looking for a great attorney dealing with tenent law in manhattan

Eileen O’Toole, Attorney at Law
(212) 838-1153 Tel
eotatty@aol.com

here's her bio...

Eileen O’Toole concentrates her practice in real estate litigation and transactions. Her litigation experience includes commercial and residential landlord-tenant proceedings, administrative proceedings before the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, court actions between cooperative boards and shareholders, representation of creditors before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, and appeals.

On the transactional side, Ms. O’Toole drafts and negotiates leases, and represents buyers and sellers of all forms of real property. She also advises clients on complex rent regulatory issues in rent-stabilized and HUD housing.

A frequent contributor to legal publications, Ms. O’Toole is the editor of the monthly digest, Landlord v. Tenant:NYC (Brownstone Publishers) and co-author of Landlord and Tenant Practice in New York (West Group 1998). She is a graduate of New York University and Boston University School of Law.

Eileen O’Toole, Attorney at Law
eotatty@aol.com

how much does anyone wanna bet that it's not actually his primary residence?

http://www.hmgdjlaw.com/mcconnell.asp

west34, of course it is not his primary residence or he wouldn't need a lawyer. So no, I am not taking that bet.

actually, many people in PCV/ST had to retain attorneys to fight Tishman's efforts to deny lease renewals based on inaccurate allegations that the units weren't their primary residences.

my thought exactly.

Your honor, I live there all the time, here's my tax return, my utility bills, an affidavit from the doorman who sees me come and go, here's the actual Mexican guy who delivers my food every day....!

Give up the apartment to someone who deserves it.

But Your Honor, I only spend my SUMMERS in the Hamptons... I thoroughly take advantage of the public subsidizing my housing for the other 8 months of the year. I swear.

glad you're not the judge....

Aboutready is right. Yes, there is ridiculous abuse of the RC/RS system but some landlords use unlawful and unfortunate tactics to force out legal rc/rs tenants especially seniors. Btw, in my experience it is rarely seniors who are guilty of rc/rs abuse. It is perfectly within guidelines to spend a few months in Florida or someother warm weather spot as long as more than 50% of the nights are spent in your apartment. Rather its younger people who pass on the keys from their "college buddies ex-girlfriend's sister's old friend from the gym" and charge thousands more than the landlord is getting from the legal tenant in rent that are most of the problem.
Full disclosure: I grew up in a rent controlled apartment that my parents occupied for 65 years (I purchased it after conversion) and later lived in an r/s unit with ridiculously undermarket rent (but as the legitmate primary leaseholder) for 25 years. So I have natural sympathy for tenants but I also know small landlords in areas like Nolita who are stuck with r/s tenants who bitch when they have problems parking their BMW.

Seth A. Miller
Collins, Dobkin & Miller LLP
Attorneys at Law
277 Broadway, 14th Flr.
New York, New York 10007-2001

RE laws are very pro tenant in NY. All you have to do is show up in court on time, make the judge feel sorry (and what judge does not feel sorry for an 80 year old man being evicted) and you will get favorable results.

There are abuses on both sides, the problem is the abusive landlords are not paired up with the abusive tenants; life would be too easy then. On the tenants side, I found the worst abuses by tenants usually are in buildings owned long term by an absentee landlord that has "professional" management, and the worst abuses by landlords are by guys who buy buildings at high prices knowing they need turnover to make the deals work, so they "work" the buildings to death (like PCV/ST, but they are just one in a long line, like http://www.villagevoice.com/2000-05-09/news/there-goes-the-neighborhood/)