How to Evict Troublesome Tenants Few things can cause headaches or lower the value of your building faster than a disruptive or destructive tenant. If you do nothing while a tenant harasses other tenants, you could run into trouble later on. If the tenant harms another building tenant, you may be brought into court to explain why you didn’t take any action to get rid of the troublesome tenant. Or other building tenants may start withholding rent, or move out, because of the tenant’s activities. Or if the tenant damages your building, you may be stuck with costly repairs.

1. How to Evict Troublesome Tenants
Few things can cause headaches or lower the value of your building faster than a disruptive or
destructive tenant. If you do nothing while a tenant harasses other tenants, you could run into
trouble later on. If the tenant harms another building tenant, you may be brought into court to
explainwhy you didn’t take any action to get rid of the troublesome tenant. Or other building
tenants may start withholding rent, or move out, because of the tenant’s activities. Or if the tenant
damages your building, you may be stuck with costly repairs.
When You Can Evict
Both the rent stabilization and rent control laws allow you to evict a tenant if you can prove that the
tenant’s behavior fits the legal definitionof a “nuisance.” To evict a tenant based on nuisance, you
must show either:
1. Abusive tenant behavior. The tenant or a familymember has engaged in a continuing pattern of
harassment and abuse toward other tenants in the building,threatening their health or safety; or
2. Property damage. The tenant has intentionallyor maliciously damaged the apartment or the
building.
It’s important to know that evicting a tenant based on nuisance can be difficult.Some judges will
work to finda way to allowthe tenant to remain in the apartment. And even if you win your case,
you may not be able to evict the tenant right away. A judge could give the tenant a chance to
correct his behavior before issuing an eviction warrant. But if you take the right steps and are
patient, you should be able to evict that tenant.
Avoid Pitfalls When Sending Required Notice
Before you can ask a court to evict a tenant based on nuisance, you must send the tenant a legal
notice called a “notice of termination.” In it, you let the tenant know you’re planning on ending the
lease and will start a lawsuit to evict him if he doesn’t move out by the date specifiedin your notice.
It pays to be careful when you send this notice. It can be tricky and if you handle it wrong, you could
wind up losing your case. You may want to consult with your attorney before sending this notice.

2. When to send notice. You must send the termination notice to a rent-stabilizedtenant at least
seven days before you can start the lawsuit. (If your lease requires more notice, comply with your
lease.) For a rent-controlled tenant, you must send the notice at least 10 days before you can start
the lawsuit. Also, the Rent Control Law requires you to file an exact copy of the termination notice
with its affidavit of service at the Division of Housing and Community Renewal within 48 hours after
sending it to the rent-controlled tenant (not including Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays) [NYC Rent
and Eviction Regulations, Section 2204.3(c)]. The courts have heldthe affidavitof service is to be
filedat the District Rent Office located in the borough of the court proceeding. For proceedings in
Manhattan, it is the DHCR’s position that service can be upon eitherthe Lower or Upper Manhattan
Rent Office.For proceedings in Staten Island, where the DHCR does not have a rent office,it isthe
DHCR’s position that the service can also be upon either of the Manhattan Rent Offices.The
Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn officeswill be the place of service for proceedings in their respective
boroughs.
What notice says. Your notice must say far more than that the tenant is a nuisance. It should
describe all the tenant’s activities that create a nuisance. Put as much information as you can in the
notice. If you include too little,a court will findyour notice defective because it doesn’t give the
tenant enough information to defendhimself in the lawsuit.
In one case, an owner sued to evict rent-stabilizedtenants for breaching their lease by making loud
noises in public areas outside their apartment, and for failing to repair damages to the apartment
and public areas. The tenants asked the court to dismiss the case. They said that the owner’s
notices were insufficientto permit them to prepare a defense and were therefore defective under
Rent StabilizationCode Section 2524.2(h). The court ruled for the tenants. The notice stated only a
single date when the tenants were loud. While dates and times aren’t required in a cure notice or
termination notice, the lack of such information in notices here rendered them insufficient.The
notices also failedto explainhow or when the tenants or their guests damaged public areas [USKI
Properties, Inc. v. Machicote, November 2015].
In another case, the owner sued to evict a rent-stabilizedtenant for creating a nuisance based on
objectionable conduct. The tenant claimed the owner’s termination notice failedto state sufficient
facts for the tenant to put up a defense.The court ruled against the tenant. The termination notice
described various incidents involvingthe tenant’s household member, including a Jan. 21, 2015,
incident where that occupant verbally and physically threatened buildingemployeesin connection
with a motorcycle chained in the building lobby. An argument escalated, a crowd gathered, and gun
shots were fired.Police arrested the household member. The owner allegedthat the household
member’s menacing and threatening behavior required the owner to relocate and reassign several
employeeswho feared for their safety. A copy of the Criminal Complaint was attached to the
termination notice. Whether the incidents described were sufficient to prove nuisance was a matter
to be decided through pretrial questioningand trial [Mid Bronx HDFC v. Paulino,August 2015].
Check lease for other required notice. Your lease may require you to send an additional notice to
the tenant, called a “notice to cure.” If so, you must send this notice, even though it’s not normally
required in an eviction proceeding based on nuisance.

