[valnyc]

NYC tenant: I rented a room in an apt on Dec 1, 2010. My LL traveled right after renting the room and has been away for 2 months. Last January 30 she sent me an email saying she needed the room back on March 1 (which is crazy as we had verbally agreed 6 months.) She gave me a 30 day notice. I never acknowledged the receipt of the email. She will be back, physically present, Feb 16. Question is: 1) are emails a valid and legal form of eviction? 2) What will happen that it isn´t? 3) What exactly would happen, what steps would have to be taken on both ends, in case I decided to stay?
Thanks a bunch for the answers.

[ScottGem]

No an e-mail is not a valid form of eviction. That's because only a court can issue an eviction order. You are making a common mistake with equating an eviction with a termination of tenancy. The two MAY go hand in hand, but there is a order to the process.

Since you did not have a written lease, you were considered a month to month tenant. Therefore you can be given 30 days notice of termination of tenancy. Generally such notice needs to be in writing, but some courts might accept an e-mail.

It is only if you refuse to vacate when lawfully ordered to, that an eviction comes into play. So if you have not vacated by Mar 1, she then has to file for an eviction order with the courts to force you out. This requires a hearing. And since you indicated (in your other thread) that she is an illegal alien, she may be afraid of using the court system. If she does, the court may or may not accept the e-mail as official notification.

[Fr_Chuck]

No, you may not use email as the legal notice, The court for eviction will do legal service though process.

The landlord will be required to give previous notice before they file in court. Normally they will want formal notice,
Some may accept email for the purpose to communication with tenant.

[AK lawyer]

... 1) are emails a valid and legal form of eviction? ...

As ScottGem and Fr_Chuck told you, a written notice is required before a court eviction proceeding can be filed, and e-mail might or might not suffice as such notice. If I were the judge, I would find it to be a properly delivered notice to quit, especially if the landlord can prove that you in fact read the e-mail. Was an electronic receipt requested?

Or, to put it another way, will you be able to honestly testify that you never got the e-mail? Did it somehow, perhaps, go to your junk mail folder?

[valnyc]

Yes, I realize I used the wrong term. I meant "termination of tenancy" instead of "eviction notice". Yet, the questions remain the same. And, I understand that I am a month to month tenant as I do not have a written lease. And now I also understand that emails may or may not be acceptable (depending on certain circumstances, such as?) by certain judges. However, I can´t understand how email can be acceptable when you really can´t confirm receipt of electronic mail unless you have requested a confirmation. In this case, in theory, I could perfectly say I never received it. I might have had a problem with my email or it might have gone to my junk mail. Whatever. There´s no assurance that I received it. Seriously, there really isn´t. As for my doubts, if she gave me a notice in writing and I said I would´t leave then she has to file for an eviction. 1) What is a hearing and how long does that take? 2) How long would it probably take from the moment she filed an eviction until I would have to leave? 3) How would that affect my credit report?
Thanks

[AK lawyer]

... In this case, in theory, I could perfectly say I never received it. I might have had a problem with my email or it might have gone to my junk mail. Whatever. There´s no assurance that I received it. ...

But the question I am asking you is this: Did you actually read it (or enough of it to know that you had an e-mail from your landlord)? Not "could you have had a problem?" or "could it have gone to the wrong folder?". Did you actually get it? Because those are some the questions that you would be asked to answer under oath. As they will remind you, you don't want to lie under oath.

I believe the pertinent statute in New York is this:

" § 228. Termination of tenancies at will or by sufferance, by notice. A
tenancy at will or by sufferance, however created, may be terminated by a written notice of not less than thirty days given in behalf of the landlord, to the tenant, requiring him to remove from the premises; which notice must be served, either by delivering to the tenant or to a person of suitable age and discretion, residing upon the premises, or if neither the tenant nor such a person can be found, by affixing it upon a conspicuous part of the premises, where it may be conveniently read. At the expiration of thirty days after the service of such notice, the landlord may re-enter, maintain an action to recover possession, or proceed, in the manner prescribed by law, to remove the tenant, without further or other notice to quit."

(emphisis added)

An e-mail is, clearly, "written". (There is no requirement that it be written on paper.) And it has to be delivered to the tenant. If the LL receives a read-receipt, that's proof that it was delivered. But otherwise the LL has no proof that it was actually "delivered" (other than by asking the tenant, while hoping the tenant testifies truthfully, if put on the witness stand).

[ScottGem]

Does the landlord know you received it? I would not risk lying to the court, which you would obviously be doing.

Also, as soon as the landlord files for an eviction order this becomes part of the public record. So it could hit your credit report.

The hearing is scheduled as soon as possible. How long depends on the courts in your area. The hearing would be simple. The judge asks why you refused to vacate by the deadline. Unless you have a legally valid reason, he will issue the eviction order. This will give you a couple of days (not more than a week) to vacate or the landlord can have you physically removed.