legal or not?

[chris71]

hello!
i live in new york.my landlord asked us to move 1 month before our lease had expired. we explained to him that financially we couldn't and that if he could wait until my child finished his school. he didn't refuse. then in febuary when rent was due, he didnt come around to collect it. when i saw him and asked him about this he said "your staying this month with your security deposit. he told me like"by the way" not calling to let me know .now he refuses to take any rent and has us going to court.i want to know if it was legal in regarding the security deposit as rent without notifying me? what are my rights? and what can i do?

 

[LL]

It was your responsibility to pay rent when it was due.

I don't quite understand why the landlord would do this. Even if he wanted the apartment back 1 month early for some reason, you are leaving anyway at the end of the month. Why would he tell you not to pay the rent, just so he could evict you when you are leaving anyway? It doesn't make sense.

Are you sure that this is the real story? For example, if you decided not to pay the last month's rent and told the landlord to take it from the security deposit, that it makes a lot of sense. Then the landlord's actions are perfectly appropriate.