[Hannah5680]

I found a studio sublet online in NY for 3 months. Upon going in, I paid the lease holder half months rent deposit and the first months rent.
2 days after I moved in, the super came knocking asking when I was going to pay rent. When I told him the lease holder will take care of it, he said the rent has not been paid for the past 3months. I also spoke to the landlord on the phone and he talked of how the tenant gave checks that bounced and had been making excuses for lateness for some time. The super scared me by saying that I could be kicked out of the apt that night and locked out with all my stuff being sold off.
When I called the lease holder, she said she's going to go see the landlord the next day and take care of everything. She claimed that it wasn't her that wasn't paying rent... but the other person who she subletted to live in the studio previously.

The next day the landlord called me again and said that she put it off again for 3-4days... I became very worried then that I would be locked out of the apt and took passports and important documents along with me just in case.

My friends kept telling me to move out right away because I became so stressed. So within a week, I found another studio and moved out. When I told the lease holder that I was moving out, she was upset saying how I could move out in such short notice... that she was taking care of the 3months rent the following Monday... I told her that I was cornered into a situation where I was about to be kicked out with the landlord calling me constantly which left me in a nervous state the whole week. I requested my deposit and the rent minus 1week back but because she had to pay that landlord accumulated missed rent that Monday, I told her I could wait on it awhile.
After 2 weeks of waiting without gettting my money back and not being able to get in touch with her(she claimed her phone wasn't working)... fortunately I had her email address and contacted her. She said she hired a lawyer and would try to take care of everything by the end of the month. So I waited again... at the end of the month, with still no contact, I emailed her again and her reply was that because of me moving out, her problems became worse and I had to be responsible for it. Which meant that she wasn't giving me the money back.
She claims that because the apt was empty and landlord couldn't get in touch with her (which means she never took care of the rent problem), so the landlord thought she was avoiding the problem and filed a small claim against her. Her lease automatically ended without getting her deposit back and this she blamed on me.
What should I do in a situation like this. If I wanted to file a small claim against her, would I have a chance? There's nothing in writing but a slip of paper with her sign that she received the deposit... (no date on it either). I do have record of the signed lease with the apt and also late rent notices.

[excon]

If I wanted to file a small claim against her, would I have a chance?

Hello Hannah:

You have an excellent chance of winning. You have NO chance of collecting (probably).

excon