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Yes i know i am in a predicament no need to repeat. Any advice would be nice. I know i wont make this mistake again.
I think I should clarify - not sure if it makes a diff or everyone understands.
I rented out the entire home. I met with them, checked their credit, know where they work, but I just failed to check with their old landlords.
The basement is illegal in the sense of an illegal basement conversion (has a bath and kitchen) I bought it in this condition and didnt know I had to change it. We have a lease contract and speaking to my lawyer we should win in a suit for their backed rent payments and eviction. The problem is that they are threatening to call an inspector forcing us to pay the fine and revert the bathroom/kitchen. Also the idea of angry tenants ruining the place is a problem as well.
I think you are going to be reported by those tenants in a matter of time...if i wanted payback i would pick an unexpected day for the inspectors to come abd they would be forced to move out since its a illegal apartment and you can laugh at them in the cold(there is no 30 day routine) and you can laugh at them in the cold street. The reverse side is that they have temporary families to live with. Correct me if im wrong, read this on tenant.net where tenants of the apartment don't get time to move, but get kicked out right away.
I am not a landlord or a lawyer but it seems to me that you might have an out depending on exactly what the lease says .It sounds to me that you did not rent them 2 separate units,just one. You rented them a house. So you haven't really rented them an illegal apt. You rented them a house that might have an illegal kitchen in the basement but it seems to me that unless the lease actually says something that implies an upstairs unit and a separate downstairs unit, you might not be totally screwed. And you didn't rent separate units to separate parties.If you had actually drawn up different leases for the different spaces with stated rents for each unit you would definitely be screwed....but what you indicated sounds different.Don't you have a right to have xtra kitchens and bathrooms in your house if you want to?Just a suggestion.
Get yourself a 6'5" "eviction notice" to persuade them that they are no longer welcome in the neighborhood...ok I'm just joking...but if it were me I'd find some creative ways to convince them it's in their best interest to move without getting myself into trouble in the courts. Perhaps a private investigator can dig up some dirt on either of them that you can use against them. Especially if one of them is cheating on their spouse or guilty of some sort of insurance fraud. People like this usually have sketchy pasts and it wouldn't be hard to dig up something on them you can use in court.
the OP has already stated that they got a violation for work without a permit. this needs to be corrected at the department of buildings by either filing for legalization of the illegal work, or converting it back to its existing condition. there is no haggling when it comes to situations like this. the OP is facing at least a $5000 fine minimum for his/her civil penalty for doing the work without a permit.
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
the OP has already stated that they got a violation for work without a permit. this needs to be corrected at the department of buildings by either filing for legalization of the illegal work, or converting it back to its existing condition. there is no haggling when it comes to situations like this. the OP is facing at least a $5000 fine minimum for his/her civil penalty for doing the work without a permit.
wait what? Not sure what you mean by that. I bought the house in that condition with the kitchen and bathroom which I didnt realize at the time was illegal. I remember someone came and inspected the house (not sure who exactly it was) and it cleared - who knows how or why - and so I purchased it. Is it really $5000 fine minimum?
As for the lease it doesnt state separate units or parties. It was the whole house to one family of 5.
Is the house in Queens? The link I posted says that if you report the violation yourself --meaning you go to the office and tell them that you just realized now that there was work done to the house before you bought it that was unapproved-- that you do not pay a fine. But you probably have to make arrangements to fix the problem.
But if you have a lawyer, he or she can figure this stuff out for you. No need to get anonymous advice that may or may not be correct.
EDIT: the text does not say to report the illegal work to the office to avoid a fine. What it says is
WHEN MUST THE ILLEGAL CONDITION BE CORRECTED?
There are significant fines and penalties for illegal apartment conversions. If you have an illegal apartment in your home, you should take steps to correct the illegal condition before you receive a notice of violation. If you eliminate the illegal condition before the Buildings Department conducts an inspection, you will not receive a violation notice and will not be charged with any penalties. If the Buildings Department conducts an inspection and finds a violation of the Building Code, you should take steps to eliminate the illegal condition immediately, because civil penalties can be imposed from the date of the violation notice until the date that the illegal condition is corrected.
Is the house in Queens? The link I posted says that if you report the violation yourself --meaning you go to the office and tell them that you just realized now that there was work done to the house before you bought it that was unapproved-- that you do not pay a fine. But you probably have to make arrangements to fix the problem.
But if you have a lawyer, he or she can figure this stuff out for you. No need to get anonymous advice that may or may not be correct.
EDIT: the text does not say to report the illegal work to the office to avoid a fine. What it says is
WHEN MUST THE ILLEGAL CONDITION BE CORRECTED?
There are significant fines and penalties for illegal apartment conversions. If you have an illegal apartment in your home, you should take steps to correct the illegal condition before you receive a notice of violation. If you eliminate the illegal condition before the Buildings Department conducts an inspection, you will not receive a violation notice and will not be charged with any penalties. If the Buildings Department conducts an inspection and finds a violation of the Building Code, you should take steps to eliminate the illegal condition immediately, because civil penalties can be imposed from the date of the violation notice until the date that the illegal condition is corrected.
(Yes it is in Queens) From reading that, my only option is correcting the problem before the inspector that my tenants called arrives (Not sure if they did yet). Question is how am I going to fix the problem with my tenants still living there. Is it possible to just go and get rid of the bathroom before they're evicted?
This is very confusing.I don't know exactly what the guidelines are in NYC but almost everywhere I have ever been there is only 1 thing that makes a kitchen a kitchen and that is a stove.Without a stove there is no kitchen and in most places without a kitchen there is no dwelling unit.I know of instances( not in NYC) where people actually removed a stove for 1 day while an inspection for a c/o was taking place and put the stove back in the next day.NYC might be different
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