Housing Problems  
 
 
 


If you talk to anyone who has ever lived in New York, you'll come away with one fact: finding a place to live in this city sucks. I thought I'd hit it pretty lucky when I found my current place, a studio sublet in Cobble Hill, one of the nicest neighborhoods in Brooklyn. It was convenient to my job and to my girlfriend's house, the rent was reasonable by New York standards (i.e. ridiculous by any other standards on Earth) and I was ready to move in. That was back in September of last year. Since then, there's been a snag. The woman who I am subleasing from seems completely incapable of moving her stuff out. I don't know what her problem is, but she's had over 150 days to get rid of her hippie nonsense so I can have the apartment, but I'm still living amidst piles of boxes of garbage. I have gone from being patient and easygoing, to leaving gentle reminders with the rent, to full-out angry messages on her voice mail. Nothing works. Occasionally she will come by and box some stuff up, but it never leaves the apartment. I have six months left on the sublease. What do I do?