You get a new tenant. They never mention they are a pet owner, and you made it clear you do not accept pets. Yet, within a week, you hear meowing from their apartment.

When you knock on their door and ask if they have a cat, they say that the cat is their emotional support animal and they cannot possibly live without him. Do you have to let them keep the cat?

Is it really an emotional support animal?

If you are unsure whether they are telling the truth, you can ask them to show you proof from their medical provider that they have a disability and that the cat gives them much-needed emotional support.

A bit of sensitivity can go a long way here. For instance, your tenant may appear to have two working legs. You might not see that one is a prosthetic limb below the knee because they suffered an amputation after their leg was crushed in an accident at work. 

You might not understand how a cat can help them with mobility. It can’t, but if the doctor confirms it helps them cope with the emotional trauma that resulted from that horrific event, you need to let them keep it.

Have they already had it for a while? Or does someone else have a cat?

The other reasons you may need to allow your tenant to keep their pet are:

• If they have already had it in your place for three months, and you knew or should have known about it but said nothing.
• If you allow another tenant to have one. The type of pet might come into play here. Allowing one person to have a gerbil does not mean you must allow another to have a python, but you would probably need to allow them a gerbil.

If you are unsure of your rights and obligations as a landlord, seek legal help to find out more.

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When you rented out the apartment that you own in New York, you found tenants that you thought would be respectful to the space and able to pay the rent. You wanted to make sure that you had someone who would take care of the building and who wouldn’t cause a lot of issues.

But your tenants have now decided that they wanted to sublet the apartment. Maybe they’re doing this on a short-term basis, or maybe they want to move out and have someone else assume the lease. Their name is still going to be on the lease, but they want someone else to live in the space, at least part-time. Are they allowed to do this?

You have to provide your permission

To start with, subletting apartments is generally not illegal. New York does have restrictions for those who are in rent-controlled areas and things of this nature, but most people are allowed to sublet their apartments if they would like to do some.

However, they cannot do this without your permission. It is still your property and you still own it. Even though they are on the lease to live there, you don’t have to allow them to sublet to just anyone.

After all, you may not believe that the tenants are going to vet potential people as well as you would. You made sure that you chose someone that you could trust to sign the lease, but you may not want to let your tenants just pick someone else to live in the space.

Generally speaking, tenants are supposed to write out their request to sublet the lease. They should then send it to you by certified mail, ensuring that you get it and that everything is recorded properly. At this point, you can choose whether you want to deny their request or grant it. You’re not obligated to grant it, and the tenant has to abide by your decision.

To get around this, some tenants will decide to sublet their apartment without asking for permission. In a case like this, you may need to consider evicting the tenant if they refuse to stop this practice. Make sure you fully understand all of your legal options at this time.

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As a landlord, you certainly cannot turn prospective renters away because they have a disability. If you do, they could take you to court for discrimination.

Yet what if you are not turning them away out of malice but because you think your apartment will not be comfortable for them? Are you within your rights to do so?

Probably not. The law requires most New York landlords to make and pay for reasonable accommodations that someone with a disability requests to make living there easier.

Unless that is, you have an entirely different and valid reason for refusing to rent them the place, such as they have a record of trashing previous apartments or refusing to pay rent. 

What is a reasonable accommodation for a disabled renter?

This is where it gets tricky. You probably cannot afford to spend half a million dollars making changes to one apartment for one client, and no one would expect you to do so. Yet how much is too much?

First, you should ensure you comply with anything required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, whether you have a tenant asking for it or not. Then you should look at what any potential tenant with a disability asks for on a case-by-case basis.

You probably need to make the accommodation if it merely requires you to modify your policy for them. If it requires you to alter the building, you need to consider the cost and how it affects the overall structure.

If you are unsure, seek legal help to assess your obligations as a landlord. It is easier than getting involved in a legal dispute because you refused to make modifications that a court would consider reasonable. 

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New York laws specify three circumstances in which a landlord may evict a tenant early. Even if the situation meets one of them, landlords must take great care to proceed with the removal correctly. Tenants typically do not like being thrown out, so they may seek to take legal action if you do not do things by the book.

