c'mon now. no landlord would ever willingly add a non spouse to an rs lease for a valuable apartment.

> and will never go under like a private firm would.

i understand landlord's outrage over this. the LL firms had a lean system in housing court based on pro se opponents and zero substantive litigation occuring.

but i'm not sympathetic to it at all. i don't agree that most tenant's side litigation is frivolous, and as for delay, that is the standard for defendant-side litigation since the beginning of time. And i've done plenty of affirmative cases against the usual players in the landlord's bar (in private practice), and they can delay and waste my client's money as good as any defense lawyer.

and to clarify, by 'repairs case' i mean nonpays where i alleged conditions in the apartment; not an hp action

> they can “forget” to then file that answer until the eve of trial.

well...i dunno how bad that is. i've defenitely done this, and i've had LL side opponents do the same thing in HP actions or supreme court. I wouldn't really call that prejudicial. and i don't think it has anything to do with how seriously a dispositive motion will be taken.

> but whether and to what extent a tenant’s attorney would be entitled to a cut of those enhanced damages would depend on the retainer agreement.

That has nothing to do with whether you assert a claim for attorney's fees, and a free lawyer is equally entitled to assert a claim for fees as anyone else. i'm sure you know the case law that says that.

i'll tell you my insider experience: i've only once gone far enough to do a fees hearing after winning trial rather than bargaining away fees at an earlier junction. i then settled by waiving the fees in exchange for T getting a few months free. higher ups at my agency approved this. if i had taken the fees, they would have gone to my agency 100%.

> the leases we drafted never had legal fee clauses, and so the reciprocal fee provision under RPL 234 never was actionable. But that’s just my point they don’t look at the papers and just use their form motions

okay, you're right. that's sloppy. although if there's an RS issue and the possibility of overcharge, you can get fees, as you know.

> resist filing an answer

i've never seen or done this. usually the tenant has already answered pro se, so it's irrelevant. what agency would do this?

i don't understand your clap back.

i've done dozens of succession cases, and in every single one the landlord claims the successor is a johnny come lately or a scammer, etc. landlords are full of shit.

> one landlord told me ten years ago

sure, there's no one more reliable than a landlord trying to recover a rent controlled apartment that he can gut and rent for $7500/mo.

lol, show me a landlord's petition that doesn't include a claim for legal fees.

also

> it backfired because LL attnys can just drop the case without prejudice

that's not backfiring; and you can't just drop w/o prejudice if tenant has answered. i've had plenty of repairs cases that have carried on long after the landlord's nonpay cause of action had evaporated.