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Renting without a C of O

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edensdesign

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

We rent the top apartment in house in Rochester NY, the house does not have a certificate of occupancy. hen we found the place it was in need of a lot of work... the landlord told me that they would pay me to do the work and take off from the rent... so upon moving in I let them know what i would want for each thing that had to be done... they then agreed to a portion of it and gave me the material money needed to get started... i did the portion of the work we agreed to and expected to be paid... they did pay me, but less than agreed... and then even demanded the rent money... i didnt wish to argue and create a problem so paid it... and now after a few months have gone by... they seem to think i should have done the rest of the repairs... even though we never discussed that work or came to an agreement... and now they used the keys they have to come into the foyer of the house and take some property of mine worth hundreds of dollars... demanding i do the rest of the work to get it back... as far as i know they should not have even rented to us here without a c of o , but i dont know for sure... do we have any options?
 


HomeGuru

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

We rent the top apartment in house in Rochester NY, the house does not have a certificate of occupancy. hen we found the place it was in need of a lot of work... the landlord told me that they would pay me to do the work and take off from the rent... so upon moving in I let them know what i would want for each thing that had to be done... they then agreed to a portion of it and gave me the material money needed to get started... i did the portion of the work we agreed to and expected to be paid... they did pay me, but less than agreed... and then even demanded the rent money... i didnt wish to argue and create a problem so paid it... and now after a few months have gone by... they seem to think i should have done the rest of the repairs... even though we never discussed that work or came to an agreement... and now they used the keys they have to come into the foyer of the house and take some property of mine worth hundreds of dollars... demanding i do the rest of the work to get it back... as far as i know they should not have even rented to us here without a c of o , but i dont know for sure... do we have any options?
**A: options for what? Getting your stolen stuff back, not paying rent etc.
 

edensdesign

Junior Member
umm i guess i was asking, what should we do...

like can we get out of the lease and get the wasted money that we invested in rent back.. and can a landlord be subject to charges for taking tenant posessions? etc... i do not know any of the laws surrounding this situation and would like to have any applicable laws described to me.

thank you
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
umm i guess i was asking, what should we do...

like can we get out of the lease and get the wasted money that we invested in rent back.. and can a landlord be subject to charges for taking tenant posessions? etc... i do not know any of the laws surrounding this situation and would like to have any applicable laws described to me.

thank you


**A: start off reading the NY landlord tenant law.
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Do you have a police report about them taking the things they did ? file one and plan on finding a new place to live. So when you called the property tax desk giving them your address they told you the property is a single family house ? either way split up the events , LL removed your property , Police report for that. Zoning is the one who will decide if the unit is a legal apartment or not , Plan on finding a new place either way since things will never be the same after police report is filed about your missing property.
 

BL

Senior Member
Firstly , contact the LL and state that unless they return ALL your possessions in the conditions they were in within 24 hrs. you will file a police report . ( I assume you have proof ) . If your property is not returned call the police and file a report .

Secondly if you want to know about terminating your lease because of non certificate of occupancy , City hall will have your answers . You could always call your local ( NET ) Neighborhood Enforcement Team office . Rochester is really clamping down on the issue ,especially overcrowding ,etc .

Who knows the city may just find the unit uninhabitable .

For the rest ,there's small claims court at the Hall Of Justice .
 

BL

Senior Member
it is not a single living house... it is a two unit house but has not passed inspection for a c of o
We get that . Irrelevant of the fact you can call for code inspection .

Make a call to the ( NET ) Office for your area , be home when they come to do an inspection .

There is also The Housing Council - Rochester, NY . Call the folks up.
 

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