Problem with landlord, eviction process in ny?

[modernline2009]

My father in law, my pregnant wife and myself rented apartment on month to month basis in Queens, NY last summer 2009. Our neighbors who rent apt above ours have wooden floors and 6 children making lots of noise every day until 12am. My father and I have to wake up early to go to work, my wife can't relax because of that loud noise. We spoke to our landlords many times and asked him to help us to deal with this problem but unfortunately he didn't do anything about it. We have roaches in our apt, we requested exterminator but our landlord simply ignored it. During the winter we didn't have heat for weeks because it took landlord long time to repair the heating system. My wife gave birth a few months ago, we still don't have window guards even though we requested it many times as well. Since my wife become pregnant, she quit her job and it became difficult to pay for the rent. To increase our income we let our friend to move in with us. We confirmed that with our landlord who verbally agreed on this, however 2 months later the landlord decided to give us 30 days notice of $100 rent increase due to additional expenses related to gas, water and electricity usage.(our landlord pays for that). He said that he will increase rent or the new tenant must leave. Our friend decided to leave on his own because he couldn't take the noise coming from our neighbors. We decided to withhold the rent payment and called NYC to make complaints about our problems with landlord. We received 30 days notice to leave the place. We searched for a new apt but we couldn't find anything that we could afford. We need more time to find a new place. What can we do to extend the process in court, how can we defend ourselves? Please help us.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

The attached is an excellent review of the process of eviction through the New York Housing Court.

Remember that a landlord cannot evict anyone. Only a court can do that. If you fail to remedy the situation (i.e., either pay the owed rent or leave) by the end of the 30 day notice, the landlord may file for an actual eviction through this court system. You will receive notice of a hearing date in which you would be able to present your side of the case:

http://www.nycourts.gov/courts/nyc/housing/pdfs/tenantsguide.pdf

Gail

 

[mightymoose]

You don't have to be out at 30 days. If you are not out then the landlord can take you to court and obtain an eviction and you will have opportunity to explain your problems to a judge. Once the judge orders the actual eviction then you need to be out by the date given or you can be forced out.

If you are withholding rent payments then you are giving the landlord a valid reason to evict you. It sounds like your best option is to move, so keep looking. If you need to buy some time you can always make your rent payment.