Landlord never got permit for rental and constructed illegal space after renting a whole house

[NYNassauUnsure]

In NY, Nassau county.

Tenant never got 1 mo security deposit returned after lease term was up and moved out.

Would this be basis enough for some kind of dismissal? Tenant has no photos unfortunately, and I am sure the landlord will fabricate "damages" to.claim use of the deposit, so prefer to avoid that by looking to summary judgement or similar.

Town requires permit to rent (have letter from town confirming no permit).

Landlord also constructed obviously not permitted not legal space in basement for their use when they came to NY many times per year. No permits for build requested not issued, have this in writing however have not confirmed if town ever followed up to have space inspected.

Thanks for any inputs. Applicable statute or case law references appreciated.

 

[Just Blue]

In NY, Nassau county.

Tenant never got 1 mo security deposit returned after lease term was up and moved out.

Would this be basis enough for some kind of dismissal? Tenant has no photos unfortunately, and I am sure the landlord will fabricate "damages" to.claim use of the deposit, so prefer to avoid that by looking to summary judgement or similar.

Town requires permit to rent (have letter from town confirming no permit).

Landlord also constructed obviously not permitted not legal space in basement for their use when they came to NY many times per year. No permits for build requested not issued, have this in writing however have not confirmed if town ever followed up to have space inspected.

Thanks for any inputs. Applicable statute or case law references appreciated.

When did the tenant move out? Who are you in this situation?

 

[NYNassauUnsure]

When did the tenant move out? Who are you in this situation?

Hi, I'm the former tenant. The lease ended in November of so of last year and was month to month until Feb of this year.
Thank you!

 

[adjusterjack]

Applicable statute or case law references appreciated.

The applicable statute is your town code that says a permit is required. Then you have to read the statute and determine what the penalty is for renting without a permit.

If the penalty is that the town shuts down the rental and fines the owner, that doesn't do you any good because that's between him and the town.

If the penalty is that he must refund all the rent collected during the time without a permit then that's what you sue for. Unfortunately, I haven't come across any ordinances that do that. Bottom line, you rented a livable place and paid for it. You got what you paid for. You aren't entitled to a rent refund.

What's left is a lawsuit for wrongly withholding the security deposit.

Unfortunately, NY's security deposit statute doesn't address the return or withholding of the security deposit:

https://law.justia.com/codes/new-york/2015/gob/article-7/title-1/
So you'd be suing based on breach of contract. What does your lease say about the security deposit?

 

[NYNassauUnsure]

Agree, breach of contract.

The lease is a standard form lease and doesn't get specific at all, including durations.

For a while, I was hoping constructive eviction could also be argued but I thought the burden for that was pretty tall. Loss of use would be the interest there, after all, they consumed basically almost all the basement with their illegal space for themselves when they visited (it did not have a separate entrance, by the way), and left their stuff on the third floor, and half the garage (the house was rented as a full house rental with 2 car garage), but it's not like they shut off the water or changed the locks or anything. There was a simple "quiet enjoyment" clause perhaps I could argue breach on.

 

[adjusterjack]

Hold on a minute.

Landlord also constructed obviously not permitted not legal space in basement for their use when they came to NY many times per year.

You rented the house. Did he do that after you rented the house? Or was it that way when you rented the house?

If he did it after you rented why didn't you put a stop to it the minute he started constructing the space?

If it was that way when you moved in why didn't you put a stop to the "visiting" the first time it happened? Or the second? Or the third?

Here's what I'm getting at. When a landlord does you wrong, you take appropriate action WHEN it happens. You had contemporaneous remedies. You could have sought an injunction against his "visiting." A year or more later, after you are out of the place, is way too late to do anything but lament.

Sorry, all you've got is a claim for the security deposit.

For that you can sue in small claims court and see how it goes.

 

[NYNassauUnsure]

Hold on a minute.



You rented the house. Did he do that after you rented the house? Or was it that way when you rented the house?

If he did it after you rented why didn't you put a stop to it the minute he started constructing the space?

If it was that way when you moved in why didn't you put a stop to the "visiting" the first time it happened? Or the second? Or the third?

Here's what I'm getting at. When a landlord does you wrong, you take appropriate action WHEN it happens. You had contemporaneous remedies. You could have sought an injunction against his "visiting." A year or more later, after you are out of the place, is way too late to do anything but lament.

Sorry, all you've got is a claim for the security deposit.

For that you can sue in small claims court and see how it goes.

Agree, I should have been more forceful with stopping it. He built the space while i was there, not before, and I'm not much on confrontation, so I mildly objected and only verbally. I was hoping that the illegal space was constructed while I was there and that was the reason that I left might help. I was hoping in addition the lack of rental permit would show the judge this person is not law abiding or fair.
Thanks for all the inputs by the way, its helpful!

 

[NYNassauUnsure]

New question, does the new NY state law below apply to a tenancy vacated in February, even though the law was passed this month?

Senate Bill S6458
SIGNED BY GOVERNOR
2019-2020 Legislative Session
Enacts the "Housing Stability and Tenant Protection act of 2019"

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

No