All Forum Posts by: Mary Schr

 Thanks for your kind words: I was trying to be nice—since she renovated it, I thought I’d give her some time to move out.  I’m clearly not cut out for this.   The lease provision might not be valid.  One attorney told me it is valid and another said it’s not valid.  

Thanks and sorry-this is my first real estate venture.  My plan is to hire a lawyer and give her enough time to move out.  I’m going to evict her for personal occupancy and let’s see what happens since in NYC, this applies primarily to rent controlled or rent stabilized apartments.  I’ll update y’all on what happens.  In the meantime, I need to get ready for GOT.

Thanks and sorry-this is my first real estate venture.  My plan is to hire a lawyer and give her enough time to move out.  I’ll update y’all on what happens.  In the meantime, I need to get ready for GOT.

Should I give her until June of 2020 to figure out a place to live?  And then maybe the board and management won’t think I’m some sort of monster?

Thank you so much...I’m usually not like but I’ve been crying about this.  My Mom just passed away (I’m an only child and she had a brutal death; I was her primary caregiver with little kids in tow), this is my childhood home, and this tenant is clearly a con artist.  She threw away a box of my Mom’s writings and photos which are irreplacable.

I’m now afraid that she’s told the coop board and the management some story and lies.  I mean she invited the coop board over for tea (?!??).  This happened two months ago and I just found out about it.  Management and the board never bothered to tell me.  She’s also become friends with the management lady—they’re both from the same city in the same country and have some connection.  I’m afraid they won’t work with me.  The narrative I keep hearing superficially from the super and the management is that poor thing put all this work into the apartment and I gave her permission.  One lawyer I talked to said housing court in NYC might think I took advantage of her because she renovated the apartment and now I’m trying to kick her out.  

The apartment is a three bedroom with a giant balcony, overlooking a small park with a pond.  It’s beautiful and I was lucky to grow up there.  It’s a few blocks from the subway and the neighborhood is great (this is in NYC).  Her rent is $1500/month and I pay Arian’s $2100 with the mortgage and maintainence.  I also paid a total of $6000 for the repair to the apartment below as well as the illegal renovation.  

She also moved in a month early, before I even had a chance to remove my Mom’s stuff because she said she was scared her old landlord (who was a Vietnam vet) had ptsd and would shoot her.  Now I know this was probably a lie.  She’s very small (looks almost like a child) and looks really innocent.  She talks fast and can talk anyone into anything.

She also claimed she’s a doctor in her home country (where I found out she owns two buildings and is a landlord herself) but I also found out that was not true.   I have her tax returns and she made $180000 last year with her autism therapy business. Ugh.  What a mess...

I’m so ignorant about this stuff but what does a property manager do, actually?  And why is it so important in this situation?

Thanks-I can’t believe she fast talked me into signing a three year lease.  She edited it herself and made me sign it.  She’s super manipulative and scary.  This may be ridiculous but now I feel like I can’t trust anyone.  She seemed like the kindest person when she was being a therapist to my daughter and it was a 180.  Blatant lying, spreading bizarre rumors about me to the board and neighbors and she threw away my Mom’s hierloms (like an idiot I let her move in early—for free).

I want to give her until June 2020 and then I’d like to move into the apartment myself.  I can’t really afford a property manager but I’ll try to think of something.  

Lesson, painfully learned. 

I want to be prepared-what can she do to me?  She seems so crazy-can she sue me for things she makes up?  She lies about everything all the time so now I’m worried.   The week before last when I went to pick up the rent she called me to tell me the super told her to sue me.  I’m pretty sure he didn’t but it was like she was threatening me.  I have little kids and she used to provide therapy for my daughter-this is so stressful.  I can’t even sell the apartment and I have to pay money into it every month.

Hi everyone,

I posted earlier but it didn't go through so here it is again: any insight or help would be greatly appreciated.

Here's my situation:

-I rent an apartment where I live with my family.

-I recently bought a coop apartment when my Mom passed away suddenly (this was my childhood home)--I have a problem tenant.

In December 2018, my Mom passed away suddenly and the owner of the coop wanted to sell the apartment fast--he offered private financing so I bought it.  I couldn't move in immediately (everything was very unexpected) so I needed a tenant.  My daughter had an autism therapist who came to our house from the city and she heard about the apartment.  She offered to move in and I agreed.  Since then, things have been nightmarish.  She has turned out to be a pathologist liar and just insane.  Among the things she's done:

-When she first moved in, she immediately painted the apartment and gut renovated the kitchen at her own expense.  She had told me she would fix things up and I gave her the go-ahead.  I had no idea she would go into so much work.  Her husband is a contractor and he did all the work with his company (they are very wealthy).   

-She fast-talked me into giving her a three year lease and a cheap rent because she wanted immigration (her husband just got his green card) required it.  I know this was stupid of me but I'm not used to dealing with people like her.  She told me it was only temporary and she wanted to show immigration that they had a stable living situation.  I did put a provision in the lease that says, "The apartment owner has the right to stop or alter the terms in this lease at any time with a 60 day notice to the tenant(s)."  But a lawyer told me this provision might not hold up?

-She said tons of racist things about the African American super, which made me uncomfortable, and she lied about the things he said to her.

-She keeps telling everyone she will live in this apartment forever, which is freaking me out.

-She didn't report a leaking toilet and it caused the ceiling of the bathroom floor below to collapse and I had to pay for expensive repairs.

-She bizarrely rang the bell of the coop board president and invited the coop board to "tour" the apartment so she could introduce herself.  As a result, I got hit with a bunch of fines for illegal renovations (which she refused to pay for).

-I got fined for other issues she's done in the building and she refused to pay for them.

-She always hangs up on me when I call her.  I've rang the doorbell and she will refuse to answer even though she's inside.  I needed her to sign some documents the management asked me to do and she will ignore me.

-She threw out a bunch of my personal property and then lied about it (she lies about everything).

Her only saving grace is that she always makes sure to pay rent on time.  She's made friends with the management and the board and painted herself out to be a victim because she did renovations to an aging apartment.  

She's insane and this is my childhood home.  I want her out before she does anything else.  Please help with any insight.  I know NYC is very tenant friendly and I'm afraid she knows how to play the game so I don't know what to do.  Does my lease provision work?  I asked her to move out in July 2020 but, so far, she hasn't agreed.

Thank you.