Interviewer: What are some, like, examples of some typical clients like what sort of landlords are they, what sort of buildings do they own? Glen Malia: Let me start with what I like to refer to is the accidental landlord, the person who ended up with a rental unit because for various reasons, a family member who’s died, they’ve inherited and they can’t sell it, they’re looking at a job transfer and their property is under water mortgage wise so they can’t sell it. So, these people become accidental landlords, they have no choice but to become landlords. And then, you have the individual maybe buying a two-family or a three-family house and owned or occupied two or three family house and they become a landlord obviously for the other unit or two units and things of that nature. Commercial Landlords Own Commercial Real Estate to Rent Out to Businesses Frequently, the second type, the one that buys the two-family, the owner occupy two-family, realizes that they can make money being a landlord and then, they move off and they buy another building and multiple buildings. So, you have the landlord who now has bought multiple residential buildings. That is like the next step up would be the landlord who has residential units and maybe a couple of commercial units. Sometimes you have a commercial store fronting a small little apartment, 3 or 4 unit apartment building so you’ve now become a commercial landlord also. And then, there’s the people who just own commercial real estate, to rent out to businesses and stores and things of that nature and not have to worry about the residential real estate aspect, the residential landlord turned aspect. When you’re dealing with the commercial and once again, you get a small mom and pop commercial type thing, where you maybe own, a little office building or maybe you own a little strip malls and things like that and then you do have the large commercial view and things of that nature. Common Needs of Clients in Relation to Landlord Laws Interviewer: What are some of their most common needs? What are their most common needs or questions that they ask? Glen Malia: Generally speaking, the entry point with me is when the landlord has any eviction? Many people, they bought a building, they’ve used their real estate attorney to buy or their general practice attorney when they go to buy their building and maybe that attorney has even done a lease for them and things of that nature and then, the time comes and they have a problem and it’s got to be cured. And that problem is usually a bad tenant. In New York State the Landlord / Tenant Laws are Very Specific Because New York State, in particular, the landlord/tenant laws are so specific, there’re many attorneys who say “I can’t handle this for you”, so that’s why I get many of my clients. And so, when a client comes to me with an eviction, obviously whatever their problem is, that tenant’s not paying rent, that tenant is a bad tenant, driving out of a tenant, that tenant has stayed over their lease, “I got somebody else I want to come in”, and obviously, their main concern is “How do we get him out? How quickly can we get him out?” A Landlord May Face Legal Action for Building Code Violations upon the Complaint of a Tenant The second main entry point comes in where maybe a landlord has had the tenant who’s coming inside and then, sometimes it’s because a tenant has complained and the tenant’s coming inside for building code violation and now, they’re looking at potentially, financially devastating fines although and technically, sometimes, the jail offenses but that’s not a real likelihood but they’re looking at really serious fines and things of that nature, you know, so how do we solve that problem, how do we get them out of that station, what has to be done. |