Posted by Israel on November 23, 1998 at 21:17:14:
In Reply to: Apartment from hell... posted by Dan Saitta on November 23, 1998 at 15:58:06:
What type of building is it? Less than six families or more. That will be the deciding factor in how far you can go with this. A building with more than six families are considered rent stablizied, which is good for you. You can't be evicted as long as you have a lease, and these types of apts are good for that. In any case write a letter to your landlord of the existing problems you are having. Be very specific. Detail evey physical problem in you apartment and tell them of the noise during the night. Then if they do not respond to your request in a timely manner (your discretion of course)withhold rent. Then if you get phone calls, letter or visits about it mention your problems repeat your request for repair.
By this time if you haven't been promised repairs or they just haven't done them in a timely manner call 212-960-4800 (your discretion of course, you can call them first). This is the number for HPD and after three days they will send a housing inspector to verify the conditions. As I said before be very specific.
This alone will not bring you lanlord to their knees, but will inform them that you are serious about the conditions. They will take you to court if you don't pay your rent, but this is good, because you can get a Judge to order them to make the repairs. They will still get their money, but you will have an advantage by having them promise not only to you, but to a housing court Judge. If it gets worst write back. I'll respond.
: ...In the five months I've been renting my apartment, my fridge would lead all over the floor. The maintenance guy would come out, play with it, and two days later I'd have a puddle on the floor again. They FINALLY decided to replace it last week. For the past month, my toilet has been clogging for now particular reason. The repairman came out four or five times over three weeks before the toilet was replaced. Now, for the past month, my bathroom ceiling has been leaking water all over my bathroom floor. The guy has been out five or six times to "fix it", covers my bathroom with dust and plaster, but I still have the same problem. I've got a guy across the hall who gets in to arguements with a woman at 2:30am OUT IN THE HALLWAY, screaming the f-word while their little girl sits out there and cries. Would I be out of line for demanding that my rent for the last month be free? If that is unreasonable, what else can I do? I can't afford to move to a new apartment, because I can't afford to pay all of the service fees to have my utilities moved over (or the obligatory U-Haul truck to move all my stuff with), and my fiancee just broke her leg so I can't really move the furniture by myself. HELP!!
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