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Asbestos, Lead Dust, 1 family home renovations

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Asbestos, Lead Dust, 1 family home renovations

Postby Lupe » Mon Nov 02, 2015 7:26 pm

Hi,

My landlord is doing a good deal of irresponsible renovations around quite a few linear feet of already disturbed asbestos. She's had 3 asbestos companies come out and they've all explained the procedure for doing renovation around asbestos . We asked her to explain what she was doing exactly in the basement and we were told that she doesn't have to tell us what she's doing. She had already explained that she was building out rooms down there including a bathroom in a prior conversation with us. The laundry is down there that we were allowed to use before we complained. She then abruptly locked the basement and stopped allowing us to use the laundry. She told us it was closed until the complaints stopped and were resolved. I also have the original ad where laundry was listed as an amenity. She agreed to pay for the cost of using the laudromat if we submitted receipts and later rescinded that offer. She also said we could resume using the laundry if we signed an asbestos waiver.

A few months later she was working above us and we found that where the steam pipes go up to her floor above us the dust and debris from her renovations were falling down on us. I text her immediately and asked her to stop and she told me no so I called the city. The health department came and found heightened levels of lead in the dust (we have a 3 year old). She was forced to clean up and pay to clean our clothing (all contents of our closet were covered in dust). She did temporary fixes in our sons room including plastic sheets and duct tape where the heating pipes go through the ceiling and more permanent fixes (joint compound) in our closet.

We are now attempting to get out of our lease. She has been in our apartment about 30 times making repairs and we feel that the house just wasn't ready for us to move in. She's making this very difficult and delaying the process after we filed an HP action against her for repairs. We were told when we went to housing court to file this HP Action and even listed asbestos as the reason and were never told that HPD doesn't handle asbestos until the inspector came. This obviously pissed her off royally and she's doing really petty things like going into our private storage space and moving things around. Blocking our car in the driveway, mailing and emailing us almost daily with new rules for the house etc. She has now said that she is prepared to fight us in court over the lead dust and isn't cooperating much while we attempt to negotiate. All we wanted initially was to get back our security deposit but while she delays this process she continues to work in the basement.

Can anyone tell me:

what is legally allowed in a 2 family home with regards to renovations and asbestos?
would a judge force us to pay for the remainder of a 2 year lease if lead dust was created in an apartment where a small child lives and we vacated?
is there an definitive answer as to whether a single family (a1-1 family) house with no c of o is allowed to be used as a 2 family?
If laundry is listed in our lease just not specifically as an amenity do we have any rights to it?
Lupe
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Re: Asbestos, Lead Dust, 1 family home renovations

Postby TenantNet » Wed Nov 04, 2015 10:49 pm

From a tenant attorney well-versed in lead paint issues:

1) Call the City Health Department's healthy homes program and file a complaint about unsafe work practices. (call 311)

2) Call EPA region 2's lead program about unsafe work practices in violation of the federal Repair, Renovation and repainting Rule.
Regional Contact: Vickie Pane
Region2_LeadCoordinator@epa.gov
U.S. EPA Region 2
MS-225
2890 Woodbridge Ave.
Edison, NJ 08837-3679
(732) 321-6671
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Re: Asbestos, Lead Dust, 1 family home renovations

Postby Lupe » Thu Nov 05, 2015 10:10 am

Thank you for this info! EPA was awesome, really helpful. I have already filed a complaint against her with the Health Department/Healthy Homes Program will call them again to see if they can give me more info.
Lupe
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Re: Asbestos, Lead Dust, 1 family home renovations

Postby Lupe » Thu Nov 05, 2015 5:22 pm

Does anyone know anything about the asbestos issue?
Lupe
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 10, 2013 10:05 pm
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Re: Asbestos, Lead Dust, 1 family home renovations

Postby TenantNet » Thu Nov 05, 2015 6:20 pm

The Tenant Network(tm) for Residential Tenants
Information from TenantNet is from experienced non-attorney tenant
activists and is not considered legal advice.

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