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My landlord promised me (and all tenants in the building) a parking spot when I signed my lease. What can I do?

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The parking was not written into the lease, but every tenant in my newly constructed building was promised the same thing. The LL now maintains that he never promised this when we signed. I went undercover and tried to rent one of the apartments that were newly vacant. The realtor again said (in writing) that there were parking spots available for all tenants for a fee, just like I was told when I signed. There is a parking lot, and mysterious cars park in it. It has not been made available to tenants. What can I do ?

3 Attorney Answers

Best Answer
Dear Brooklyn Tenant:
In my opinion, the NYC Housing Court does not have jurisdiction to resolve the issue of entitlement to a parking space for you and the other tenants. The HP Proceeding is not designed to determine a breach of lease by the landlord and issue an injunction declaring the tenants' claims to parking space.
Generally, an oral promise made at the time the lease is executed "dissolves" when the landlord and tenant sign the lease. The lease contains a specific term to the point that the tenant did not rely on any representation or promise that is not contained within the written lease, and any prior representations are not enforceable.
If you have reason to believe the newly constructed building came with attached parking privileges the Certificate of Occupancy should indicate that the building has attached residential parking.
There are other methods to place pressure on the landlord to provide the promised parking perk and you and the other tenants should consult and hire an experienced tenant rights attorney.
The parking might not be managed by the property owner, it might be managed by another company. For example, I used to live in a building that had underground parking IN the building, but the parking was not managed by the property manager or the property owner. Instead, it was managed by a parking company.
I would start by finding out who manages the parking lot. You may have been told parking is available for a fee, and may have mistakenly assumed the landlord handled it.
If that ISN'T the case, then you might be able to take them to court for criminal fraud, but I will point out that if the parking was always advertised as "available for a fee" your damages would be a big question mark.
Speak to a landlord tenant attorney for a full assessment of the value of your case once you have established that some other company doesn't manage the parking.
This is actually a Consumer Fraud issue. If all of the tenants were lied to and promised parking spaces in order to induce them to sign it is fraud. This is civilly actionable and sometimes, these things even result in criminal charges--but that is not very likely (the authorities tend to only prosecute these cases when it is on their agenda for enforcement and many people are harmed). Realtors often wind up in trouble over these types of matters. You should think of getting all of the people who were lied to together and bringing an action against the landlord and/or real estate agents.

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