Robert Finkelstein in New York Times Real Estate Section, A TENANT WITHOUT A LEASE, August 17, 2003.
 
Q. I am a tenant in a building on West 34th Street. I originally signed a two-year lease, but it expired two years ago and I have yet to be offered a renewal. The managing agent continues to invoice me monthly for my rent, and I have continued paying it. I am wondering what my rights are. Can they evict me if they lease the space to someone else while I am still physically the occupant? Since the lease expired, does it revert to a month-to-month type of arrangement? What kind of notice do they have to give me to evict me? . . . Mary Ellen Carroll, Manhattan.

A. Robert Finkelstein, a Manhattan landlord-tenant lawyer, said the answers depend on several factors, including the rent regulatory status of the apartment and the nature of the tenancy. If the apartment is unregulated, Mr. Finkelstein said, the acceptance of rent by the landlord after the expiration of a lease creates a month-to-month tenancy.

''A month-to-month tenancy is terminable by the landlord upon the proper service of a 30-day notice of termination,'' he said. After a landlord serves the termination notice, a court proceeding may be started to evict the tenant.

If the premises are subject to rent stabilization, the expiration of the lease does not create a month-to-month tenancy. Instead, the tenant is considered a statutory tenant and is not subject to eviction. Unless the tenant has violated the Rent Stabilization Law or the lease terms, or has refused to pay rent, he or she is entitled to a new one- or two-year lease, with a rent increase as determined by the Rent Guidelines Board.