Does the Landlord have the Rights to have me Vacate the Premises Within Five Days for Lease Violatio

Full question:

My landlord gave me 5 days to move because she said my son violated the lease by smoking in the building, entering the maintenance room, and smelled of marijuana. The tenants in the local building complained to the office and all of these things took place last month. I was first notified on November 23 about the incident and I addressed them with my son. The office notified me by mail on December 4 about the incident that we spoke about in November. I contacted the office on Monday and Tuesday to talk about the letter and she advised me that another incident happened on Friday, December 7, 2007 about 5:00 p.m., but my son wasn't in the building at that time. My son was locked out and I had someone to meet him to let him in after 7:00 p.m. The office is relying on the tenants words without any investigation. The office advised that items were turned over to the police, but no one contacted me or my son about the incidents. I would think if marijuana was found in the building that the police would have contacted us for questioning. The office advised me that the tenants have been renting for 20 years and she believes them over me. I never had any problems with my son bringing illegal objects into my house. Does the landlord have the rights to have me vacate the premises in just five days? What about my deposit and prorating my rent for December? Do I have at less 30 days to vacate premises before an eviction process proceedings?

• Category: Landlord Tenant
• Subcategory: Lease Violation
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: New York

Answer:

The following is a NY statute:

§ 715. Grounds and procedure where use or occupancy is illegal.

1. An
owner or tenant, including a tenant of one or more rooms of an apartment
house, tenement house or multiple dwelling, of any premises within two
hundred feet from other demised real property used or occupied in whole
or in part as a bawdy-house, or house or place of assignation for lewd
persons, or for purposes of prostitution, or for any illegal trade,
business or manufacture, or any domestic corporation organized for the
suppression of vice, subject to or which submits to visitation by the
state department of social services and possesses a certificate from
such department of such fact and of conformity with regulations of the
department, or any duly authorized enforcement agency of the state or of
a subdivision thereof, under a duty to enforce the provisions of the
penal law or of any state or local law, ordinance, code, rule or
regulation relating to buildings, may serve personally upon the owner or
landlord of the premises so used or occupied, or upon his agent, a
written notice requiring the owner or landlord to make an application
for the removal of the person so using or occupying the same. If the
owner or landlord or his agent does not make such application within
five days thereafter; or, having made it, does not in good faith
diligently prosecute it, the person, corporation or enforcement agency
giving the notice may bring a proceeding under this article for such
removal as though the petitioner were the owner or landlord of the
premises, and shall have precedence over any similar proceeding
thereafter brought by such owner or landlord or to one theretofore
brought by him and not prosecuted diligently and in good faith. Proof of
the ill repute of the demised premises or of the inmates thereof or of
those resorting thereto shall constitute presumptive evidence of the
unlawful use of the demised premises required to be stated in the
petition for removal. Both the person in possession of the property and
the owner or landlord shall be made respondents in the proceeding.

2. For purposes of this section, two or more convictions of any person
or persons had, within a period of one year, for any of the offenses
described in section 230.00, 230.05, 230.20, 230.25, 230.30 or 230.40 of
the penal law arising out of conduct engaged in at the same real
property consisting of a dwelling as that term is defined in subdivision
four of section four of the multiple dwelling law shall be presumptive
evidence of conduct constituting use of the premises for purposes of
prostitution.

3. For the purposes of this section, two or more convictions of any
person or persons had, within a period of one year, for any of the
offenses described in section 225.00, 225.05, 225.10, 225.15, 225.20,
225.30, 225.32, 225.35 or 225.40 of the penal law, arising out of
conduct engaged in at the same premises consisting of a dwelling as that
term is defined in subdivision four of section four of the multiple
dwelling law shall be presumptive evidence of unlawful use of such
premises and of the owner's knowledge of the same.

4. A court granting a petition pursuant to this section may, in
addition to any other order provided by law, make an order imposing and
requiring the payment by the respondent of a civil penalty not exceeding
five thousand dollars to the municipality in which the subject premises
is located and, the payment of reasonable attorneys fees and the costs
of the proceeding to the petitioner. In any such case multiple
respondents shall be jointly and severally liable for any payment so
ordered and the amounts of such payments shall constitute a lien upon
the subject realty.

5. For the purposes of a proceeding under this section, an enforcement
agency of the state or of a subdivision thereof, which may commence a
proceeding under this section, may subpoena witnesses, compel their

attendance, examine them under oath before himself or a court and
require that any books, records, documents or papers relevant or
material to the inquiry be turned over to him for inspection,
examination or audit, pursuant to the civil practice law and rules. If a
person subpoenaed to attend upon such inquiry fails to obey the command
of a subpoena without reasonable cause, or if a person in attendance
upon such inquiry shall, without reasonable cause, refuse to be sworn or
to be examined or to answer a question or to produce a book or paper,
when ordered to do so by the officer conducting such inquiry, he shall
be guilty of a class B misdemeanor.