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Rhoda1 · Oct 9, 2009, 06:05 AM

I am a Landlord with a problem tenant. I plan to give her 30 day notice to vacate (she does not have a lease), but she already told me she needs several months to find a new place. I really do not want to go through an eviction. I would like to send her a 30 days notice and state that if she is not out by the required time and if she chooses to stay past that time, her rent would be increased.. can I legally do that? This is in New York State. Thank you so much in advance.

ScottGem · Oct 9, 2009, 06:42 AM

Since she has no lease, you can tell her the terms of the lease, but not every month. The problem is you can't have your cake and eat it to. You can't tell her to vacate but increase the rent if she stays.

So you either tell her that effective 12/1 (or whatever the first day of the rental period 30 days after the notice is since its 10/9, you can't do it as of 11/1) her rent will be $x.

You can telling her to leave by 12/1, but that there will be a surcharge if she stays beyond that.

Rhoda1 · Oct 9, 2009, 08:22 AM

Hi ScottGem,
Thanks for your answer... What I have done is send her a 30 day notice a week ago that she has to be out by the end of November... but she already said that she needs more time and I don't want to start eviction in December since most judges won't hear eviction during the holiday season... so in order to motivate her to move out by the end of November, I want to increase her rent if she stays into December---or do I send her another letter stating that there is a surcharge to the rent rather than a rent increase??

ScottGem · Oct 9, 2009, 08:38 AM

How did she inform you she needs more time? If it was verbal, I would tell her verbally, that you do not want to have to start an eviction proceeding, if you can avoid it. But if she stays beyond the deadline you are going to have to charge her a surcharge.

Follow that up with a written notice that you will be imposing an escalating surcharge of $x starting 12/1. Each month she remains in the apartment the surcharge will increase 10% (not the whole rent, just the surcharge).

I'm not positive this fly if she takes you to court. But the worst that can happen is you don't get the surcharge and you have to start eviction.

excon · Oct 9, 2009, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by Rhoda1

I am a Landlord with a problem tenant.

Hello R:

What we DON'T know, is what caused you to classify her as a "problem tenant". If NOTHING happened and you wanted to raise the rent in the normal course of business, then you could...

But, this situation smacks of retaliation, and, legally speaking, you can't do that.

So, I'd take the opposite approach. You SAY that you don't want to evict her, but you're setting yourself up for a confrontation in court. She's told you that she needs more time. She's NOT going to pay your inflated rent. I can see where this is headed, even if you can't.

So, instead of penalizing her for staying, why don't you reward her for leaving? You certainly can't be accused of landlord retaliation if you do that, and it might actually work.

excon

Rhoda1 · Oct 10, 2009, 06:37 AM

Hi... Does it matter why she is a problem tenant? She is smoking in an apartment that is strictly no smoking--her boyfriend is a convicted dealer and several times a day, cars pull up, someone goes into the apt. for 5 min and leaves--of course, I can not prove it but I have the right to cancel a tenancy just the same as she could give me 30 days notice if she wants to leave. Paying rent on time is not the only requirement of an appreciated tenant. She has already told me she is not leaving cause she doesn't have time to look for an apartment and I do not want to go through an eviction so I thought if I raised the rent when she is a holdover, she would think twice about staying...

s_cianci · Oct 10, 2009, 06:52 AM

So, instead of penalizing her for staying, why don't you reward her for leaving?

Had to spread the rep, ex (can't quite figure out why since it's been a while since I've tried to rep anyone), but giving the tenant an incentive to leave is an excellent idea and will no doubt save a lot of time, expense and hassle in the long run.

excon · Oct 10, 2009, 07:52 AM

Originally Posted by Rhoda1

Hi....Does it matter why she is a problem tenant??

Hello again, Rhoda:

Yes, it does. Otherwise I wouldn't have brought it up. Landlord retaliation is ILLEGAL. As I said above, raising the rent in the normal course of business is just fine and perfectly LEGAL. But, you CANNOT raise the rent in RETALIATION for bad tenant behavior.

Now, I'm not saying that THAT is what's happening.. I'm just saying that by doing what you're doing, you give her an argument to use if SHE decides to sue you, or a defense to use when you sue her.

excon