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Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

NYC Rent Regulation: Rent Control/Rent Stabilized, DHCR Practice/Procedures

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Re: Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

Postby TenantNet » Tue Nov 24, 2020 5:46 pm

I had a problem last spring, I think it was in early May, where the outside temperature was in the mid-70's and the landlord had the heat going full blast (contrast that with now, in November when the outside temp ranges between 30's and 50's mostly and they refuse to provide any heat whatsoever overnight.) I complained to the super who wouldn't do anything about it. It must have been in the 90's in my apartment. As it turns out HPD will not even look at such a situation until after May 31st when heat season is officially over.

Super claimed that he "must" provide heat until May 31 no matter what the temp was.

The super discovered the tenants' anger in other ways.

There are occasionally cases where the LL has the heat going strong in mid-July, and that can be dangerous, not just uncomfortable.

FYI, Keith Powers worked for Peter Vallone prior to being elected to City Council. If you remember, Peter Vallone was the landlord's best friend. So I wouldn't necessarily put a lot of faith in Powers.

Of course City Council can make changes, but the HPD rep. was not telling you the truth. They can define rules on any number of issues, and they don't have to wait for city council. Administrative agencies often make such claims because they are lazy.

But, on the other hand, if you are sufficiently mad, you can get the council to do something.

What are the other forums you have seen this sort of thing discussed?
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Re: Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

Postby PiscesDragon212 » Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:00 pm

The other forum I saw is from someone from July 2011 using the name "mopsie" Here's the link:

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php? ... her.42804/

Another forum:

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php? ... ost-618866

I also saw an article from 2012 from Brick Underground:

https://www.brickunderground.com/blog/2 ... _to_fix_it

From Brick Underground last year:

https://www.brickunderground.com/live/n ... r-in-co-op

What are your thoughts on this? No one seems to know what to do and sadly, there are people out there who have to let their water run for a while so it can get cold. That can't be good for the environment but the city of New York just doesn't seem to care, not even the NYC Environmental Protection Agency.
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Re: Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

Postby TenantNet » Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:48 pm

Thanks for the links. This might be a good source on a number of issues .... however it doesn't look at issues around tenant privacy and legal limitations, i.e., searching tenants' apartments.

I try to clip Brick Underground articles, but I apparently missed those. (one was from 2012)

Sounds like the super intimidated your neighbor. Try to find out what happened there.

You don't say if you are rent stabilized, but you posted in the RS forum, so I'm assuming you are RS. The owner of the unit is your landlord and he/she is responsible for all WOH issues. You should also document the problem, keep a sheet of the water temperature when ever you turn it on.

As for plumbing, well we're not experts on that, so perhaps that other link might have technical information.
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Re: Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

Postby PiscesDragon212 » Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:03 am

I'm not good with acronyms. What does "RS" or "WOH" mean? I'm a shareholder (owner of my apartment. I spent all of last year documenting the problem. I wrote down water temperatures and even knocked on my neighbors' doors to ask if I could check their water temperature. I think my neighbor and fellow board member who lives in my line, didn't want to be involved anymore because he didn't know what else to do. They hired plumbers but they did not do a good enough job. I don't know how many lawyers are on this forum or if you're a lawyer yourself but this issue should definitely be on your radar because it's ludicrous for someone to have to let their water run straight down the drain for long periods of time to get to an appropriate temperature.I've done all I can do, it's time for professionals to step up to the plate.

I posted in this forum because the OP (original poster) had the same issue as me.
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Re: Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

Postby TenantNet » Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:12 am

You do know this is a landlord/tenant forum and website? At a minimum, you posted in the rent stab forum.

If you're the owner of your co-op, then yes, perhaps you should hire a plumber.

We are not attorneys. It's on the signature of every post we make on this forum.
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Re: Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

Postby PiscesDragon212 » Wed Nov 25, 2020 12:18 am

A plumber would need to look in all the apartments in my line but I think that would be a problem for people living in my line. So no, I cannot and will not hire a plumber. It's really sad that no one seems to care enough to do anything. As I showed you, other people in NYC have this problem (including sr77, the original poster of this thread) and the environment is going to suffer if people need to run the water to get to a certain temperature.
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Re: Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

Postby BubbaJoe123 » Sun Nov 29, 2020 9:14 pm

Your coop has tried to deal with it, but not to your satisfaction. Your choices are this point are to (a) try to find allies, run for co-op board, and put in a new board that will be willing to expend the resources necessary to fix this, (b) sell your co-op, or (c) live with it.
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Re: Is there a legal range for 'cold water temperature'?

Postby TenantNet » Sun Nov 29, 2020 9:30 pm

or d) find a co-op internet forum. If you were a tenant, we could tell you your rights on this. But as an owner, we really can't be of much help.
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