Thanks for the info. Damn lawyers. I suppose now I have to draw up some kind of contract and all that mumbo jumbo.
And in NY, no contract of any kind matters much anyway - one of the reasons why rent is so high in non-rent-controlled properties in NYC is because it is quite easy to go two years without paying rent before you are evicted.
As long as the tenant does not care about their credit rating they can force a landlord to house them for two years or more if the landlord is foolish enough to sign a lease with them.