Here are the three situations:

Criminal activity

The crime needs to take place on the premises. You cannot just evict someone because you discover they picked up a criminal record. If you believe your tenant is using the place for something illegal, you might want to inform the police. If they collect evidence and charge the tenant with a crime, it reduces the chance the tenant can tell the court you are making it up and have no reason to evict them.

A failure to pay on time

You must wait until five days past the rent due date. You then need to send a letter by certified mail followed by a 14-day notice to pay. If the client has not rectified the situation by the time 14 days are up, you can continue with the eviction process.

A breach of the lease agreement

Typical breaches include keeping pets, smoking on the premises when the contract does not allow it or damaging the property.

First, give the tenant a 10-day notice to comply. That could mean removing the animal, stopping smoking, or repairing the damage. If they do not do so by the time 10 days are up, you can issue a 30-day notice to leave. If they don’t,  you can seek the court eviction order.

Getting legal help to ensure you comply with eviction laws increases the chance you succeed.

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As a landlord, it is likely that at some point, you will end up having a dispute with a tenant who is moving out. 

If you spot damages when your tenant is ready to hand the apartment back, you might feel the tenant should pay to repair them. They may try to pass the damages off as normal wear and tear or say they were already there when they moved in.

A court dispute is not ideal for either of you, so here are some things you can do to reduce the chance that your disagreement reaches that stage:

Take photos

Photographic records are much harder to dispute than verbal evidence. If you have a dated photo showing that the floor was in perfect condition on the day your tenant moved in, it is harder for them to claim the cigarette burns and scratches were already there. 

Be realistic

No tenant will ever be perfect. If yours has generally been easy to deal with, consider if you really want to sour your relationship at the last minute over something minor. Understanding what is reasonable wear and tear is crucial because that’s expected. No client can hand back your apartment in the exact same state as you gave it to them.

Making a realistic assessment of how much something will cost to fix versus how much time and money you will spend disputing something is crucial.

That is not to say you should let tenants off with everything. If you believe you have good reason to hold a tenant accountable, seek legal help to examine your options.

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One of the challenges of being a landlord is keeping on top of all repairs that can crop up. A lot of things can go wrong, especially if your building is a few decades old. They probably are not your fault, yet you must meet your contractual obligations to ensure the premises you rent are livable.

What is the warranty of habitability?

This set’s out New York City tenants’ rights to a “livable, safe and sanitary apartment.” It is not something you can get around by adding clauses to your lease contract, either. A court would rule your contract invalid if it contains clauses that go against the city’s warranty of habitability.

What if my client caused the damage themselves?

Let’s say your client no longer has hot water in the shower because they smashed the pipe during a drunken party or while trying to install a bigger shower head. Is it your responsibility to repair it?

No, it is not. If you can show the client caused the issue, then they are responsible for getting it repaired. That does not mean they might not try to force you to do it, which is why legal help will be crucial.

Landlord-tenant disputes can easily escalate, especially when you are unsure of your rights and obligations. Getting legal help to understand where you stand enables you to deal with disputes more quickly. Knowing when to stand firm and when to pay the costs of maintenance or repair work costs reduces the chance things end up in court.

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It is sometimes essential to make quick judgments about what we see in front of us. For example, a lone woman might never have met the stocky male entering the passageway behind her, but instinct tells her he could spell trouble.

As a landlord, you may get a quick impression that you do not want the person knocking at the door as a tenant. Does that mean you can turn them down?

Be extremely careful before rejecting a prospective tenant

The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate against people based on things such as gender, race, religion, nationality, disability, the color of their skin or their family status.

While it might never occur to you to do that, a tenant you reject could claim that was the true reason you refused them.

That does not mean you have to accept every application

Here are two of the reasons that are acceptable:

• The tenant has a poor rental history: If the tenant has damaged previous rental properties or failed to pay rent on time, it may give you a reason to turn them down. Make sure your sources are accurate.
• You don’t take pets: If you wish to use this, be sure you do not have existing tenants with pets. It cannot be one rule for one and another for another. Note that service animals are an exception, and you generally need to accept them.

