---

Posted by Mary on April 03, 1997 at 11:37:35:

Are you in a rent-stabilized apt.? I hope so or else the owner can choose not to renew your lease. Look around your apt. and make a list of where there are holes, gaps & cracks that smoke from the apt. below might be seeping through. Let the owner know that you would like to have the holes, gaps & cracks repaired (caulking is especially good for keeping out smoke). Any half-way decent building owner will do the repairs (again - being under rent-stab. really helps). If he/she refuses, you can do them yourself, or hire someone. Another option is to withhold rent until the repairs get done. This would mean a court case and the courts can be pretty bad. You would have to explain to the judge that the owner refused to do tthe repairs (I'm assuming you're in NYC and are rent-stab.). If it were me (and I have had this problem), I would just do the caulking myself if the owner refused. You'd be surprised at how many gaps there can be in an older apt., especially where the floor meets the wall.

Follow Ups:

---

Note: Posting is disabled in all archives
Post a Followup

Name    : 
E-Mail  : 
Subject : 

Comments:
: Are you in a rent-stabilized apt.?  I hope so or else the owner can choose not to renew your lease.  Look around your apt. and make a list of where there are holes, gaps & cracks that smoke from the apt. below might be seeping through.  Let the owner know that you would like to have the holes, gaps & cracks repaired (caulking is especially good for keeping out smoke).  Any half-way decent building owner will do the repairs (again - being under rent-stab. really helps).  If he/she refuses, you can do them yourself, or hire someone.  Another option is to withhold rent until the repairs get done.  This would mean a court case and the courts can be pretty bad.  You would have to explain to the judge that the owner refused to do tthe repairs (I'm assuming you're in NYC and are rent-stab.).  If it were me (and I have had this problem), I would just do the caulking myself if the owner refused.  You'd be surprised at how many gaps there can be in an older apt., especially where the floor meets the wall.  


Optional Link URL:  
Link Title:         
Optional Image URL: 

---