Ask Me Help Desk - Can I sue Landlord over Illegal apartment?

Ive been living in an illegal apartment for 3 months, this being the third month. It has been nothing but hell honestly, the landlord and her family are horrible, they're loud, they bang on the ceiling at us for WALKING but they have what sounds like a party downstairs all night and day and we lose sleep over it. When we call to ask them to tone it down they make excuses, or tell us basically if you don't like it, leave. So we are, but when we tried to force us to let people into our apartment to see it while we were here, we said plainly ' no '. There is no lease, and she said she had a right so we called the town to find out. Found out it was an Illegal apartment. I can hear her and her family talking badly about us all day through the floors, I can hear her complaining about me from my window, every day. I haven't gotten ANY mail in 2 months even though I had the address forwarded to here, they claim they haven't seen anything, but there have been packages I haven't received that have been tracked and say 'notice left' but I have seen none and she claims she hasn't either. She has held my mail before, and made me open it in front of her because it had my mothers first name on it. It drives me crazy and just makes me nervous.

So basically, what I am asking is, Can we sue the landlord to get our rent money back? Someone told us we could But I just want to make sure.. Ive called a couple of places but they weren't sure.

I live in Lindenhurst on Long Island. Any help would be appreciated..

I don't think you can get your rent money back but I am sure you can get something for the problems she has put you through.
It is a federal offense to take somebody else's mail but I don't know how you can prove they took it. I definitely would pursue this in court even if for nothing but to get her illegal apartment shut down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azelyn

Ive been living in an illegal apartment for 3 months, this being the third month. It has been nothing but hell honestly, the landlord and her family are horrible, theyre loud, they bang on the ceiling at us for WALKING but they have what sounds like a party downstairs all night and day and we lose sleep over it. When we call to ask them to tone it down they make excuses, or tell us basically if you dont like it, leave. So we are, but when we tried to force us to let people into our apartment to see it while we were here, we said plainly ' no '. There is no lease, and she said she had a right so we called the town to find out. Found out it was an Illegal apartment. I can hear her and her family talking badly about us all day through the floors, i can hear her complaining about me from my window, every day. I havent gotten ANY mail in 2 months even though I had the address forwarded to here, they claim they havent seen anything, but there have been packages i havent received that have been tracked and say 'notice left' but i have seen none and she claims she hasnt either. She has held my mail before, and made me open it infront of her because it had my mothers first name on it. It drives me crazy and just makes me nervous.

So basically, what I am asking is, Can we sue the landlord to get our rent money back? Someone told us we could But i just want to make sure.. Ive called a couple of places but they werent sure.

I live in Lindenhurst on Long Island. Any help would be appreciated..

NY is tough on illegal apartments - yes, I'd go to Court for the return of your rent money. The Court won't enforce an illegal agreement (which your month-to-month rental is) and so I believe she will lose.

It's Small Claims, inexpensive and quick.

Yes, they can not collect money in most areas on a illegal apartment. So yes, you may be able to sue for all of your rental money back. I would also ask for the cost of moving expense ( I doubt the judge will give it, but it is always worth asking for)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

yes, they can not collect money in most areas on a illegal apartment. So yes, you may be able to sue for all of your rental money back. I would also ask for the cost of moving expense ( I doubt the judge will give it, but it is always worth asking for)

I should have added that NY does not allow a person to gain financially out of illegal activity - and this apartment is illegal and so I see the money coming back to the tenant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

NY is tough on illegal apartments - yes, I'd go to Court for the return of your rent money. The Court won't enforce an illegal agreement (which your month-to-month rental is) and so I believe she will lose.

It's Small Claims, inexpensive and quick.

You can always report them to the IRS even if you have no proof you paid rent!

I am having almost the same problem! I have been living in an apartment in Patchogue, Ny for three years now and just found out the apartment was illegal. I always thought that if it had two ways to get out that it was legal, did not know that you had to have a separate electric meter to make it legal, that is my stupidity. In any case, the apartment that we are in is all screwed up, which the LL's have admitted was the fault of their contractor, the dryer does not vent outside, it vents into the kitchen, which has warped the cabinet over the stove. They had a flood about 4 months ago in the apartment, we cleaned it, paid to have it steam cleaned and everything. We tell the LL that we will be moving and he asks for two months rent, so we told him that we were focusing on April 1 but if something came up sooner we would have to leave. So something came up for March 1, last night he says that we are only giving him 11 days notice and that he is not giving the security deposit back. My sister is a paralegal and she told me to sue in Small Claims for the security and moving expenses. I'm not trying to screw the guy, just want my security back.

