Superintendent working job in daytime

[Nadine]

There are 57 rental units in the building. Most of these units are either rent stabilized or rent controlled (a few have become decontrolled through the new vacancy decontrol rules).

In a memo the landlord has advised she has hired a new couple as superintendent. The husband has a daytime job from 7:00 to 4:00 and is also is the super to another building two blocks away. When the husband is asked to make repairs he usually responds that he has a lot to do. There was a broken pipe incident last week. The wife shut off the hot water valve. The husband came over to inspect but one tenant had to haul out ceiling debris, etc that had fallen in the bathroom because the husband was not available until evening. My understanding is we are entitled to 24/7 superintendent service. Can our landlord says she is providing it because she refers to the couple as superintendent? What recourse do we have? Any and all advice welcome.

[Phil Cohen]

One thought that comes immediately to mind is that you have a buildingwide reduction in services. I.e., you do not have an adequate superintendent. My understanding (somebody should please correct me if I am wrong) is that buildings of that size require a full-time super.
I'd suggest researching that angle, and then get together with other tenants and lodge an appropriate complaint with the DHCR.
Meanwhile, don't let them get away with not promptly fixing stuff. Call the Buildings Dept. and get them slapped with violations.

[configdotsys]

It's my understanding that a building with six or more units requires a full time superintendant.

I once lived in a small building (16 units) and the super, a single guy, had a day job so there was no one around all day. Every time a new tenant moved in, it was pure hell because the cable and phone folks couldn't get into the basement because there was no one home. I remember someone at the time telling me that 6+ units required a full time super.

[mjr203]

"Does the law require a Super to live in my building?

In apartment buildings with 9 or more units the landlord must either:

Provide janitorial/superintendent services himself, if he lives in the building; Provide a super who lives in the building, within 200 ft. of the building, or within one block of the building, whichever is greater; Provide for janitorial services to be available on a 24-hour basis.

In short, a super need not live in the building, but if he does not the owner must make adequate provision for superintendent services. The name of the building owner, or super, or janitorial company (i.e. whoever provides janitorial services) must be posted in your lobby along with a telephone number for 24 hour contact."

from housingnyc's Repairs and Maintenance FAQ

http://www.housingnyc.com/resources/faq/repairs.html#live

[Cranky Tenant]

As far as I know, a building this size is required to have a super on the premises. While taking care of repairs etc may be a full time job, I don't remember seeing anything indicating the super actually had to work full-time.

I suspect it's more a question of having someone on the premises and making sure things are kept in good repair rather than the hours he keeps.

[geoffnet7]

Legally the superintendant must live within the building or within 1 block of a building that size. I don't think there's a specific law stating what hours the super must work however if there is a lack of services in the building then there is some recourse. You can address it with the DHCR which is a slow process, but a tenant group I work with had some success, the LL must submit to tenants and DHCR a schedule of when the SUper is working and it must be 40 hours/week.