When I was living in a huge apartment on the river with 3 roommates, we tried moving without paying the last month’s rent and got sued for the amount due.
Chapter 2: We had to pay it, and then we hired a lawyer to get it back.
Chapter 3: We won. (Judge to landlord’s lawyer: “Why don’t you just give their money?”)
Chapter 4: We split it 2 ways instead of 4, leaving out the two people who refused to pay for the lawyer. Lawyer gave us a big break and only took $150.
Moral of the story: NYC has nice people too.
You think nice people stiff the landlord for last month’s rent? Did he have to pay a mortgage payment for that month? Property taxes?
People who do this are deadbeats. Try not paying the last installment on a car loan.
Any landlord offering property in locales with laws that favor tenants to this extent should rethink their investment choices. Or at least they need better language in their leases, for protection.
To move into my rental property you would pay first month, last month and security deposit - which is an amount lesser than a month’s rent. Now I never worry about a deadbeat moving out and not paying rent. And the damage deposit is clearly designated to compensate for damage.