NYC tenant nightmare

[Mary Joe]

Hi All, I was told it is particularly difficult being a landlord in New York City because the laws tend to favor the tenants in a ridiculous way, can someone offer some insights how bad or how ridiculous can it get?   For example, are we talking about half a year or longer to evict a tenant on average?

Anything in particular about NYC landlord-tenancy laws I should be aware of ?

Am looking to become a landlord in NYC, would like to know the things I should be aware of before taking the plunge.

Many thanks. 

[Dor Sagi]

I can tell you that I've lived in my previous apartment for about 5 years, until at the beginning of COVID-19 very clever squatters took over the apartment above me. They were 24/7 high, made tons of noise all night long every night, the guy was beating his girlfriend multiple times a week, they smashed the front door, they sprayed graffiti inside the hallway, and they slashed the walls with a knife. 

The landlord couldn't do anything because of the eviction moratorium. They even offered them money to move out which didn't work.

Eventually I broke the lease and fled because I couldn't handle it anymore.

They never signed a lease nor paid rent or utilities, but apparently squatters have rights in NYC. Go figure...

This was over a period of about a year. I heard from the neighbors that a couple of months after I left, the squatters left spontaneously.

Imagine how much money the landlord lost during this year. How much money they spent on legal. The money they put down to fix the unit and the hallways.

It's an 8 unit building, and 5 units including me left the building because of them.

As a real estate agent I stumble into fake paystubs, fake employment letters, fake landlord reference letters, sometimes you call the client's "landlord" and it's their friend pretending to be their landlord.

Whatever documents you require them to provide - make sure their name is on it. Make sure it's a PDF document and not a screenshot. Ask for 6 months of full pdf bank statements. 6 months of rent payment history. Look them up on Google and social media. Call their current boss and previous boss. Current landlord and previous landlord. If they have late payments or collections look deep to understand when and why. If they have evictions - steer clear!!

We require 700+ credit score even in the toughest neighborhoods we work in.