NYC Landlord-Tenant — Tenant Airbnb
Your tenant is running a secret Airbnb in your rental
The lease bans subletting and short-term rentals — but your tenant listed the unit anyway, and the city violation landed on you, not the tenant or the platform. We help NYC owners stop the listings, enforce the lease, and recover the unit through Housing Court.
First, the plain version
What you are actually dealing with
Before the legal steps, here is the situation in plain terms — what your tenant did, why it became your problem, and how owners actually fix it.
What happened
Your tenant listed your apartment for short stays on Airbnb — against a lease that bans subletting and short-term rentals.
Why it is your problem
The city violation and any fine land on the owner, not the tenant or the platform — and the tenant will not stop on their own.
How owners fix it
You cannot just change the locks. Recovering the unit runs through Housing Court — a Notice to Cure, then a holdover case.
In short: your tenant’s side hustle became your liability. The good news — self-help is not your only path, and there is a real one through the court.
The same situation, in one owner’s words
A NYC building owner found out his tenant had been running the apartment as a secret Airbnb — the lease he thought protected him, the violation that landed anyway, and the call that finally gave him a plan. It may sound a lot like your week.
How it usually goes
You did everything right — and still got the violation
This is the sequence owners describe. The sooner you act, the more control you keep over the outcome.
- You find out
A neighbor, a 311 call, or the listing itself reveals your unit is being run as a short-term rental.
- You tell them to stop
You point to the lease — no subletting, no Airbnb. The listings stay up and the bookings keep coming.
- The city looks at you
A complaint is filed and the violation lands on the building owner — not the tenant, not the platform.
- You get ahead of it
One call — we send the right notice, start the case, and move to recover the unit the lawful way.
What working with us looks like
A clear path to stop the listings and get your unit back
From the first consultation, you will understand the lease breach, the notices, and the Housing Court path that gets your unit back.
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4Your options
There is a real path forward — and it runs through the court, not around it
Depending on your lease and the facts, here is what we can pursue. Most owners need more than one of these at once.
Stop the listings
A Notice to Cure that demands the short-term rentals end and documents the lease breach.
Holdover eviction
A holdover proceeding in Housing Court to end the tenancy and recover possession of the unit.
Money & use and occupancy
Pursue what you are owed — including use-and-occupancy (rent for the time the unit was misused).
Defend the city violation
Answer any city (DOB/OATH) violation the listing triggered so it does not sit against your property.
Recover the unit
Get the apartment back lawfully, through the court process — never through self-help.
What you do after you find out can shape the whole case.
Accepting rent after you know about the breach can sometimes be argued to waive that breach or undercut a later termination, depending on the facts and the notices already served. It does not automatically end your case — but it can complicate it.
Before you deposit the next check or send another email, it is worth a short conversation so your conduct supports the case you want to bring instead of working against it.
Here is how we work it
From the first notice to recovering the unit
Knowing the four steps ahead of time is the difference between panic and a plan.
Notice to Cure
We serve a Notice to Cure citing the lease clause and the short-term-rental breach, with the cure period the lease requires.
First
Notice of Termination
If the breach is not cured in time, we serve a Notice of Termination that ends the tenancy.
If it continues
Holdover petition
We file and serve the holdover petition in Housing Court and appear at every conference.
Filed in court
Trial & recovery
We try or settle the case and pursue a judgment of possession and a warrant to recover the unit.
Resolution
Want the detail? See our landlord-tenant practice.
Why building owners call us
Landlord-tenant cases are our day job
Housing Court is our day job
We bring and defend landlord-tenant cases across the five boroughs every week.
Built on the lease and the record
We work from your lease, your notices, and a clear timeline — the things the court actually credits.
Both sides of the problem
We end the tenancy and answer any city violation the listing caused — not just one of the two.
Straight answers
Questions building owners ask us first
You are not stuck. There is a real path forward.
A free 15-minute case review tells you exactly where you stand — and for most owners, it is the easiest call they have made in weeks.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The information on this page is general and not legal advice; contacting Nacmias Law Firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.