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Re: Broken pipes, mice and an unresponsive NYC landlord

Posted by satori on February 24, 1999 at 22:23:36:

In Reply to: Re: Broken pipes, mice and an unresponsive NYC landlord posted by dean on February 24, 1999 at 22:09:12:

Well even if you don't have the records you have some video tapes ectra. you
can still use your personal testimony in court. you seem convincing to me
,I would still go to a lawyer, and file a million dollar claim against
the landlord.


: Although I was burned, I did not feel they were severe enough to warrant
: medical attention. My main concern here is getting the landlord to respond,
: my expenses back and getting out of my lease early with a minimal amount of
: penalty.
: Any additional punishment of the landlord, would, of course, be cake, since
: they have acted so reprehensibly, especially lying to us about a very real
: mouse problem--we actually caught 4 in one weekend.

:
: : Well if you were injured as you said and you have the medical records, I would
: : walk right into a lawyers office with your documents. i was able to get
: : $20.000 in damages from the insurance company of a corporation that
: : handled the policy of the company i had a complaint against. i n fact if I was
: : you I would run to a laywers office. remember the person that got millions
: : in a civil suit when being burned by a a cup of Mcdonalds coffee. all,
: : housing owners have insurance.

: :
: : : Please stick with us--this is a long, but interesting, explanation of a
: : : crazy situation. We are sub-leasing a co-op apartment. The "landlord" in
: : : this case refers to the management company that leases the apartment from
: : : the co-op and to us. We pay our rent directly to them and they contract
: : : their own team to make repairs.

: : : On a Sunday morning this past January, I awoke to boiling hot water gushing
: : : from the pipe beneath my kitchen sink. The pipe had broken off from its
: : : connection, and, despite my best efforts to hold it back in place for the
: : : better part of an hour (my wife was attempting to locate the super or the
: : : management company), eventually the water scalded me and I had to let go.
: : : Before the super was finally located, about 1.5 inches of steaming water
: : : had flooded my living room. Several things were damaged.

: : : Once the super was able to turn off the water, he took one look under the
: : : sink and told us that the pipe had been soldered on poorly. The plumber
: : : sent in for the repair the next day said the same thing.

: : : Apparantly, the poor plumbing job was put in place over the summer, after
: : : I contacted the landlord to come in and investigate what I suspected to be
: : : holes behind the sink cabinet. Between November 1997 and July 1998, my wife\
: : : and I caught about 10 mice. After repeated phone calls, our landlord
: : : finally sent someone out to fill up all of the holes. They came while we
: : : were at work, and while the cabinet was pulled out, they reworked some of
: : : the plumbing without telling us.

: : : When the plumber came in January to fix the bad soldering job and pulled
: : : out the cabinet, I was horrified to find many, many holes behind the sink.
: : : The landlord had, in fact lied to us and not fixed the wall in the summer
: : : as they claimed. This explains why we continued to have mice problems,
: : : at least 6 more since the July "repair". (We took video and photos of the
: : : holes.)

: : : My wife took the day off of work after that to ensure that the holes were
: : : filled (by the building super, not the landlord's people). Once we were
: : : finally able to contact someone in the landlord's office, we were told to
: : : estimate our damages and send them in. Our estimate came to approx. $3000.
: : : Since then, it has been a struggle to get them to call us back. We did not
: : : pay February rent ($1450). Finally, two weeks ago, someone at the office
: : : called and left a message on our answering service that he was authorized
: : : to offer us $1500 remuneration and that he was sending us a letter to that
: : : effect. We never recieved the letter and continued phone messages to them
: : : have gone unanswered.

: : : At this point we are unsure as to what to do. Today I received notice in
: : : the mail that they would not be renewing our lease at the end of June. Not
: : : a problem, since we are planning on moving out of state mid-May. How
: : : do we go about breaking our lease in all this mess? Should we continue to
: : : withold rent? Should we take them to court?

: : : Thanks so much in advance for sticking with me through this long e-mail.
: : : Any advice/info is appreciated.



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