What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
Hello,
I have an issue I am hoping you all might be able to shed some light on for me:
I recently moved into a new apartment with my girlfriend in NYC on Sept 1st 2014. Our building is a RENT STABILIZED smoke-free building (we knew that going in) however she had some friends from out of the country visiting her for the first week (one of them stayed with us). During the first week we received a call that there was a complaint about smoking in the apartment, we explained to the guest they couldn't smoke in the building. A few days later maintenance came to the door stating a complaint of cigarette smell, I said please come in and check (he walked through said I smell nothing) and that was that.
Fast forward to the end of the month September 29th I received a call from the management that a notice from the attorney to cure the issue was coming and this was standard operating procedure for this type of issue. I explained that we had a guest who did not know, and took care of the issue several weeks before but I was annoyed at the amount of complaints I was receiving because there was no further smoking in the apartment yet the complaints were still coming.
A few days later the letter from the attorney came with 5 dates of complaints of smoking... I dismissed it as I knew it had been rectified and no further action was necessary.
On October 23, I got a Notice of Termination in my mailbox stating that I had to be out by November 4th (two weeks?) because I had not cured the issue of smoking. Naturally I called management who stated they could no longer discuss the issue with me and it needed to be discussed with the law firm.
Then today we were served a Notice of Petition Holdover/Residential for November 25th (1 week). Here are my questions:
1) The ORIGINAL Notice to Cure (dated Sep 29) stated that we needed to cure by October 18th - we had ZERO complaints after Sep 29 (the call with the Property Management), the notice even lists the dates of complaints as follows: Sep 4, Sep 5, Sep 6 & Sep 9 (WELL BEFORE THE OCT 18 DEADLINE). How can they continue with this if there is no documentation of further complaints AFTER the October 18th deadline to cure the issue?
2) On October 14th my GF smoked a cigarette out one the street with a friend and then came upstairs (WE DO NOT SMOKE IN THE HOUSE- she is a social smoker), property management came up and said it smelled like we were smoking, I explained that she had smoked outside and he said EVEN if you smoke outside and your clothes/you smell like smoke that is a violation. HOW CAN THIS BE RIGHT?
3) Next week is Thanksgiving - we have both already paid for non-refundable tickets to go back to our families for the holiday: CAN THIS BE POSTPONED AND IF SO HOW?
4) Advice on what needs to happen next?
Thank you all this is becoming a pain in my neck, not only did we just move in and never smoked in the apartment but the constant calls and visits from property management to CHECK through our house for odors is intrusive (each time we have invited them in to check around and NEVER did they say it smelled like smoke), it has made us nervous to do ANYTHING in our house. A few nights ago we accidentally burnt a bag of popcorn, my GF started crying immediately and said we are going to get in trouble for this too! This has made us nervous to even cook dinner for fear that we will get another complaint.
Thank you in advance
Sincerely,
Concerned Tenant
Hello,
I have an issue I am hoping you all might be able to shed some light on for me:
I recently moved into a new apartment with my girlfriend in NYC on Sept 1st 2014. Our building is a RENT STABILIZED smoke-free building (we knew that going in) however she had some friends from out of the country visiting her for the first week (one of them stayed with us). During the first week we received a call that there was a complaint about smoking in the apartment, we explained to the guest they couldn't smoke in the building. A few days later maintenance came to the door stating a complaint of cigarette smell, I said please come in and check (he walked through said I smell nothing) and that was that.
Fast forward to the end of the month September 29th I received a call from the management that a notice from the attorney to cure the issue was coming and this was standard operating procedure for this type of issue. I explained that we had a guest who did not know, and took care of the issue several weeks before but I was annoyed at the amount of complaints I was receiving because there was no further smoking in the apartment yet the complaints were still coming.
A few days later the letter from the attorney came with 5 dates of complaints of smoking... I dismissed it as I knew it had been rectified and no further action was necessary.
On October 23, I got a Notice of Termination in my mailbox stating that I had to be out by November 4th (two weeks?) because I had not cured the issue of smoking. Naturally I called management who stated they could no longer discuss the issue with me and it needed to be discussed with the law firm.
Then today we were served a Notice of Petition Holdover/Residential for November 25th (1 week). Here are my questions:
1) The ORIGINAL Notice to Cure (dated Sep 29) stated that we needed to cure by October 18th - we had ZERO complaints after Sep 29 (the call with the Property Management), the notice even lists the dates of complaints as follows: Sep 4, Sep 5, Sep 6 & Sep 9 (WELL BEFORE THE OCT 18 DEADLINE). How can they continue with this if there is no documentation of further complaints AFTER the October 18th deadline to cure the issue?
2) On October 14th my GF smoked a cigarette out one the street with a friend and then came upstairs (WE DO NOT SMOKE IN THE HOUSE- she is a social smoker), property management came up and said it smelled like we were smoking, I explained that she had smoked outside and he said EVEN if you smoke outside and your clothes/you smell like smoke that is a violation. HOW CAN THIS BE RIGHT?
3) Next week is Thanksgiving - we have both already paid for non-refundable tickets to go back to our families for the holiday: CAN THIS BE POSTPONED AND IF SO HOW?
4) Advice on what needs to happen next?
Thank you all this is becoming a pain in my neck, not only did we just move in and never smoked in the apartment but the constant calls and visits from property management to CHECK through our house for odors is intrusive (each time we have invited them in to check around and NEVER did they say it smelled like smoke), it has made us nervous to do ANYTHING in our house. A few nights ago we accidentally burnt a bag of popcorn, my GF started crying immediately and said we are going to get in trouble for this too! This has made us nervous to even cook dinner for fear that we will get another complaint.
Thank you in advance
Sincerely,
Concerned Tenant
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