How to evict a subtenant?
Question Details: I live in a double wide trailer and recently was having a rough patch so i needed help paying rent. I allowed a couple with 2 children to move in with me. They are now verbally obnoxious, make a lot of noise when we are sleeping and just are generally make our lives miserable. My fiance and I are the leaseholders with our landlord but we then signed a sub-lease with our "tenants" to cover our own rights. I would like to know what my quickest and simplest options are as I have tried asking them to leave and they refuse and say that it is their house too.
Under NY law when you sublet, with the landlord's consent, a separate landlord-tenant relationship is created between the sublessor (you) & the subtenant. The respective rights of the prime tenant (sublessor) & the subtenant are governed by the terms of the sublease, which generally incorporates all of the terms of the overlease (your lease with the landlord). If the sublease has not expired or will not be expiring shortly, then your right to bring a holdover (eviction) proceeding against the subtenants would depend upon whether the subtenants have violated one or more provisions in the sublease (or provisions in the overlease), that would permit you to legally terminate the sublease. I suggest you have an attorney review the sublease & the overlease & advise you whether there are sufficient legal grounds to terminate the sublease & maintain a holdover proceeding.
However, if the sublease will be expiring shortly, after the expiration of the sublease, you would have the right to commence a holdover proceeding in the local town, justice or city court & seek a judgment of possession & a warrant of eviction. If you bring a holdover proceeding after the sublease expires, you would not need to prove that the subtenant violated the terms of either the sublease or overlease. Your proceeding would be based upon the expiration of the sublease & the fact that the subtenants continue to "hold over" after expiration of their term, without permission of the prime tenant (sublessor). These grounds are, in most cases, easier to prove than grounds based upon a lease violation by the subtenant. I hope you found this general overview helpful.
