OP would be 'abusing' the property if he were running a crack den. I see no problem with tenants doing whatever they want with the property that they are leasing - as long as no damage is done & neighbors are not troubled.

That's why landlords define "damage [being] done" and "neighbors [being] troubled" in a legally binding contract called a lease, and when you break that contract, you can get evicted.

I strongly suspect most resistance to these basic facts in this thread is typical Airbnb/pg/HN apologia. It certainly isn't coming from anyone who has rented in NYC, that's for sure.

I don't find it that hard to believe that someone would blindly sign a lease after only quickly skimming over the important bits and then never look at it again. I remember one landlord looking quite surprised when I sat in his office and read all 8 pages of the contract, asked for clarifications on a couple of points and asked for one clause to be changed. It seemed to me that she'd never seen anybody do that before.

When said person is making a fulltime income solely from renting space in an apartment that he is only leasing, well, "most people" would think "I should probably take a look at my lease first"...

I don't find that hard to believe either.

What I find revolting is someone not reading the lease, violating it, then playing the victim.