Q.
I am aware of the lease protections afforded rent-stabilized renters. Do unregulated market-rate renters with leases have similar protections? If such a tenant pays rent on time, doesn't miss a payment and obeys the rules, can the landlord refuse to offer a renewal lease?
A.
"Free-market lease renewals are usually subject to a landlord's whim and fancy," said Lucas A. Ferrara, a Manhattan real estate lawyer and adjunct professor at New York Law School.
If an apartment is not subject to regulatory protection, there is no automatic entitlement to an extension, he said.
Mr. Ferrara said the only way for a free-market tenant to ensure renewal of his lease is by negotiating an option at the time of the initial lease signing.
Such options typically provide for a right to remain for one or two years beyond the original lease term and set, in advance, what the rent will be.
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