Posted by Keith on September 09, 1997 at 21:43:02:
I have several questions about a situation with my landlord that is quickly
becoming intolerable. The building is a four-floor brownstone where the
owner/landlord lives on the garden level and half of the parlor level. My
wife and I are on the third floor.
1) Because my wife did not yet have a job and I was a student when we came
to NY, the broker suggested three months security deposit. We agreed, but
when the check came back, it seems as though the landlord went to CitiBank
and cashed the check. Do the holding deposits in trust rules apply to just
rent controlled/stabilized apartments or to everyone?
2) The landlord has told us not to hang any pictures on the wall. The lease
says nothing about this. Is this allowed?
3) Even though there are mailboxes between the inner-front door and the
outer-front door, the landlord says she doesn't want to give the mailman
access to this area, so all the mail is delivered to her apartment and she
puts it on a table for us in a common area. Although this isn't yet much
of a problem, I'm worried that if I pursue the security-deposit issue, there
may be a problem in the future.
4) Does a landlord have any right to restrict visitors--such as my brother
or a friend visiting for the weekend?
These are just the major issues in a deteriorating situation. We moved in
August 1, and for some reason she didn't like us from day one even though
we are good, quiet tenants. She complains that our windows are open too far,
that the shades are open in our aparment and she wants them shut, that we
can't put an air-conditioner in the front window, and that her carpet
is being ruined around the door (even though it's cheap office-style
carpeting without a finished edge where it meets the hard floor--
of course the door is going to chew it up). She says we come and go
too often, she asks who my visitors are, she yells when I invited someone
to help me move in (saying that it's a "private building"). She yells at
me for running an extension cord into the den, even though when I was
looking at the apartment she said it would be a great place to put my
computer--but when I moved in I discovered that there aren't any plugs
in the den! She complains that I've made her front door dirty with my
shoe, but I've only done that because the door is so warped that I need
to hold it shut at the bottom in order to lock it.
My wife is in fear of this woman and is afraid to come or go out of fear
that she will get yelled at. We can't live in peace.
Thanks in advance.
Keith
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