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Posted by New York Tenant on May 16, 2001 at 02:47:47:

In Reply to: Re: No electricity and more posted by sd on May 15, 2001 at 23:08:42:

You should check to see if the landlord has a new Certificate of Occupancy for the remodeled building. If not, it may be best to consult a lawyer, who might advise you not to pay any rent [Multiple Dwelling Law §301], until the landlord gets the C of O. The landlord might have to pay your lawyer's fees.

Even if the landlord has a C of O, your apartment sounds pretty much uninhabitable, and you would probably owe little, if any, rent. You probably would be able to cancel your lease and recover the brokerage fee under these circumstances.

And Con Edison generally doesn't allow the sharing of electric meters, so you probably can't get electricity for your apartment in your name and the landlord can't get electricity for the public areas of the building in its name until the correct wiring and meters are installed.

:
: The owner claims the $900 bill is now paid. But whatever electrical problems there are have still not been dealt with; I still don't have electricity and have extension cords running through my apartment. I'm planning to pro-rate the rent and deduct for each date that I don't have electricity. (I can do that, right?) My questions are:

: 1. Can the landlord just decide a date that I'm supposed to start paying for the electricity bill?

: 2. Is it ever possible to get out of a lease, and if so, what do I lose besides the realty fee?

Follow Ups:

• Re: No electricity and more sd 05/16/01 (1)
  • Re: Certificate of Occupancy New York Tenant 05/16/01 (0)

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Comments:
: You should check to see if the landlord has a new Certificate of Occupancy for the remodeled building.  If not, it may be best to consult a lawyer, who might advise you not to pay any rent [Multiple Dwelling Law §301], until the landlord gets the C of O.  The landlord might have to pay your lawyer's fees.  

: Even if the landlord has a C of O, your apartment sounds pretty much uninhabitable, and you would probably owe little, if any, rent.  You probably would be able to cancel your lease and recover the brokerage fee under these circumstances.  

: And Con Edison generally doesn't allow the sharing of electric meters, so you probably can't get electricity for your apartment in your name and the landlord can't get electricity for the public areas of the building in its name until the correct wiring and meters are installed.  

: :
: : The owner claims the $900 bill is now paid.  But whatever electrical problems there are have still not been dealt with; I still don't have  electricity and have extension cords running through my apartment.  I'm planning to pro-rate the rent and deduct for each date that I don't have electricity. (I can do that, right?) My questions are:

: : 1.  Can the landlord just decide a date that I'm supposed to start paying for the electricity bill?  

: : 2.  Is it ever possible to get out of a lease, and if so, what do I lose besides the realty fee?


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