Advice Needed - withholding rent, etc.

[knibbs]

Forgive the length of this sucker, but I'm in need of some advice from one of you brilliant people. I live in a rent stabilized appartment in Inwood, Manhattan. I have lived there for over 2 years and always paid my rent on time and in full. In October, a large section of my bathroom ceiling collapsed on my head while I was showering due to a leak from the apartment above. That leak, which the super and property manager had been notified about by both myself and the renter upstairs for over 3 months, had never been properly fixed; in fact the super told the renter upstairs that she had to hire her own plumber! I immeadiately called HPD and an inspector came to my appartment, noted the ceiling collapse, as well as a handful of other violations in my residence.

I attempted to contact my propety manager about compensation for the loss of property and work time that I had suffered because of the collapse, but he never returned my phone calls. So, I sent a certified letter stating that it was my intention to not pay October's rent as compensation, and that if they had an alternate plan to contact me. They never did.

Meanwhile, the bathroom ceiling was fixed (although the leak is still intermitently active) but no one has ever fixed or contacted me to fix the other violations the inspector noted. In early November, I sent another certified letter to my property manager saying that until these repairs were made, I would be reducing my rent by a fair ammount, which I have done since.

Yesterday (thank God) another inspector came to my apartment and again noted the same violations as the previous one had. And then TODAY, a certified letter came to me saying that I needed to pay the balance on my account or that they would begin eviction proceedings.

I feal very strongly that I am in the right in this situation, as I have documented very meticulously this whole affair. Furthermore, I'm hell bent on not being intimidated into paying the balance because of the principle of the whole thing - I really could have been seriously injured and my property manager has about as much soul as a brick. What should I do?

[HAJ77]

Be very careful about withholding rent, anytime you withhold rent they will probably start a non-payment proceeding in court and the judge will be the one to decide if you were correct. If you haven't already, consider hiring an attorney with experience in tenant issues, then I would go to court and ask that the violations be fixed or your rent be reduced. Not paying the rent is a recipe for disaster since you will be taken to court and have the expense of defending yourself, that's why I am alway in support of the tenant starting the proceeding and putting the defense upon the LL.

[Grace Wu]

Search and read the court decision about
"withhold the rent."

[Carey]

the next step is a hp case. i am in this process with my landlord. you will have to fill out some paperwork and go to civil court. you'll also have to take another day off work for the court to send a inspector over-- this is seperate from hpd. be carefull withholding rent. i was advised to do so and then got a supena(i spelt that wrong sorry) to go to court over non-payment. i had to beg to get the cases put on the same day.