Non paying tenant in illegal apartment - pay and quit?

[peterp]

We have a tenant in an apartment my uncle used to live in with his family once he moved out we rented the apartment to college students, the current tenant over the last few months was unable to pay the $1100, they are no longer on a lease and are month to month we even lowered the rent to $900 a month for the last few and even that was not able to get paid they owe over $2k their mother actually over nighted rent to us twice to cover for their son. Recently a detective came by looking for him and we thought he wasn't home but it turned out he was keeping his car else where and still in the apartment. He had a warrant out for not appearing in court for unknown reasons. There have been no other problems with them other then them not being able to make rent on time. Can we serve a pay and quit notice and if they do not leave within the specified time file for a 72h eviction notice. I am in new york state, and would appreciate any advice i've read all over to serve pay and quits on tenants not paying but how can i handle this with an apartment that isn't legal? The house is a legal two family, it's two stories but there's a kitchen both up stairs down stairs as well as in the apartment, i remember a few years ago we were have some sort of inspection and we just took the stove out of the apartment which was fine. Anyway i would really love to get some feedback on how this can be handled and the best way to go about getting the back rent as well as the tenant out.

All you can do is file a Pay or Quit. He won't pay. Then file for eviction. He probably won't show for that either. Get him evicted and then file a small claims case against him for the money owed. If he doesn't show, the ourt may not know it is an illegal unit. But if he does, be prepared fro the consequences.

Nonsense!!! It is shameful, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to allow dictatorial law like this to exist in California. Governor Schwarzenegger claimed passage through hell to this success level.

This landlord is nothing but a big persecutor/tyrant. Go to court even if you can not
write. Clerk of Court will give you standard form to enable you commence a Complaint against the landlord. If you have no job or you lost your means of livelihood, rush to charities in California to apply for temporary assistance to cover your rents pending employment.

Doc, what are you talking about? The writer clearly stated:

"I am in new york state"

Unless the Govenator packed up and moved across country recently, his law doesn't apply here!

But regarding your reply, the LL has done nothing wrong here. He is neither a slumlord nor negligent in making repairs. In fact, this LL has tried to work with his tenant by lowering rent and allowing late payments. Still, no rent has been paid. It would have been good advice to tell the tenant to seek any and all assistance to pay his rent since most LLs will accept any form of payment. But offering rentals is a business, and like any other business, we cannot continue to offer rentals to tenants without incoming revenues. A business that makes no money goes under (and in this case, no longer offers units for rent to anyone).