Shop NYC Top

I’ve been living in an apartment in Brooklyn for 25 years and recently found out that the landlord wants me out by the end of August so he can renovate the building and presumably charge more rent as I pay well below market rate. I’ve been paying cash rent for 16 of the 25 years and haven’t had a paper lease in more than 10 years.

The building is neither rent controlled nor rent stabilized, so I don’t have any of those protections.

I haven’t received any written notice that I have to leave and the landlord communicated with me through an intermediary on account of his somewhat limited English language skills so I wasn’t able to negotiate with him. I was also so taken aback that I’m not sure I would have had much to say in the moment anyway.

Do I have any right to stay or negotiate a new lease in this situation or do I just have to abide by his demand that I vacate by the end of August?