Posted by JJ on July 10, 2001 at 22:48:33:
In Reply to: what are the rights of a SRO? posted by Jeannie on July 10, 2001 at 08:59:52:
: I've looked all over the Internet for some description of a single room occupant's bill of rights. I didn't sign a lease. I can't afford anything else. I'm leaving at the end of August. I rent a room in a basement. It's in Brooklyn (Park Slope).
: That said, the grates on the windows are VERY easy to remove, two weeks ago the bathroom flooded and was filled with a foot of sewage. The landlord (actually I've never had contact with the landlord...only the guy who rents me the place...) sent some guys to clean up the mess and they just mopped with really smelly lavender stuff and left.
: One of the previous tenents (who threatened me) still has the key to the main part of the basement and he was here at 6:30 this morning using the bathroom (and generally freaking the hell out of me...)
: Help! I don't know what to do. The guy who rents me the place says he'll have the lock changed but...when? And I should definitely pay my rent right? Even with all these things I probably don't have any rights cause there is no paper work...
You have the same rights to a safe habitable place to live as everyone else in NY state.
you are probably even RENT STABILIZED. Call DHCR, ask them if you should be stabilized.
Call HPD if there are violations of health, safety, building, fire and other codes concerning the condition of the room and buiding.
Read about your rights: start with tenant.net, NY Tenant Info section.
For info specific to SRO's. call the East side SRO Law Project or the West Side SRO Law Project and get a referral to a Brooklyn agency if neither one can see you in their clinics.
Call Brooklyn Legal Aid for similar referrals.
You're leaving in August: leaving that dump or NYC? If you're staying in NYC, start reading so you won't have to live in dangerous illegal conditions again!
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