Lease Renewal

[harpers200]

Living in NYC apt. landlord has not made requested repairs in apt. I signed a lease renewal along with my roommates but never an actual long-winded apartment lease detailing the terms of the rental. I am wondering if we are legally bound since the landlord never provided us with a copy or had us sign an actual lease document. Not to mention on the lease renewal the stated time period is wrong.

 

[quincy]

Living in NYC apt. landlord has not made requested repairs in apt. I signed a lease renewal along with my roommates but never an actual long-winded apartment lease detailing the terms of the rental. I am wondering if we are legally bound since the landlord never provided us with a copy or had us sign an actual lease document. Not to mention on the lease renewal the stated time period is wrong.

The agreement you signed with the landlord would need to be reviewed to tell you if you are bound by the terms or not.

 

[Mark Maroon]

Living in NYC apt. landlord has not made requested repairs in apt. I signed a lease renewal along with my roommates but never an actual long-winded apartment lease detailing the terms of the rental. I am wondering if we are legally bound since the landlord never provided us with a copy or had us sign an actual lease document. Not to mention on the lease renewal the stated time period is wrong.

quincy is definitely right, but generally speaking a lease renewal would simply reference the original lease and indicate that the original lease and all that is in it is simply extended from x to y dates. You already signed the "actual lease document". You don't generally need to sign another original lease again if all you are doing is signing a lease renewal that functions as I just stated (that is, to simply extend the original lease that you already signed from x to y dates). If the x and y dates are wrong, then you should get them corrected. What's your point about the wrong time period on the lease renewal and the requested repairs not being done?

 

[harpers200]

Clarification

B/c i moved as a sublet-er i never signed a lease. But when the option to renew came up I did and I signed a lease renewal. My question is since the renewal technically references the original lease document, which I never signed or saw, is it still legally binding in the same way.

 

[quincy]

B/c i moved as a sublet-er i never signed a lease. But when the option to renew came up I did and I signed a lease renewal. My question is since the renewal technically references the original lease document, which I never signed or saw, is it still legally binding in the same way.

Yes. You agreed to the original lease terms when you sublet the apartment. You have now agreed to extend the lease under these same terms. If you are concerned about what exactly you have agreed to with your signature on the renewal document, you can ask the landlord for a copy of the original lease. It might have been smart to do this before signing anything.

 

[Mark Maroon]

Yes. You agreed to the original lease terms when you sublet the apartment. You have now agreed to extend the lease under these same terms. If you are concerned about what exactly you have agreed to with your signature on the renewal document, you can ask the landlord for a copy of the original lease. It might have been smart to do this before signing anything.

I am not sure that by subletting an apartment you have agreed to the original lease terms (because you might have sublet the apartment from the original tenant as opposed to from the landlord, and there might not be anything in the original lease that says something like all sublets must be approved by the landlord and are bound by the lease agreement). But other than that, again I basically agree with quincy. Of course I don't know what the lease renewal says exactly, but generally I think a lease renewal agreement would refer to and bind you to the original lease - irrespective of whether or not you ever saw it or signed it. In other words, if you sign a document that says you agree to pay me in accordance with document "blah", then you have agreed to do just that - irrespective of whether or not you ever saw document "blah". It was up to you at the time you signed the lease renewal to make sure you agreed with the terms of document "blah". But of course maybe the lease agreement that you signed didn't even refer to the original lease agreement, or maybe it referred to it as "the original lease agreement that you signed", and I suppose in those cases it might be possible that your signing of the lease renewal didn't bind you to the original lease. I don't know, I haven't seen what you signed and didn't sign. I am just speaking in general terms.

 

[quincy]

I am not sure that by subletting an apartment you have agreed to the original lease terms (because you might have sublet the apartment from the original tenant as opposed to from the landlord, and there might not be anything in the original lease that says something like all sublets must be approved by the landlord and are bound by the lease agreement). But other than that, again I basically agree with quincy. Of course I don't know what the lease renewal says exactly, but generally I think a lease renewal agreement would refer to and bind you to the original lease - irrespective of whether or not you ever saw it or signed it. In other words, if you sign a document that says you agree to pay me in accordance with document "blah", then you have agreed to do just that - irrespective of whether or not you ever saw document "blah". It was up to you at the time you signed the lease renewal to make sure you agreed with the terms of document "blah". But of course maybe the lease agreement that you signed didn't even refer to the original lease agreement, or maybe it referred to it as "the original lease agreement that you signed", and I suppose in those cases it might be possible that your signing of the lease renewal didn't bind you to the original lease. I don't know, I haven't seen what you signed and didn't sign. I am just speaking in general terms.

I am glad you are "basically" agreeing with me again, Mark.

Of the lease renewals I am familiar with, most will restate briefly the terms and conditions of the original lease, with any possible exceptions that might apply to the renewal (e.g., rent increase). The lease renewal will say, for example, Landlord hereby offers to renew Tenant's lease from this date to that date with all other terms of the present lease remaining the same except: And then any changes to the original lease will be listed (1. Renewal rent will be $XXXX per month; 2. Whatever will be $XX per month; 3. Whatever will be $XX per month). A lease renewal will generally go on to re-state information about late fees, lockout fees, lease termination information, any other pertinent information. Then there will be an "I accept the offer to renew the lease for ABC premises from this date to that date." It is then signed by both the tenant and the property manager/landlord, legally binding both to the agreement.

Of course, there will be variations on this theme, depending on the landlord.

Lease renewals, by their nature, refer to a renewal of the original lease and its terms and conditions. By renewing a lease, you are not only agreeing to the original terms and conditions but to any changes or exceptions listed to the original terms. You are not agreeing to renew your (often-discounted rent) sublet terms but the original lease.

That said, I agree with you that it is important to review the specific lease and the renewal agreement to determine if there is anything that would not be legally binding on the tenant who signs the renewal. I tend to doubt it.