**Two months notice, not two months rent**

I'm having a similar problem. I moved out of my old apartment because my old landlords were away most of the yr on vacation and it made things difficult for me to get things repaired or handle concerns with the apartment. They frequently needed to come into my dwelling and I had had enough so I moved into another apartment that I later realised was illegal. This landlord is slow to repair things, I have a water leak in my living room as well as an open drain in the floor which I believe I am getting a large amount of my waterbugs from. Things in the apartment that were poorly and hastily constructed by the landlord himself tend to fall apart quickly such as towel racks and toothbrush holders and toilet paper hangers. They have insisted that I would not need an airconditioner over the summer due to the coolness of the basement but when I told them it was over 80 degrees in the apartment they shrugged me off as if I didn't know what I was talking about in order to persuade me into not getting an airconditioner. We don't have separate meters and he charges 900 dollars a month for a small one bedroom (the bedroom not much bigger than the size of a California king size bed so its not really a "bedroom") and there is no window in the bedroom. To make things worse, the insulation on the door is terrible and I've had to insulate it myself which wasn't enough and he complains to me if I use an electric heater because he doesn't want to pay the electric for it, yet I'm freezing down here and he doesn't seem to care" Finally, for six months now I've an infestation of fruit flies that I couldn't kill off. I tried bleach in the drains and fruit fly traps from amazon.com which ran me in excess of 50 dollars and I've had no luck. I noticed they had them upstairs too and so I asked them to call somebody and when I did I was not only shrugged off, but then he proceeds to get aggressive with me and start looking around my apartment for things to complain about and calling me a liar, saying that I use the electric heater all day, and then proceeds to speak in italian swearing up a storm to some stranger I've never met. This goes on and on and on and they've threatened to throw me out over stupid **** before so its time that I find out what my rights are and how I can screw them over in return because they're obviously interested only in my money, and not in being decent landlords, and when I make simple requests I'm met with hostility and indifference. I don't have the money to move and the rent is costing me half my months salary as it is. Should I go to court and take this matter to a higher level or should I start fighting on my own for what I deserve?

If it's an illegal apartment you have no recourse but to move - you know it's illegal and you don't want to be a co-conspirator.

Are you saying you want to keep living there if the problems are corrected?

As far as how to screw them over - this is a legal advice board and "screwing them over" is not in that category.

You can move, sue in Small Claims Court for your moving expenses, claim the apartment is uninhabitable and you are being forced to move. They CAN'T win nor can they claim against you because it's illegal.

The apartment will then be closed down.

Thanks. I will definitely do that.

Hi - to all especially the woman living in Patchogue - you must have rented the same apt I did (just joking). I've been through it all during the past 10 years. I've rented one illegal basement apt on Canaan Lake, in Patchogue - BIG MISTAKE! I was flooded out from the lake water, not once, not twice, but three times. They had to drill trenches in the cement floor to allievate the problem and I lost everything - furniture, clothes, we had mushrooms growing up through the carpet and tons of black mold (which I later found out is toxic). These scumbags tried to counter sue me for damages! Ended up going to court and of course I won - not only got my security deposit back, but another $1000 to replace some of the furniture. I've also rented another 2 basement apt. (both illegal) and I understand about your noise problem. Both landlords did nothing but make a racket (fighting screaming etc.). Now I have another water problem because I ended up near Canaan Lake (about 1 mile away). The landlord makes the usual excuses, saying that there was never a water before I moved there. Yeah right. I'm moving yet again. My word to advice to you - never rent anything within 1 mile from a lake - you're bound to end up with water, esp. if it's an illegal apt. And, right before you move out - call the Town of Brookhaven Building Dept. and report them. You may get a month's free rent out of it.

You cannot get your rent money back as you did in fact live there, illegal apt. or not. You can inform the internal revenue about the rent you paid them. I'd bet my house they didn't report the income. You can also visit the Village hall and file a formal complaint. You can also let them in to inspect. The owners will get cited & fined.

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Originally Posted by ken4379

You cannot get your rent money back as you did in fact live there, illegal apt. or not. You can inform the internal revenue about the rent you paid them. I'd bet my house they didn't report the income. You can also visit the Village hall and file a formal complaint. You can also let them in to inspect. The owners will get cited & fined.

You are incorrect in NY and several other States. The landlord CANNOT collect rent on an illegal apartment. The money can and would be refunded to the tenant - I've seen it happen more than once.

The owners will also get shut down.

Please post the source of your information/advice that the tenants have to pay rent for an illegal apartment.