my current subletter in nyc has ghosted me - what should i do?

Post date: 2020-03-25 14:26:58

my subletter was supposed to sublet my nyc apartment until june - i haven't heard from him since covid started, and haven't gotten the rent for march. i know he works at a cafe that's probably shut down now and that his parents have been helping him with the rent. things have been a little haphazard this whole time, but now he's not responding to texts/calls/emails at all. i'm worried and am not sure what to do! more details below...

my subletter signed a subletting agreement we printed off online, but isn't officially on the lease - (he was also supposed to give us a deposit - we've been generous in waiting on it and he has not sent it yet). my boyfriend and i are in california right now, and i'm not even sure if we can / should go back any time in the near future. the rent on our apartment is quite high and neither of us are making any income right now (it was part of the reason we decided to leave ny for a few months before all this began)...i know that my subletter is likely having a hard time, but this leaves us in a bad place too, and i think it's highly, highly unlikely that the management company/landlord will be sympathetic.

save for hoping that a rent-freeze goes through in ny (though it may not even help if we had a subletter / as a freelancer it would be hard for me to give proof of income or loss thereof), is there anything else we can/should do right now? our lease runs out at the end of june, and we're not planning to renew, but we did leave a lot of furniture and possessions there....i'm just feeling stuck and worried and have no idea what to do right now - should we continue to pay rent/bills for the next few months? should we assume worst case scenario and have to face an eventual eviction? is there anything else we can do? please help, if you can.

Please click Here to read the full story.