I’m subletting a New York City rental apartment. I like the place, but the tenant I’m subletting from has stopped paying rent to the landlord. What should I do?
First things first: stop paying. If the tenant you’re subletting the apartment from has stopped paying the landlord, there’s no reason to continue forking over money. You could be funding a scammer.
Instead, put aside your monthly rent money in a bank account in case you need to negotiate directly with the landlord later, said Jennifer Rozen, managing attorney at the Rozen Law Group.
“You don’t want to keep paying someone that you know is just pocketting your money,” Rozen said. “Definitely stop paying the tenant, and just save the money.”
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It’s likely that the landlord will sue the primary tenant in housing court for back rent, because it’s the primary tenant (not you) who has a contractual obligation to pay rent, Rozen said. But if the landlord does realize that you’re living at the unit, they could also sue to evict you.
Your next steps will depend on how much the landlord knows about your situation.
If the landlord doesn’t know…yet
If, somehow, the landlord of this building doesn’t know that you’re living there, it’s best not to give them a heads up, Rozen said.
Instead, take whatever time you have and start looking for a new apartment. Once the landlord does find out, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to keep the unit, Rozen added. But in the meantime, you can get a headstart on your hunt for new digs.
If you’re being sued in housing court, or got a late payment notice
Once the landlord realizes that you’re living there—and that their tenant has run off into the sunset—it can’t hurt to try to negotiate. Call the landlord up and say you’d like to get on a formal lease. Hopefully, they’ll want to work with you, since their issue is with the original tenant, not you, said Alex Jacobs, an attorney at Legal Services NYC.
Ideally, you’ll have held onto your rent money, which you can use to negotiate for a lease, though you may need to provide additional documentation so your would-be landlord can conduct a background check, Rozen said. Still, it’s unlikely the landlord will want to take you on as a tenant.
“There have been situations where a landlord has said, ‘Okay, fill out this form. We’re going to do a background check. Give me a copy of your W2s and tax returns.’ And if the subtenant passes their screening, the landlord will rent the unit to them,” Rozen said.
“But that’s definitely more rare than a situation where the subtenant just negotiates time in the apartment before they have to leave,” she added. (In Rozen’s experience, that arrangement usually involves paying the landlord some arrears.)
Landlords often bristle at the idea of letting a person they didn’t vet stay at their property, Rozen said. Plus, the primary tenant would have to agree to surrender the apartment for you to legally occupy it, or be ordered out by a judge, she added.
