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Sage advice

Posted by Provost on October 07, 2001 at 02:11:38:

In Reply to: need ur sage advice re: deadbeat landlord posted by kaybear on October 06, 2001 at 23:48:03:

There are some things a landlord is responsible for. For example, maintaining and upgrading a building so that it provides tenants comfort and security, keeping abrest of laws and regulations.

Tenants also have responsibilities. Finding out how the apartment is heated and who pays for utilities should be one of the FIRST things you ask about when you look at the apartment (long before you sign any lease). As other posts here have shown, it is also necessary to consider if you are comfortable with the neighborhood and with the condition of the apartment itself.

Dealing with other tenants can be more difficult. Many landlords prefer not to be thrust into the role of intermediary in such disputes, as whatever they do will upset at least one tenant. However, most landlords are concerned about their property value, so try to frame in a way that shows you as concerned about the appearance of the building. Perhaps taking pictures of trash strewn about by the other tenants would help.

Also, throwing trash out any window vioates NYC sanitation law. If these people are throwing trash out onto a public sidewalk, you can report them to the NYC Sanitaton Dept, which if appropriatly prodded will send an inspector to go through the trash. If they find anything that identifies who the trash came from, that person gets a summons.


: hi there,
: I moved into a rent-stabilized apt in Bklyn, NY about 5 months ago. since then, i've had numerous unpleasant surprises re: the quality of the apt and the bldg. I was made to believe the bldg was a good one and since I've moved in I've been harassed by a crackhead neighbor down the hall, an alcoholic 'superintendent' whose barely sober enough to keep the bldg clean, a chinese restaurant two doors down that pumps its kitchen exhaust directly facing my kitchen (prompting me to buy a/c and air purifying devices to combat the rancid odor), upstairs tenants with two small children who are constantly jumping, stomping, running and making noise when their parents are pumping music as loud as possible from (no exaggeration) sunup to sundown, upstairs neighbors who throw trash (used cooking grease, used underwear, used q-tips, just to name some examples) out of their window which lands on my windows (I'm on the first floor) or on to the deck outside my windows which I then have to clean up. I've made some complaints to the managment and landowner. but, my complaints have been met with broken, unfufilled promises to deal with the issues. the last time I spoke to the landlord was on the day that I found my gas service had been turned off. they had not informed when I signed my lease, and had not detailed in my lease that I was to pay for gas. When I brought it to her attention that my gas had been turned off, that I'd not received a single bill, and had not been informed of my responsibility to pay for gas, her response was in a nutshell 'what are you bothering me with this for, talk to managment, and if it's so bad we'll be happy to let you out of your lease.' that all said, my intention was never to try to find a way out of my lease, (I just moved, can't afford to again right now and don't feel like I should be forced to move simply because the landlord doesn't feel like being bothered with the issues plaguing their bldg.) I approached both the offending tenants, and the landlord/management in hope that these issues could be resolved somehow so that we could all be comfortable in our rented spaces. If it weren't for these annoyances, the apartment that, in and of itself, is pretty decent (spacious, relatively sunny, relatively affordable). I've dealt with the smell problem, the crackhead has been evicted and the alcoholic super is soon to follow. My main nuisances right now are with the tenants upstairs who cause much noise and throw their trash out their windows but I don't feel like the landlord and management are exactly willing to speak to the other tenants to reinforce the rules that say that tenants should not cause undue noise and disturbance to other tenants. And that's all I'm asking is that they exert some authority over the bldg and let all tenants now that such behavior isn't acceptable.
: I plan to talk to the management again, but I'm anticipating the same inaction I've received thus far from them. Should this be the case, is there anything else I can do to impress upon them that they need to deal with these issues. I pay my rent on time every single month and I don' t want to be forced to move right now.
: sorry for the length of the letter (and the parentheticals)
: thank you for taking the time to read this far, looking forward to getting your advice


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