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How to Begin To file a claim for Small Claims Court go to the Clerk's Office in the county where your building is located. For locations, click here. For claims under $1,000 there is a $15.00 filing fee, and a $20.00 filing fee for claims between $1,000 and $5,000. If you are too busy to go down to the court you can file the claim online at nCourt or at TurboCourt for a slightly higher fee. Before You Go to Court You should prepare three binders: One for yourself, another for the judge or arbiter, and a third for the defendant. The binders should contain all of the documents you need for your case. These documents should be organized in chronological order. Keep the originals separate. If your landlord is especially sneaky, they may try to file an application with an excuse of why they can't attend. They'll do this to discourage you from coming back again. If you know your landlord is in town, send them a certified letter (even have a friend send it if you think they'll recognize your name), this way you'll have proof that they were available. While You're in Court Dress nicely. You will notice in Small Claims Court that few are. Many will be wearing shorts, t-shirts, and flip-flops. However, it does make a good impression on the judge, arbiter, and/ or clerk to show respect by dressing up. Be polite. The employees of New York Small Claims Court were trained at The Dirty Harry School of Getting Shit Done. It is wildly entertaining to watch them fend off the weak and confused unless it happens to be you. Show up on time, although you're going to do a lot of waiting. Don't talk or use your phone in the courtroom. Bring a book or magazine with you. Make sure you have your index number with you - although you'll be able to get it at court as well. My landlord is denying services Both an HP Proceeding and a 7A Proceeding take place in Housing Court, which may differ in practice from Small Claims Court. You should only pursue these options once you have completed the steps in the Immediate Gratification section on Bad Housing Conditions, namely requesting an inspection and documenting repeated requests to your landlord and super to fix repairs. HP Proceeding You will need the name and address of your landlord in order to serve them papers. Go to the HP Clerk at the Housing Court, and they will give you two forms: 1. Order to Show Cause Directing the Correction of Violations (HP Action) 2. Verified Petition in Support of an Order to Show Cause Directing the Correction of Violation The latter document is where you will outline all of the repairs that need to be made. You will also want to fill out a form called "Request for an Inspection." You will then see a judge who will sign the Order to Show Cause and give you a court date. Be sure to tell the clerk and the judge if these are emergency repairs. What you should bring to court: 1. A copy of the three documents listed above. 2. A copy of any inspection reports you have requested. 3. Photographs of repairs that need to be made, or any other evidence available. 4. All documentation of communication among you, your landlord, and your super about the need to make repairs and their refusal to do so. 5. Documentation of how the denial of services has affected you. Have you been hurt? Have your belongings been damaged? Has the apartment itself been damaged? 7A Proceeding If you're living with a slumlord, chances are your apartment isn't the only one in need of repairs. If you can get 1/3 of the building's other tenants to agree to go to court with you to force the landlord to make all repairs necessary to the building, then you can file a 7A Proceeding. If you win this case, the court will appoint an administrator to manage the building, collect the rent, and put the monies toward repairs until all necessary repairs are fixed. While it may be difficult to get 1/3 of the tenants to collaborate in this way, this method is much more effective than filing an HP Proceeding because you're not relying on the landlord to fulfill any of their responsibilities. If you need help, see the Immediate Gratification section on Organizing Tenants. Before you leave the apartment, and after all of your belongings are removed, take pictures of every wall, floor, and ceiling. If you can get a time stamp on the pictures, that would be preferable. Whenever you move into an apartment, you should walk through it with your landlord, write down everything that is already broken and have them sign the document. Before you file a claim, report this to the Attorney General's office at (212) 416-8000. The Harlem office can be reached at (212) 961-4475 and the Brooklyn office at (718) 722-3949. This will save you a lot of time if the Attorney General can retrieve your security deposit for you. What you should bring to court: 1. A copy of your lease. 2. A copy of the receipt for the deposit. 3. Certified letter and signature confirmation giving 30 days notice. This should include your forwarding address and details of when you expect your deposit back e.g. within 6-8 weeks. 4. A copy of the check for your last month's rent. 5. Certified letter and signature confirmation giving notice that you have moved out with your forwarding address. This letter should be part of a package with a copy of your keys. Note in the letter that your keys are included. If your landlord is planning to sue you for damages, you should bring the photographs with you. What You Do When You Win First call the defendant to see if they will pay. If they won't, you have a couple options. 1. Get the bank account numbers of your landlord. You can do this by getting copies of the checks you used to pay the rent. It should have the bank name and account number where it was deposited on the back of the check. 2. Get the license plate number of their car. This should be fairly easy if you know where they live or if they tend to hang around the building a lot. You will need the model and year as well. 3. Get all addresses of the property they own. If you know your landlord's name, or the name of the company, click here to search by property owner. If you don't know their name, first use this search to find your block and lot, then use that information to find the property owner using this search. It's going to give you a couple different buildings and their respective owners. You'll have to click on the DET or IMG buttons on the left to view the address and find your apartment. You can also obtain an information subpoena for $2.00 from the Small Claims Clerk and send it to your landlord. They are required to give you the information requested, such as bank accounts, addresses etc. Most likely you are going to need an enforcement officer to seize these assets. An enforcement office can either be a Sheriff or a New York City Marshall. If you're using a Sheriff, they should be from the county where the landlord has assets. Click here to find out how to contact the Sheriff from each county. If you want to contact a New York City Marshall, here is a list of marshalls with contact info. When you contact an enforcement officer, give them all the information you have on the landlord's assets. Then ask them to request an "execution" from the court, which will allow them to seize your landlord's property. You will have to pay a small fee for an enforcement officer. Your landlord must get a court order to evict you. If a judge rules in their favor, then you will be served with a 72-hour eviction notice. Go to the Clerk at the Housing Division of Civil Court and ask for an Order to Show Cause. You will have to fill out an affidavit. If you did not receive dispossess or a Notice Petition, and the first time you heard about the eviction was when you received the 72-hour notice, then you should state that in the affidavit. If there was a reason why you missed court, like you were sick or away from home, you should state that. You should also state if you are paying rent, and if you are not that it is because the landlord is not making repairs. Do not leave the courthouse without a judge signing your Order to Show Cause. It will be your responsibility to deliver the Order to Show Cause to the Marshall (who is the only one who can evict you) and your landlord. If you have already been evicted, you can still request an Order to Show Cause, which may prevent your landlord from re-renting the apartment, getting rid of your belongings, or may permit you to go in to get your belongings. Harassment Most of the time, landlords make more money with a high turnover. They may want you to move out because they can raise the rent more with a new tenant or to turn a rent-regulated apartment into market-rate unit. Sometimes a landlord is looking to break a lease because they want to turn the building co-op. You have a good chance of proving harassment if your landlord is refusing to accept rent from you. If this is the case, start sending your rent with a certified letter and get a good lawyer. As a Result of Withholding Rent If you withhold rent from a landlord, chances are they are going to try to evict you. As long as you follow all the steps laid out in the Immediate Gratification section on Bad Housing Conditions, then you have a good chance of winning your case. If you don't win your case, then you should still be fine as long as you kept the rent in a separate account and did not spend it. What you will need to bring to court: 1. Documentation of your communication with the landlord and super about the needed repairs in the apartment and building and their refusal to make those repairs. 2. Reports of any inspections made. 3. Your own documentation of the repairs, such as photographs, and how the lack of services has affected your health and/ or your belongings. 4. Any communication following the inspection, where you landlord promised to fix it on a certain date and failed to do so. 5. Documented communication between you and your landlord where you notify them that you will be withholding rent until the repairs are made. 6. The bank account information where the unpaid rent is held. 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