3. How to Prove Case
Here’s the type of proof you’ll need to win an eviction based on nuisance:
1. Testimony of other tenants. If your nuisance case rests on a tenant’s abusive behavior toward
others, the testimony of other building tenants describing the tenant’s behavior is critical. If the
other tenants are reluctant to get involvedand unwillingto testify,it will be almost impossible to
win your case. You must convince them that their testimony is essential to evicting the abusive
tenant.
Here are some steps to take before the trial to get ready:
 Get tenant complaints in writing. As soon as a building tenant complains to you about another
tenant’s behavior, have that tenant put the complaint in writing. This will help you prepare for
the trial and buttress the tenant’s testimony at the trial.
 Ask tenants to keep a log. Ask each tenant who complains to keepa written log describing any
incidents involvingthe abusive tenant. Have these tenants note the date and time of each
incident. This will help them remember specific dates, times,and events when called on to
testify in court.
 Keep your own log of tenant complaints. When tenants complain about a disruptive tenant, keep
your own log of their complaints. That way, you’ll know which tenants to contact as witnesses if
you take a disruptive tenant to court.
2. Testimony of building personnel. Your buildingemployees can also testify about the tenant’s
behavior. Employees who come in daily contact with the tenant (doormen, supers) can tell the
court their personal observations of and experienceswith the tenant’s behavior. Again, it helps if
employeeskeep a written log in which they describe specific incidents involving the tenant.
3. Testimony of contractors or repairmen. If the tenant has damaged your property, you can have
the contractor who fixedthe problem testifyabout what repairs were needed and what caused the
problem. You also should save copies of paid bills and canceled checks to submit to the court.
Types of Nuisance Behavior
Courts consider the followingto be nuisance behavior:
Tenant’s continuous abusive behavior. To show that the tenant’s behavior is a legal nuisance, you
must show that the tenant continuously harassed other building tenants, threatening their health
or safety.
In one case, an owner showed that a tenant engaged, over a period of years, in a pattern of
objectionable conduct at the building.This included repeated instances of verbally abusive and
physically violentconduct toward the property manager. The tenant was convicted of second-
degree harassment, and the property manager had a two-year order of protection against the
tenant. The tenant’s behavior placed an intolerable burden on other tenants and the building staff
[Peters v. Owens, June 2015].

