Landlord in Upstate NY - Was not paid in six month

Landlord in Upstate NY - Was not paid in six month by Synth on June 21, 2021 @14:49

Orginally the tenants were late on rent for like a month and a half. They called codes on us for whatever reason and then we promptly after started eviction against them for non payment of rent. In court they dismissed the case against us because they said we were trying to evict them based on them calling codes. We then started to do some repairs on the property but it was a bit slow since we are short on money (we only owe this one property). In the past we always did whatever repairs they wanted but I guess they decided to drag it to codes in hopes of them being able to stay longer without having to pay money. As progress was being made the tenants started to harass the repair workers that came in. We would do these repairs ourselves but tenants kept demanding licensed people to do the work. Eventually repair guys stopped wanting to work on our property and the codes department dismissed the codes on the house since they were interfering with repairs. It was only like 4 things that needed to get fixed but tenants kept dragging this out. So now we are wondering if we should try to evict them again however it seems NY state put a pause on all evictions. Even for tenants that never declared a covid hardship which our tenants never did since they don't qualify for the program. I contacted the ny state bar to confirm this and they said that all evictions have been paused as a "practical matter". Meanwhile I can't get any money from new York's landlord relief program because tenants don't have a covid hardship. At this point we have no clue what to do. We still have to make payments on this home but are struggling to make ends meet. If anyone has some general advice or ideas would greatly appreciate it. Also we were always nice to these tenants, for reference we let them keep a dog despite never asking us and we telling them no pets allowed before they first moved in. We also allowed them to be late several times on rent before. Guess we should have noted these red flags before

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Re: Landlord in Upstate NY - Was not paid in six month by Garry on June 21, 2021 @16:52	[ Reply ]

Since the "code" people have stopped trying to enforce their codes on your house, you have NO reason to go over to your property. At this point, DO NOT CONTACT your tenants for ANY reason. Not by phone, text, email, or regular mail. If they try to contact you, DO NOT answer them back. Only answer someone if they are one of the "code" people, or a lawyer. You said you are short on money. You now have some big decisions to make. First, you must assume your tenants will never pay you any money for rent, EVER. You should contact an attorney who knows about evictions, once per month, just for 5 minutes, and ask him/her if NY State has lifted their pause on evictions. Once the pause has been lifted, have that attorney do the whole eviction process for you. Next, the really BIG decisions ------ Can you borrow money from friends, relatives, a bank, on your own home you live in, your car, OR should you just STOP making payments on the rental home, and let it go back to the bank?? You haven't said, but it sounds like you are newer landlords, and did not have enough backup money put aside to weather this pandemic if you had no income from the rental for a year. I'm sorry if that's the case, But there are thousands of businesses all over the country that have had to make these same kinds of decisions that you now have to make. Many businesses had to either borrow large amounts of money to keep going, or they decided to close up permanently. Good luck on your decision making.

Re: Landlord in Upstate NY - Was not paid in six month

Re: Landlord in Upstate NY - Was not paid in six month by Daniel (CA) on July 11, 2021 @18:12	[ Reply ]

You should have originally filed a non renewal of rental. and not based the eviction on any reason- non payment. you need to wait 180 days before acting on a tenant that makes a code complaint otherwise it is considered retaliation. the tenants may still have a cause of action to sue your for retaliation. keep the records regarding their refusal to cooperate with repairs in a safe safe place. it may be your lifeline. if your house or rental does not need a reason to evict ( if you dont have rent control ) then I would just keep track of the eviction moratorium end date. then serve a 30 or 60 day notice to move out for your tenant after the moratorium. then evict if they dont move out. this option should keep it simplest. If tenant uses the code reason again then use your evidence to show 3 parts: 1. it is not retaliation because you made or tried to make repairs. 2. code office report showing tenant to blame. 3. emphatically show that the eviction papers do not raise any reasons or issues for a just cause eviction and that you simply want to take your property in another direction. ( I think we're close to end of the moratorium) the above is your cheapest option.

Re: Landlord in Upstate NY - Was not paid in six month

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