Tenant not paying rent in NYC, who pays legal fees

[katthii]

My dad has a tenant who moved in in July, bounced his first rent check and has not paid on time since then. He bounced his December check which was just paid to me last week, and is currently late for January and February. We have sent him a letter and he replied via phone with a promise to pay, and has not. My dad is 86 lives alone with an aide, is on S.S and relies one the rent to pay his bills. At this point, I must find an attorney to handle this as painless as possible. My question, is are their attorneys who do this with no (or minimal) charge to the landlord and all attorney and court fees passed on to the tenant.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

Recommendations on where to find an attorney would also be helpful.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

It is often not necessary to hire an attorney to handle the eviction process. Although the process if more complicated in New York City, many landlords chose to handle this themselves.

Attached is a review of the eviction process in New York City. It is written via a "tenant view" but it gives a good understanding of the steps toward eviction:

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

Gail

 

[katthii]

Thanks Gail. The issue here is that I do not live near my dad and work full time. It would be very difficult to handle the court appearances, etc.

Kathy