• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

re-subletting an illegal sublet

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

sduves

Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? ny
I have a question, if you illegally sublet from a tenant (call her alice) through a verbal agreement, and then re-sublet it to someone else (call him bob), but never lived at the apartment, how much can you claim back from alice? say the sublet is for $2000, you re-sublet it for $1000. you then refund $1000 because you think bob is going to pay alice, alice is under the impression that you would keep the money.

does it matter whether you lived at the apartment, or whether you accepted payment from bob?

Thanks for any help!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? ny
I have a question, if you illegally sublet from a tenant (call her alice) through a verbal agreement, and then re-sublet it to someone else (call him bob), but never lived at the apartment, how much can you claim back from alice? say the sublet is for $2000, you re-sublet it for $1000. you then refund $1000 because you think bob is going to pay alice, alice is under the impression that you would keep the money.

does it matter whether you lived at the apartment, or whether you accepted payment from bob?

Thanks for any help!What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Why would you expect ANYTHING back from your landlord?
 

sduves

Member
sorry for the confusion, not from the landlord, but from the tenant.

i.e., i rent a room illegally from alice for $2000 in a verbal agreement, the landlord does not know about it, i then re-rent it (again illegally) for $1000 to bob, giving him the keys. i refund bob's money, thinking he'd pay her, but she is under the impression i would keep the money from bob. i never lived at the apartment, i want to sue alice, how much can i get back in court?

Thanks and sorry for any confusion!
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
No, you want to sue YOUR LANDLORD for something. I'm STILL not clear what though.
 

sduves

Member
Nope, I do not want to sue the landlord.

It is alice's landlord that owns the apartment.

I want to sue alice. I subletted an apartment from her - she did not have permission from her landlord to sublet. We had a verbal agreement, I paid her $2000. I didn't want the apartment anymore and then re-sublet the apartment to bob for $1000. i never lived at this apartment, so i want my money back, for $2000. but i accepted $1000 from bob, which i refunded once alice agreed to take on bob as the new tenant, i thought he would remake the payment for $1000 to her. instead, he got to live there for free for a few days. I am out $2000, alice has my $2000. she thinks I did not refund the money to bob, and only wants to give me $1000, the difference. But I did and I want the full $2000 back.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
Not the least of your problems is that a court will not enforce an "illegal" sublet contract. (Your logic over being "refunded", at least from a legal perspective, also leaves something to be desired).
 

sduves

Member
thanks for your response, that is good for me right? since they cannot enforce the verbal agreement for an illegal contract, i will get my $2000 back despite alice's reasoning that i should get less because i accepted payment from bob (even though i refunded that back).
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Ok, let me explain something to you:

Alice IS YOUR LANDLORD!
YOU are the landlord for the guy YOU rented it out to.

Now, you're not going to get a dime from Alice. You freely agreed to refund some money to the guy. Alice wasn't a part of that agreement.
 

BL

Senior Member
You can not walk into court with " dirty hands" and expect the court to even rule on the matter ,except for a dismissal of the petition.
 

sduves

Member
Zigner,
since alice is my landlord, why can't i get my payment back from her? i got a letter from the management proving that alice does not own this apartment. do you mean she then has a right to keep the $2000 and she just profited from an apartment she isn't allowed to rent out?

and since i am the "landlord" for bob, he can claim his money from me (which i've already returned). so what i accept from him should not affect how much alice owes me right?
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
It's like trying to sue your drug dealer for shorting you on your last dime bag purchase. The court is not going to help you enforce an illegal contract.
 

sduves

Member
you are guilty,
Thanks for your reply. If the court does not help enforce the contract, isn't that in my favor? Since, I gave her $2000 for an invalid contract, then I should get it back no matter what other payments I accepted? Just wanted to clarify this, I'm confused why you think that it works against me if the court cannot enforce the illegal contract.
 

sduves

Member
I mean, she had no right to accept the $2000 (which she admits was for the purpose of the contract), so doesn't she have to return it to me?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I mean, she had no right to accept the $2000 (which she admits was for the purpose of the contract), so doesn't she have to return it to me?
Nope - You paid your rent to your landlord. The impropriety of the sublet is something that HER landlord will have to deal with HER about.
 

sduves

Member
okay thanks, but does that mean i lost $2000 for an apartment i never lived in and someone got free rent? but that is not really right either because i have no right to claim money from the guy who got the free rent? and not refunding the money would not be right.

can i claim the $2000 from HER landlord (the management) once the managements asks alice for the money back, since alice was renting the room that belonged to the landlord? and that payment came from me and belongs to me?

i just want my $2000 back because it's a lot of money :(
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top