Hello,

I rent an apartment in New Jersey. My boyfriend and I have the one-year lease with landlord, and we are subleasing other rooms in the same apartment to two other roommates. The building consists of two apartments, where the landlords' family resides one of the apartment.

Our lease with the landlord ends on Dec 31st 2006, and our subtenants lease also ends on the same day. However, one of the subtenant does not want to leave the apartment, claiming that he has the right to stay.

The problem started on October. Initially, He wanted to be the next leaseholder, since our one-year lease will be ended this year. However, he changed his mind, and when the landlord offered him to signed up the lease for 2007, he rejected it.

The landlord have already found other people live in the apartment, and they have already signed on the lease. Now, he is complaining that he has the right to stay.

We have already broke the lease by signing up the notice of evacuation with my landlord, thus there is no way for us to extend his lease. The problem is that we have not gave him a written 30days prior notice with his signature on, although verbal notification was given many times.

Today, we called police and asked what I am supposed to do, in order to settle everything down. The police officers told us that since we have not served the notification of breaking the lease with his signature on, we are the one who is wrong. In addition, he has the rights to stay at the apartment. They also told us the we have to go to the court.

Then, after the police left, he talked to the landlord, and then the landlord told us that he offered settlement; the condition is paying 1000 dollars to him by deducting from the 2000 dollars deposit (four of us paid 500 deposits each).

Since there is no way that we are deducting deposit from another subtenant, my boyfriend and I are losing 250 dollars each. Moreover, there is an scratches to be fixed in his room, and we need to cover it too.

My questions are;

1. Should I sign on the settlement agreement?
2. Does he has the right to take the deposit money that WE gave to the landlord? (he signed on the lease with us, not the landlord.)
3. If I want to go to the court, is there any way we can win the case?
4. Does it costs more to go to the court?

Based on what I learned on the web, NJ state law states that if the building is owner occupied, and consists of fewer than three apartments, then the tenant can be evacuated for any reason. So, I don't think he has the right to stay though.

Since I'm doing hourly-paid low life job, 250 is too painful. Besides, my work permission will be expired soon, so I have to go back to my country on March 2007.

Yes.. It was our mistake not serving the written notice, but nobody have told us until the police officers came over! I just cannot believe if we really need to pay that much money. We shared everything equally, we did not complain when he was occupying my property, we cleaned up every mess he made... etc.etc. Isn't a law for helping good people?

Thank you very much for reading this long, unorganized paragraphs.

If anyone can give us an advice, I would be really appreciated. He is asking for the signature on next Tuesday, so this is kind of emergency problem and I cannot find any help.

I am not an expert but I do own rental property. I move the tenents belongings out and leave the burden of suing on them. Once their belongings are not in the premises it is up to them to prove why they should be allowed to move back in.

If they are allowed to stay and you have to go through the lengthy eviction process it can get costly and ugly.

Remember this is a civil case not criminal meaning you can move his belongings out and let him whine to the police only to be told there is nothing they can do and he will need to take you to court.

The property owners may be in a better position to deal with this problem, it would seem they should be motivated to move the squater out.
Get some REAL legal advice.

I AM NOT A LEGAL EXPERT, FACED WITH THE SAME SITUATION ON MORE THAN ONE Occasion I JUST MOVED THEM OUT KICKING AND SCREAMING ALL THE WHILE LISTENING TO "YOU WILL HERE FROM MY ATTORNEY" never did!

Hi, newaukumdon

Thank you so mush for replying. Even though you are not expert, any comment/opinion from the experienced person would be very helpful. I appreciate it.

I think... I will be ended up losing money, because my boyfriend and the landlord really don't want to bother with this court stuff, and they would rather give up money for settlement.

Even though, the problem guy has already found the place to move out, and doing this by knowing that we are all afraid of going to the court, there would be no choice for us...

Thank you very much for your advice

I really appreciate the rare response. On a venue where criticism reigns yours is refreshing.
Regards and good luck,
Don

Your first mistake was not getting the notice of evacuation in writing. Your secoind mistake was asking the police for legal advice. Police handle criminals not civil issues.

But the bottom line here is I don't think this blackmailer has a leg to stand on. Yes, I think he's committing extortion. He knows the landllord has new tenants ready to move in, so he thinks he can hold him up. He knew that the lease was expiring and that you were not renewing. His only choice was to renew directly with the landlord or move. Since he rejected that option he has no right to stay.

However your problem is in getting him out. I don't believe that in any court action that he would win. But it might take a court action to get him out. The key that I'm not sure of is who would be responsible for doing that. I think it would be the property owner because your involvement and ability to lease the premises is ended. He becomes a trespasser the moment the lease ends.

I would tell the landlord to play hard ball with him. Have the landlord tell him that if he is still on the premises he will be considered a trespasser and be removed. Also that the landlord is considering filing an extortion charge against him. Finally that, if he is not out, the landlord will sue him for interfering with the new tenants moving in.

Do not sign the settlement.

Hello, ScottGem

Thank you very much for positing. Your advice really makes sense.

I talked to the landlord today that we do not have to pay anything to him. But the landlord said that the reason why he is paying the settlement money is because we are not able to make him leave the apartment, and if he is still staying the house by not paying the settlement and ended up going to the court, then it is our resposibility to pay for the upcoming people's rent plus his lawyer fee.

So, we made the deal to split the 500 settlement fee into three, and my boyfriend and I are paying two third of it. ScottGem, your advice "Do not sign the settlement" is absolutely right, I think. But sadly, this is what happen today and nobody wants to talk about this anymore, and nobody wants to fight for it. Even though, we have the chance to win, we cannot afford the lawyer anyway.

Again, thanks very much for your advices. At least I know what would happen a court action happens. Your answer is helpful.

Unfortunately, you were caught between a rock and a hard place. And I can understand your actions. But its not over. I would consult an attorney. I think you have a case to take him to small claims court and regain your money. A contract signed under duress can be invalidated. And his extortion was duress.

Its up to you whether you want to pursue it, but I think you would win. But then you have the problem of collecting.