Posting because I need a sanity check. I’m in a fourth-floor walk-up in East Harlem, lease ends Sept 30. Zero word from management about renewing, but today I get an email saying they’ll show my unit 'until leased' and expect me to allow two open houses a week plus private weekday tours. I work overnights and two jobs. Can I just say no to the Sunday open house? Do they have to offer me a renewal first? I feel like I’m being set up to look like the bad tenant for not wanting strangers around while I’m trying to sleep.

Wait, they can actually do showings while you’re still paying rent to live there? I thought if you haven’t given notice or broken the lease, you can just decline. Are they allowed to just email you a bunch of days? I’m currently looking for a Sept 1 place, and this is the kind of thing I don’t want to walk into. Also, two open houses a week seems like a lot. Do they need to give you 24 hours or something?

You can push back, but the exact answer depends on what your current lease says. Most NYC leases include an access clause allowing the landlord to show the apartment at reasonable hours after notice if they’re trying to re-rent. If that’s in your lease, they’ll lean on it. They don’t have to offer you a renewal first. They do have to respect your right to quiet enjoyment, which basically means the showings can’t be nonstop and can’t make the place unlived-in for you.

I’d do three things:

• Write to them now, by email, and ask whether they intend to offer a renewal. Not because it stops showings, but because it tells you if you’re apartment hunting.
• Propose a schedule: one weekday evening window and one Saturday window, with 24 hours’ notice, no Sunday. Frame it as 'I need to be present because of the dog,' not as permission.
• Keep a simple log of every request and whether they gave notice. Take photos before you leave.

You do not have to deep-clean, stage, or leave. You can say no to a specific request if the notice is missing or the time is unreasonable, but don’t refuse all access if the lease clause exists. Two open houses a week may be reasonable on paper; two open houses plus private tours every day is not. If they just show up, you can say not today and tell them to schedule.

lmao 'reasonable hours' to them means 9am on a Saturday when you just got off at 6. I had a landlord pull this. I put a sign on the door: 'Showings Saturday 12–3 only.' They complained, I didn’t budge. If they want staged, they can airbnb their own place. Don’t let them turn your week into an open house loop.

Appreciate it. The email didn’t mention notice, just 'we will schedule.' I asked for renewal and the manager said 'no decision yet.' So I’m not sure if that means they are trying to see what they can get from a new tenant first. My dog losing it every tour is a real issue. Would it be petty to ask them to sign a waiver if he nips? Maybe that changes the tone real quick.

Not petty. Put it in writing that the dog is not good with strangers and all showings must be pre-scheduled when you can crate him or walk him. Watch how fast the 'open house every Sunday' idea disappears when there’s risk. Also two jobs? Stop making their problem your second shift.

Also, if no renewal decision, keep your place packed with moving boxes? Kidding... mostly. I’d do zero staging. My last place, I left dishes in the sink for a showing after they showed up with 10 minutes notice. Broker looked at me like I was the problem, but that’s on management. You don’t have to make it pretty. And put a sign on the door so nobody 'thinks' they can use the key.

Had this in Carnegie Hill. I told them I’d allow one open house a week, Tuesday 6–7:30, and private tours by appointment only. They said 'weekend is necessary.' I said 'not for me.' They backed down because an occupied unit in a walk-up is already a pain to show. If you’re month-to-month or no renewal, I’d start hunting, but don’t let them run your sleep schedule until then.

Okay so if I’m touring a place and the current tenant is still there with sticky notes everywhere, that’s not automatically a red flag? I went to one in Maspeth where the tenant was literally folding laundry and said nobody told her about the showing. I felt so weird. Should I treat that as a bad sign for the building or just a normal occupied showing?

Not automatically a red flag. In a tight market, occupied showings are common. A tenant who’s home and willing to answer one or two questions can be useful—ask about heat, noise, the super, mail. If they say they weren’t given notice, that does tell you the landlord or broker runs things loosely. But it doesn’t necessarily mean the building is bad; it may just mean they had a key and got sloppy.

The bigger question is why the current tenant is leaving. If they’re not being offered a renewal and they’ve been there a while, that can mean the owner wants to raise the rent beyond what they can ask from an existing tenant or is planning something. If they’re leaving in the middle of a lease, ask why—but be polite, and don’t corner someone folding laundry.

If you’re trying to rent that kind of place, get any promises about notice, entry, and renewal in the lease or an email. And don’t assume a landlord who ignores the outgoing tenant’s notice will suddenly respect yours.

Basically same energy as OMNY weekly cap: do you actually track taps or just trust the pending charges? OMNY weekly cap: do you actually track taps or just trust the pending charges? Track everything—email, notes, photos, who showed up. If they say 'we gave notice' when they didn’t, you want the receipt. And for anybody touring, if the current tenant looks caught off guard, file that in your head: this is how they treat the people paying the lease.