For New York landlords, having compliant tenants who get along with each other is like having a taste of heaven. Ideally, tenants should follow the building administrator’s rules, from respecting room occupancy caps to refraining from drilling holes on the roof or walls. More importantly, they should pay their rent in full and on time. The dream doesn’t always match up with reality, however. A particular breed of tenants gives landlords perpetual headaches: noisy, disruptive, bold violators of building rules, and delinquent payers (if they pay at all).
As landlords or building administrators, you don’t have to put up with these troublesome people. If they’ve racked up enough violations to warrant an eviction, you can set the wheels in motion, starting with serving their eviction notices.
Serve Index LLC’s licensed process servers in NYC have plenty of experience handling landlord-tenant process serving. Give us a call, and our team will see to it that your tenants will soon have your notices in their hands.
On June 14, 2019, the state of New York enacted the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019. The new law made sweeping changes in the rules regarding evictions, rent increases, security deposits, application fees, and more. While these were made in good faith with the intent of strengthening protections for renters, the new stipulations (which came into effect on October 12, 2019) can lead to administrative burdens on the side of the landlords.
With the new law in effect, you, as landlord or administrator, are expected to follow the following rules on giving notice to tenants:
On Rent Increase and Non-Renewal of Lease
Previous practice: Provide 30 days of notice for a rent increase or non-renewal of lease
New law: If the landlord will not renew the tenant’s lease or increase rent by more than 5%, they should give prior notice based on the tenant’s duration of occupancy.
- Less than 1 year: 30 days notice
- 1-2 years: 60 days notice
- Over 2 years: 90 days notice
The notice of rent adjustment must also be served by a process server, and not by mail.
On Eviction Due to Delinquency
Previous practice: Landlords can issue delinquent tenants a written notice that they have 3 days to pay rent in full. Otherwise, the landlord will proceed with the eviction process.
New law: This notice is now extended to 14 days.
On Warrants of Eviction
Previous practice: City marshalls may execute a warrant of eviction 3 days after the Housing Court has issued the order.
New law: City marshalls must now give at least 14 days’ notice before enforcing a warrant of eviction.
On Serving Petition and Notice of Petition
Previous practice: Landlords may file a holdover proceeding against a tenant (a process for eviction) for non-payment of rent and other valid reasons (e.g., lease violations, the landlord wants the apartment for personal or family use). They must serve a Petition (which states why they are taking the tenant to court) and a Notice of Petition (which states the consequences if the tenant doesn’t answer your petition in court) at least 5 days but no more than 12 days before the hearing date.
New law: The Petition and Notice of Petition for Holdover and Non-Payment must now be served strictly between 10 to 17 days before the hearing. These documents must also be served personally or through a process server.
These new rules require you to be more mindful of each tenant’s records, among other things. Reduce the load on your shoulders by delegating the delivery of eviction and rent increase notices to our landlord-tenant process servers here in New York.
With all the regulations on giving eviction notices to tenants, it would be easier to hire a process server. They will ensure that they are following the proper rules for serving.
The eviction process starts with serving legal papers, such as a Summons of Complaint or Notice of Petition, to the disruptive tenants or delinquent payers. According to New York’s regulations, these legal documents must be delivered by impartial third parties.
This is where Serve Index LLC’s process servers come in.
Our team of process servers is experienced in the ins and outs of serving legal notices and will make sure to deliver the necessary legal documents to problematic tenants. Improper document service can be used against you, allowing the tenant to block your eviction case.
Apart from the legal requirements of serving an eviction notice in New York, there are plenty of other reasons why you should use our process servers services:
1. Eliminate delays in the eviction process
Plenty of tenants being served an eviction notice may refuse to accept the eviction and do whatever they can to cause further problems. This may significantly delay the eviction process. Our same-day process servers know the regulations they must follow when delivering eviction notices, lessening the possibility of complications.
2. Reduce the impact of the eviction process
Serving an eviction notice can be a frustrating process, both for you and your tenants. Process servers are unbiased third parties, so they can remove any awkwardness and complete the process as efficiently as possible.
3. Receive proof of delivery
One of the things problematic tenants may do when served an eviction notice is say that they didn’t receive it. When our process servers deliver the legal notice, you will receive proof of delivery to the intended tenant, which you can later use if the eviction process leads to a court case.
Recruiting our licensed NYC process servers to hand-deliver notices to your tenants is easy. Reach out to our agency through phone or email, and we will give you a free quote on our service. If you accept, we will request that you send us all the relevant documents and information about the job. We will also send you an electronic receipt. Once we receive a confirmation of your payment, we will dispatch our process servers to complete the work.
Rest assured that you will receive email notifications throughout the entire process.
Our skilled team of process servers is ready to serve. You can reach us via phone at 1 888 994 6339 or through email at [email protected].
