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apartment may be illegal + insufficient hot water

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apartment may be illegal + insufficient hot water

Postby queensrenter77 » Mon Jun 03, 2013 12:19 pm

signed a lease in Queens for June 1. went through a local broker. paid broker's fee in cash, 1st month's rent + security deposit by personal check. have receipts for everything, copies of checks. many text messages with the agent.

landlord was out of the country but a relative signed lease on his behalf.

got keys last week of May. started moving stuff in. ISP called me confused because they didn't have a listing for my address. between that and other suspicions, i looked up the building on the NYC DOB website and found that it's only listed as a 2-family house.

i think the landlord has illegally subdivided the 2nd floor into 2 apartments (one of which is mine), and i believe he's also renting out the basement.

the hot water is proving inadequate. the shower is hot for ~1 minute and then lukewarm after. and there's some recent ceiling water damage in the bedroom which is not getting repaired.

i have audio recordings of conversations where landlord gives up, says he doesn't know how to fix the hot water, and doesn't want to call anyone to come fix it

the apartment is nice, sunny, in good condition. not your typical "illegal apartment" by any means.

i do have another place to stay in the short term, and enough $$$ on hand to hire an attorney and to sign another lease on a new apartment if needed.

what are my best options here? am i able to break my lease w/o financial obligation? how do i confirm that my apt is illegal? is it possible that i'd be able to recover any $$$ from either landlord or broker?

thanks in advance for your help- it's sincerely appreciated?
queensrenter77
 
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Postby TenantNet » Mon Jun 03, 2013 1:07 pm

Lazy shift key?
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