Q: My landlord is refusing to amend a lease to comply with new laws, what recourse do I have?
I signed a lease in July of 2019, but did not receive a countersigned lease until August 15th 2019. In June 2019, new laws went into effect that neither we (Tenants) or our landlord (LL) were aware of at the time. One of the laws states that the LL cannot charge more than 1-months security deposit in the State of New York.
After requesting in writing the additional security deposit to be returned, our LL said that we can only amend the lease after the terms of the current lease are up, and seems to be threatening to not renew our lease since we are requesting the deposit back ("if both parties are willing to renew the lease".) He continued to tell us that he would prefer us not contact him ("the less the better"). However, we believe that a LL's lease can not and should not supersede State Laws.
Who is in the right here?
A: The law would be controlling in the situation you described. If you can't persuade the landlord to return the extra security deposit to you, you could take the landlord to Small Claims Court. In the alternative, you could withhold the amount in question from your rent but the landlord might start a nonpayment case against you and you might have to take time to go to Housing Court to get it all sorted out.
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