamily renter and approved as a rental. You have said no, The reason I ask this, if this is not a legal rental, actually he can sue you for all the rent he has paid you back. So when you rent a illegal rental you have trouble taking anyone to court for an eviction.

So what do you do, be nice , ask him to leave, maybe pay him some money to help with his moving expense, be his best friend till he moves out.

So basicly you are stuck, while you could file for an eviction, he can counter sue for every penny of his rent to be paid back, since to evict him in court you will have to admit he is renting, and how much he is paying, so you will testify to every thing he needs to use in his own law suit

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There is no proof that he's paid me anything. What if he were a friend living in my house, and I asked him to leave and he didn't, isn't that trespassing? Don't I have the right to tell a 'guest' to leave?

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Originally Posted by Ponytail

There is no proof that he's paid me anything. What if he were a friend living in my house, and I asked him to leave and he didnt, isn't that trespassing? Don't I have the right to tell a 'guest' to leave?

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Sure, but he's not a guest. You already said he's not a guest. Of course, it appears you intend to lie in Court about that.

So - go to Court to try to evict him and both of you can bring your proof and see which one of you the Judge believes. See if he's smart enough to figure the apartment is illegal.

Or call the Police and tell them he's trespassing and ask them to throw him out - which I'm pretty sure they won't do.

Or read my other post.

If I were to have posed this question, without you knowing he's a tenant, would your answer be the same?

Yes.. damned right!! I would lie if necessary just the same as he would 'steal' from me. I am providing a service, a place for him to live. I believe I should be paid for that service.

If he is paying you "cash" are you depositing that money, he can require you provide back statements to prove his case. But it will be your word against his, and any other witness that may know about this rental.
But now you end up with who the court will believe, and of course he could find this post, trace your IP address and prove your case

You've got a good point and I never discredited either of you. I knew those answers all along, but I was hoping to find out something in my favor. Guess not. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I'll just have to hope he gives me the rent, and then eventually graciously ask him to leave. Never had a problem before with failure to pay the rent on time. I don't expect problems from him, but he is extremely late.

He paid his rent

However, in truth, lying doesn't get anybody anywhere. I am a firm believer, if you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything.

As for posting anything, I agree, it was stupid to write that! Next time, I'll just let the party that wanted to know, do it for themselves on their own computer.

I will inject this, however, living on Long Island is so difficult. They are slaughtering us with taxes compounded by everything else. Nobody cares about us blue collar workers who are trying to earn an honest living, working 100 hrs a week!! Then its foreclosure because all the equity is spent putting money in the pockets of some people that truly don't earn it. Nice guys do finish last. It's very sad.

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Originally Posted by Ponytail

However, in truth, lying doesn't get anybody anywhere. I am a firm believer, if you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything.

As for posting anything, I agree, it was stupid to write that! Next time, I'll just let the party that wanted to know, do it for themselves on their own computer.

I will inject this, however, living on Long Island is so difficult. They are slaughtering us with taxes compounded by everything else. Nobody cares about us blue collar workers who are trying to earn an honest living, working 100 hrs a week!!! Then its forclosure because all the equity is spent putting money in the pockets of some people that truly don't earn it. Nice guys do finish last. It's very sad.

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I thought this was YOUR apartment. You should advise your friend that until the apartment is legal there are going to be problems.

All I can say is - welcome to New York State! Long Island does not stand alone in all of this. The foreclosure signs in my area are frightening -

Hello Pony:

Nahhh, you got your rent. You've got your illegal apartment... You've got a tenant who is paying (kinda) rent that you're not legally entitled to. You don't have the cops beating down your door. You don't have the city fining you for your illegal apartment. You got good FREE legal advice from this board.

Nahhh, I think you're doing fine.

excon

As a fellow LIer, I can sympathize with your predicament. But breaking the law is not the real answer. By renting an illegal apartment you have put yourself between a rock and a hard place. If you declare the income, you risk the municpality coming after you for operating an illegal apartment. If you don't declare the income you risk the IRS on your back. In either case you put yourself at the mercy of the tenant.