Ask Altagracia: My landlord denies offering a rental reduction during a renovation. Can I still pay a lower rent?

It is a common misconception that an e -mail or text of a landlord is binding in one way or another. E -mails and texts do not form contracts. “A lease agreement is signed by both the tenant and the lessor and each amendment must be signed in the same way as the original contract” Representatives of residential tenants, condo owners and landlords.

This means to enforce a rental reduction that has been agreed via e -mail or text, you should have signed a lease change by both parties prior to the renovation work.

The real problem here is whether the landlord will act in good faith and will follow his SMS or E -mail. “If you are looking for legal advice on this, you have all your answer,” said Pierre-Louterbridge.

Negotiate with your landlord

Whether there is an e -mail exchange that discussed a rental reduction for renovations, you can always withhold rent when disruptive construction work influences the use and pleasure of your apartment. Renting rent can encourage your landlord to negotiate.

To bring the landlord to the table, the amount you deduct from your monthly rent must be useful. Your goal in this situation is to force the signing of an agreement on a rental reduction, so the retention of $ 100 may not be sufficient.

“The way to force a conflict and a resolution is to withhold the entire rent,” said Pierre-Louterbridge. The reservation here is that you must be ready to be charged and fight before the court or through a lawyer outside the court. “Leverage is often built by having a lawyer, because this means that the landlord will incur legal costs – and you mean business,” she added.

If and when you are going to court, a judge will determine how useful the original e -mail exchange is for your case. Either through the court or in negotiation with a lawyer, the level of reduction for the renovation work will be completed.

Make sure you wait until you have the written agreement of the lessor before you pay one of the rent that you have withheld retroactively.

Altagracia Pierre-Oouterbridge, ESQ. Is the owner of Outerbridge Law PC, which mainly focuses on tenant representation. The company represents all parties in Landlordenhouwerzaken and transactional matters such as Holdovers from month to month, annoying affairs, licensees, intimidation claims, repair cases, buyouts for tenants, follow-up claims, DHCR overloads and rental reductions and more. Pierre-Louterbridge has 15 years of experience in the process in Supreme, DHCR and HOUSING COURT. Click here to submit a question for this column. Call 212-364-5612 or 877-Urbridge, or to contact Plan a meeting today.