Learn to Live Better, a Housing Law Podcast.

Welcome to the Learn to Live Better, a Housing Law Podcast (formerly known as the Tenant Law Podcast), where we talk about new, interesting, and/or important legal cases and laws affecting New York City tenants and occupants. Listen on AppleSpotifyYoutube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

 

As of summer 2026, we have over 60 episodes available to educate you about housing law in New York City, and more on the way. Click here for a searchable list of topics.

 

Learn to Live Better was nominated in 2025 by the New York Podcast Awards in the category of Best Public Service Podcast!

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If you leave your apartment for a long time, can your landlord change the locks?

In Episode 14, we see a tenant who drove a U-Haul up to his apartment, removed most of his possessions, and drove away for eight months. When he came back, the landlord had changed the locks. Would the court restore this tenant to possession? And why? Listen on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube. Link to Today’s

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You might be Rent Stabilized and/or overcharged if your landlord changed the size of your apartment before you moved in!

In Episode 13 we discuss the often abused and hard-to-discover practice of landlords charging first (market rate) rents for “newly created” Rent Stabilized apartments. Free market tenants as well as Rent Stabilized tenants should pay careful attention to this episode. Your free market apartment might be Rent Stabilized and you might be entitled to an

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You may have rights to an apartment you live in even if you are not the tenant and the lease is not in your name; And what is the difference between a licensee and a squatter?

In Episode 12 we discuss the many situations where a person living in an apartment is not the tenant and the lease is not in that occupant’s name, but nevertheless, the person has rights and is entitled to a very specific notice before an owner may start eviction proceedings. We look at a case that

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Getting Your Security Deposit Back; Many Tenants Have a Right To a Pre-Exit Inspection

In Episode 11 we discuss the law that says many tenants have a right to a pre-exit inspection. For non-Rent-Stabilized tenants, within a reasonable time after notification by either the landlord or the tenant of either’s intention to terminate the tenancy (unless it is the tenant terminating the tenancy with less than two weeks’ notice),

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