I have been living with my grandparents since I was born. When the last one to die was my grandfather in April 2008, I stayed in this apartment not paying rent because the landlord wanted to start a court case over it. I'm 19 now, and it's taken this long for the court case to finally be established. The rent is 720 a month, and they are going to court to claim the $15,000 or so they say I owe. I never signed a lease after he died. No relationship or contract has been established. I do have rights to this apartment of course, the court knows this and so do the landlord's lawyers. What I want to know is, can I still take over this apartment without paying the 15,000? A holdover proceeding had been started which I failed to show up to and the eviction notice is here. I can go back to court to get a show of cause started and reschedule the court case, but I don't know if I should, if I am just going to be told I have to pay the 15,000 or leave. I don't have the money to give them, I only have enough to start paying monthly rent right now. I want to know if I can go to court to keep the apartment and not pay the 15,000.
No lawyer would help me on this, not even the free ones (too complicated).

----BTW - This is in Queens NYC, NY.
Add info - My grandparents lease ended in September 2008 a few month after he died.
I'm not eligible for a one shot deal either.
I have gone to free and pro bono legal aid who would not help me with the case, it was too risky and complicated for them, so I either get advice like this or just forget it.
If I do in fact have to legally pay 15,000 - I can't so my only option is to leave. That's all I'm trying to figure out right now.

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Originally Posted by currupt

If I do in fact have to legally pay 15,000 - I can't so my only option is to leave. That's all I'm trying to figure out right now.

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Hello currupt:

You're going to have to pay rent for the time you lived there. No court is going to rule that you can live there for free.

excon