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Access to Meter & Circuit Breakers

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Access to Meter & Circuit Breakers

Postby scorpiogirl79_1 » Fri Dec 27, 2002 8:44 pm

Is it legal for my landlord not to give me access to the basement? I live in a private 2 family home (she does not live here), she is the only one with access to the basement which houses our meter and is causing a problem every time ConEd comes to get a meter reading and has no access so they keep estimating our bill and overcharging me. Also while we were putting up our Christmas tree, the lights blew out, since we can't get to the circuit breaker I had to call her and she left us sitting over here in the dark for over an hour. Is it legal for her to not give us (or at least the other tenants) access to the basement? Let me also mention she is a cop and we have no lease. She promised us one when we moved in 6 months ago but never gave us one. :confused:
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Re: Access to Meter & Circuit Breakers

Postby Chimera » Sat Dec 28, 2002 6:03 am

The landlord is not required by law to provide tenants with access to the basement. The landlord is required to respond to your complaint within a 'reasonable amount of time.' Clearly, one hour is reasonable for a non-emergency, such as lights going out.

As far as the meter readings: ConEd will provide you with the day the meter reader will come to your house. Try to arrange with your landlord to leave the basement accessible during that day . . . you might even be able to set up an appointment with them, call them and see. Once the meter is read the overcharges will be deducted from your new bill.

Lastly, your chances of obtaining a lease at this point are fairly slim. Landlords are not legally required to provide you with a lease, so you are currently under a month-to-month tenancy, which basically means that either you or the landlord can end the tenancy with 30 days notice. Next time make sure you get the lease well before moving in.
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