4. In another case, an owner sued to evict a 79-year-old rent-controlled tenant for creating a nuisance.
The owner claimed that the tenant harassed and interfered with the buildingsuper’s performance
of his duties and made loud noises directed at disturbing her upstairs neighbors. The tenant was
represented by an attorney and a guardian ad litem(GAL) and, without admitting any wrongdoing,
signed a settlementagreement that put her on probation for 15 months. The owner returned to
court more than once, claiming that the tenant had violatedthe agreement. Initially,the court gave
the tenant a chance to seek counseling for helpwith her behavior.
But the tenant refused to get help and, after a hearing, the court ruled for the owner. The building
super credibly testifiedthat the tenant repeatedlycalled or rang his bell at all hours, threatened his
family members, cursed at him, and made racial slurs. He said that the tenant carried a metal bar
that he was afraid she would injure someone with. The tenant made repeated claims that her
apartment door locks were damaged, but they were always found to be working. The tenant also
complained about sound waves from the apartment above hers. Upstairs neighbors credibly
testifiedthat the tenant repeatedly yelledand cursed at them, banged on the ceiling,and called the
police during the night falsely claiming that there were disturbances occurring in the upstairs
apartment. They eventually broke their lease and moved out because of the tenant. Videotape
evidence showed the tenant damaging the door of the upstairs apartment with a metal bar. The
tenant also left repeated, harassing voicemail messages for the building’s managing agent.
In addition to harassing the super, managing agent, and upstairs tenants, the tenant’s repeated
frivolous 911 calls to the police and fire department placed the entire community and
neighborhood at risk since she was taking first responders’ time away from other real emergencies.
The owner could proceed with eviction [122 D Broadway, LLC v. Weinberg, March 2015].
Family member’s abusive behavior. If you can show that the behavior of a tenant’s familymember
threatens the safety of other tenants on a continuous basis, you can evict the tenant.
In one case, a judge found that a rent-stabilizedtenant could be evictedfor her son’s illegal drug
activity at the apartment. At trial, a narcotics detective testifiedthat the police searched the three-
bedroom apartment with a warrant in 2013 and found in the open 240 packages of crack cocaine,
other drug paraphernalia, two packages of heroin, and a measuring scale. The detective stated that,
in her opinion,the drugs were arranged for sale and that there was too much for personal use. The
tenant’s son also later pled guilty to criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell.The tenant
testifiedthat, although her son livedwith her, she wasn’t involved with the drugs, never used them,
and never saw them in the apartment.
The court ruled for the owner. Given the amount of drugs found and the son’s conviction, the
owner proved that the apartment was used to facilitate trade in drugs and that the tenant knew or
should have known of her son’s activitiesand acquiesced. The drugs and paraphernalia were found
in the half bathroom, second bedroom, and closet of the third bedroom, which was the tenant’s
room. The police also had searched the apartment on prior occasions looking for drugs [WHGA
Renaissance Apts. LP v. Jackson, September 2014].
In another case, the court found that the tenant’s teenage children engaged in antisocial behavior.
The owner sued to evict the tenant for nuisance. The court ruled for the owner, and the tenant
appealed. The appeals court ruled against the tenant. The court found the tenant didn’t take any

5. steps to stop the continual antisocial behavior of her two teenage children. The owner showed that
they repeatedly vandalized the building’s front entrance door and elevator, urinated and smoked
marijuana in the hallways, verbally abused other tenants, and assaulted building staff. Their
behavior substantially threatened the comfort and safety of others in the building [Acorn Realty,
L.L.C. v. Torres, October 1996].
Abusive or destructive behavior of tenant’s visitors. In some circumstances, you can evict a tenant
if you can show that the tenant’s visitors threaten the safety of other tenants. In one case, an
owner sued to evict a rent-stabilized tenant for creating a nuisance. The owner claimed that the
tenant had permitted up to 15 people to live in the apartment, causing physical destruction of the
premises and the issuance of many violations. The owner and tenant signed a settlement
agreement that put the tenant on probation for 15 months. The tenant agreed not to engage in or
permit the complained-of conduct. The owner later went back to court, claiming that the tenant
had breached the agreement. The court ruled against the owner after a hearing.
The owner appealed and won. The owner’s surveillance videotape showed that one night many
people went in and out of tenant’s apartment while she was home. An altercation broke out among
several of tenant’s guests in the hallway outside the tenant’s apartment. It then moved downstairs
and one of the guests shattered the glass of the building’s entrance door. Another guest repeatedly
kicked the bottom glass pane and banged on that door. The appeals court found that the tenant
materially breached the settlement agreement by failing to take any meaningful steps to curtail the
recurrent destructive and antisocial behavior of her roommates and/or guests. Therefore, the
owner could evict the tenant [289 & 305 Associates v. Mohan, April 2016].
In another case, the owner sued to evict a tenant, claiming that the tenant and his guests created a
nuisance in the apartment and the building’scommon areas. The court ruled for the owner after a
trial. The owner presented testimony showing that the tenant and his unauthorized guests engaged
in a continuous course of antisocial conduct, including repeated incidents of fighting and noise
within the apartment. The tenant also threatened other residents and their children. Police had
been called to the buildingbased on the tenant’s conduct on various occasions. Another tenant
reported that a gun shot was fired from the tenant’s window and a shell casing was afterward
found nearby. The court found that the tenant’s behavior presented a threat to the safety and
comfort of other tenants [Stratford, LP v. Ventura, March 2016].
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