Q: Renewal lease rent increase vs monthly rent bill
For the past two years, I have returned the renewal lease with increases both by email and US Post. The 1st year I received a counter singed copy. The send year I have not receive the counter signed copy. When I asked for it they said they didn't receive the copy I sent in the mail. So I resent it. Still have not received it. They claim they need the hard copy not a pdf via email, even though the year before they accepted the pdf.
Since I have my rent payments on auto pay from my bank, I hadn't noticed until now, that the monthly rent bill I receive notes my rent at the rate it was before I signed the increase lease 2 years ago.
Which amount am I obligated to pay..what it says on the lease or what it says on the monthly rent bill?
I'm in NY.
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A:
If a new lease has not been executed then your tenancy renews on a month to month basis under the amount of rent set forth in the most recent executed lease.
However, just because they are requesting a wet signature, does not mean if you executed a copy with an electronic signature it is invalid.
Steven Warren Smollens agrees with this answer
1 user found this answer helpful
A:
Dear Brooklyn Tenant:
This would be simple if you were a Rent Stabilized tenant. Rent Stabilized tenants always have a duplicate of the lease renewal forms, their landlords keep track of tenants without returned lease renewals since that leads to an automatic lease default based on the Rent Stabilization Code, and their landlords must track the current rent based on lease renewals annually with registration filed with NYS HCR.
Free market tenants must do all that on their own. Copy the lease renewal, track the mailing envelope, pay close attention to the rent charged, etc.
As Alex B. Pia, Esq. pointed out, your tenancy defaulted to a month-to-month. You could determine whether your landlord wants to continue your tenancy and request a duplicate of the lease renewal that seems lost in the wind and catch up on the rent as it should have been set by your own request when you accepted the new lease.
Alex B. Pia agrees with this answer
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