What to do about illegal subletter?

Question

Here's my situation:
I began subletting an apartment in Manhattan in March, with 2 roommates that were already there. We are paying rent to the guy who is on the lease - he does not live there and never sought permission from the building to have us there without him living there. He lived there last year but has since moved out. He makes 3600 each year off of us.
The lease ends in February and he plans on renewing it again - however, me and my 2 roommates don't like the idea of paying him all that extra money and want to get on the lease ourselves. What should I do? Has anyone been in a similar situation? Advice would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

tell the building manager and tel them that you are not going to stay after the lease runs out in febuary since you don't have it in writing. and contact a lawyer just in case

Answer 2

You have no legal standing in this issue. The superior tenant has an explicit right to the property in NY law and unless he abandons the lease when it expires you can not take his position. In NY, landlords usually must continue to lease to an individual as long as the rent is paid. Generally the only way that a NY landlord can put a tenant out (other than for non payment or violation of the lease terms) is to occupy the unit themselves or to place a close family relative in the unit.

Whether or not he sought the landlord's permission to sublet is a relatively minor issue now. The truth is, you don't know if the landlord has given explicit permission or not. It's entirely possible that he has. Even if he hasn't, the sublet has been going on long enough that the landlord has given implicit consent to it. Many landlords don't really care as long as they get their rent.

If the landlord wanted to make an issue out of it, YOU could wind up being evicted in the process. Given the length of time you've been in the unit though, it's not likely that the landlord would succeed with an eviction based upon a sublet without permission. At most, the courts would remove the superior tenant and you'd continue to pay the same rent to the landlord as you are paying to the superior tenant right now.

This is common practice in NYC. Learn to live with it.