Getting legal help to understand your rights and obligations as a landlord reduces the chance you end up in a dispute.

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Deposits are one of the most common reasons for landlord-tenant disputes. There is a considerable amount of money at stake, especially with New York prices, so it is understandable that neither side want to lose out.

New York law makes clear when landlords can and cannot retain deposits. Understanding this can help reduce the chance you find yourself in a court case because a tenant claims you illegally retained their deposit.

Here are the only reasons for deposit retention

.Landlords can only justify keeping a rental deposit when:

• The tenant still owes rent: The landlord should only recover the correct amount.
• The tenant still owes the landlord for utility charges: These must be charges agreed to in the original lease contract.
• Damage to the property beyond wear and tear: This could cause a great deal of debate as each side may have a different definition of what constitutes reasonable wear and tear.
• The landlord had to pay to store or move the tenant’s belongings: This might happen if the tenant cannot do it themselves because they are away when the landlord needs them out.

The landlord must break down any amounts retained

If you need to pay for a new shower head because the tenant broke the existing one or deep clean the sofa because the tenant spilled wine on it, show a copy of the receipt as evidence. You cannot just say I am withholding all your deposit or this much of it without itemizing each cost.

Getting legal help can make things simpler as a landlord. It can help you create watertight contracts and ensure you do not make mistakes when dealing with tenants that could prove costly.

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If you are a New York landlord, there will come a time when you wish to raise the rent. Maybe it’s because you realize you set it too low initially and are struggling to pay your loan and bills. Perhaps due to inflation, the return you make no longer provides you with the lifestyle it once did. Or maybe you see others with similar properties charging much more.

It’s your property, so you can charge what you want, right? Not necessarily.

Is your property subject to rent stabilization?

Many New York properties fall under the protection of rent stabilization, limiting your right to raise rents as you see fit. If this does not apply, then there are still rules to abide by:

You must warn your tenant if you wish to raise the rent by more than 5%. How long in advance depends on how long they have lived there and how long the lease is for:

• If the lease is less than 12 months and the tenant has lived in the particular apartment for less than a year, you need only give them 30 days’ notice.
• If the lease is between one and two years, or the tenant has lived there between one and two years, you must give them 60 days’ notice.
• If the lease is at least two years or the tenant has lived there for two years or more, you must give them 90 days’ notice.

Understanding the rules you must abide by as a landlord can be challenging. Getting legal help to find out more reduces the chance you have legal problems with your tenants.

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When you set up your rental property’s contract, you decided that you did not want your tenants to have pets. You gave them 24 hours of notice to enter after hearing from another neighbor that they’d had a small animal they were playing with outside.

When inside, you found a cage and some small toys assumedly for some kind of rodent. While you appreciate that this isn’t a cat or a dog, your leasing agreement was clear. What should you do?

You could have the option of evicting your tenants

It’s possible that you could evict your tenants for violating the “no pets” policy in your leasing agreement. Most people do assume that the rules only apply to cats and dogs, but it’s reasonable for you to give them a notice of being in violation of the contract and to take steps to have them removed if they have other pets inside the home.

Many landlords start with a warning, because losing a tenant is costly. So, you may opt to meet with the tenant to talk about the pet and the restrictions in your contract, for example. Doing this may help you get the pet removed and have the tenant remain for at least the rest of their contract.

Other landlords might decide that the battle isn’t worth it and allow the small pet to stay as long as it isn’t a dog or cat. You might contact the renter and say they’re in violation of the contract but that you’ll add a pet fee to allow the pet to stay, for instance.

If you really don’t want to have pets in the apartment, you could ask the tenant to get rid of it by a certain date. If you return and see the animal is still in the home, then you could pursue other options to terminate your leasing agreement.

There are different ways to resolve a no-pets violation

Usually, if you can be reasonable, most people will understand that they’ve violated the contract. Some may not even realize they’ve done so, so it is worth having a conversation before taking legal action.

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