Illustration: Emma Erickson
Welcome to “Apartment Department,” Curbed’s advice column by Clio Chang. Join us every other Wednesday for questions about making peace with noisy-sex neighbors, the nuances of roommate fridge etiquette, and whatever else you might need to know about renting, buying, or crying in the New York City housing market.
Got a problem? Email clio.chang@nymag.com.
Dear Apartment Department,
I’ve lived in my apartment for four years and I love it. I get along really well with my landlord, who lives below me in a three-unit building, and I want to live here for as long as possible — the rent is low, the location is good. The only problem is that she’s 94 years old. How do I broach the topic that she might … die soon? I want to know what her plan for me is as her tenant. I have this idea of asking for a ten-year lease. Is that even a thing? And how do you ask a woman about her end-of-life arrangements when the most you have exchanged is light conversation over Christmas cookies and tea?
Yours,
Desperately Seeking a Longer Lease
Becoming the beneficiary of some nice old lady with a house is a classic New York fantasy. Once, while biking through Ditmas Park, I saw an older woman struggling to bring her trash down the stairs of her Victorian and had an entire life flash before my eyes: Me, stopping to help. Her, inviting me in. Us, become fast friends because of our shared joie de vivre. Her, dying and leaving me the house as I am the closest thing she has to family.
But back to your question. It’s fair to wonder what will happen to your housing situation if anything in her situation changes. And while talking to someone about their impending death is no easy thing, your next lease renewal might be a natural time to approach the matter of the future. Maybe lead with the fact that you’ve loved living in her building and want to continue to do so. (You may not have much of a personal relationship, but you do have a business relationship.) “Older people know better than anyone else that no one gets out of this world alive,” says Cynthia Hosay, a therapist who works with older adults. In fact, your landlord may already have a plan in place. Even if it’s one you don’t like — she’s selling to a developer, her children are moving in — you’ll at least have more information. The big rule of thumb, per Hosay: Treat her like the adult she is. “People have this tendency to infantilize older people,” she says.
Now on to the matter of the ten-year lease. There’s no maximum duration on a lease, so there’s no reason not to ask, but having one longer than one or two years is pretty uncommon. According to tenant lawyer James Fishman, technically speaking, a new owner would have to adhere to a long-term lease as long as it’s officially recorded in the city registrar, which you would have to ask your landlord to do. But in practice, the situation may be more complex. (“When older people die, family members tend to pop up with opinions on what to do,” says Hosay.) Fishman says that whoever inherits the building could easily challenge the lease and claim that your landlord was not competent when she signed it given her advanced age. If you do broach the topic of a long-term lease and your landlord is amenable, Fishman suggests hiring a lawyer to draw up the contract, making sure it’s notarized, and thinking about a fair rate — not too much of a “sweetheart deal,” which would make it easier for someone to claim you were taking advantage of your landlord.
The next owner of your building may also very likely want it empty, especially if they’re going to sell. The first step for them would be to challenge your lease and kick you out. In the improbable (but not completely impossible) outcome that your lease is upheld, the new owner would have to either wait it out, try to find a reason to evict you, or offer you a buyout.
Another thing to keep in mind is to not make any assumptions about when your landlord might die. “Nobody’s got a crystal ball,” says Joe Rosenberg, a CUNY law professor who specializes in elder law. Your landlord might be your landlord for a while yet, which means you also want to maintain the relationship you do have. I found one cautionary tale in which a 47-year-old French property lawyer made a deal with a 90-year-old homeowner: He would pay her $500 a month until she died and then inherit her apartment. Depending on how long she lived, the total sum he paid for the place could be a great bargain. Instead, the woman lived to be 122 years old — the longest living person in human history. The lawyer, meanwhile, died before her — at 77. He paid around $400,000 in today’s dollars for an apartment he never got to live in. Makes you think.
But the heart of your question is more complicated — you’re looking for certainty when there’s no guarantee of that, ever, for anything. I understand the desire to feel like things are settled, especially when it comes to your housing, but it might be impossible. The conversation with your landlord may go awry. She may have plans to sell. You may be her intended heir. The world is wild! The best you might be able to do, both in life and in dealing with a geriatric landlord, is to accept that you have only so much control here. “It’s almost like going against one’s own self-motivations and transcending to the higher ground,” Rosenberg said. “Being willing to let chips fall where they may.”
Have a question for the Apartment Department? You can send it to clio.chang@nymag.com.