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- May 27, 2006
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You think cops shouldn't need to know the law? Seriously?At the point when the police arrested her, from their perspective she could be a landlord just harassing her tenants. The police department don't have the power to check the tenancy registry, if such a thing exists in NYC (maybe that's something they should be authorised to do, if one exists).
It's not obvious at all. If a tenant doesn't produce a tenancy agreement on the day, it doesn't mean they aren't a legal tenant. Police also aren't legally educated to know what is and isn't valid proof of tenancy (eg if a tenant produced a fake agreement, the police would not know if it is fake, as it's not their area of expertise. Likewise, the police are not educated on what a legitimate deed looks like).
You're operating as if all information is instantly readily available and everyone has perfect understanding of the law.
Not watched the video, but it seems they had utility bills, so they had some sort of paperwork. And not producing a tenancy agreement in the moment doesn't mean someone isn't a valid tenant. I rent, my last tenancy agreement document was in 2018 and since then I only have emails to evidence tenancy extensions. I guarantee if I tell a police officer about terms like "section 13", "section 8, "section 21" they won't know wtf I'm talking about. Reality is nobody here can know the situation, neither can the police. It's an issue for legal experts to deal with. We live in an adult world where due process is supposed to be followed, rather than acting on an emotional whim.
The vagrant didn't even have a fake lease agreement. It's been nearly 20 years since I rented but I had not only physical copies but also scans of my rental agreement stored online, the whole time. I could also pull up my internet banking to show the payment history to the landlord which were always titled: rent (address).
You have the legal owner and you have someone with ZERO evidence they have any legal right to be there. A clear case of trespassing.