broken heater in a "single unit" apt.

[frankbk]

Hello,

I had posted here a couple of months ago about a situation that I am still dealing with now, and wanted to clarify a few things I wasn't sure about before, as I've been given legal advice that I'm not sure I should take.

I live in a 4 br apt that I share with three others in Brooklyn. Our heat hasn't worked at all this winter. The landlord has an "as is" paragraph in the lease, which he assured me (verbally) before I signed a renewal did not apply to heat/ other issues of habitability. When I called him about the heat (in late October) he referred me to the mentioned "as is" wording and said I'd have to call someone and pay for repairs myself. I immediately called 311 and did so repeatedly throughout Nov and Dec, which was a complete nightmare. Inspectors never called before arriving and the one time one showed up it wasn't cold enough to issue a violation.

I had a lawyer I know read my lease and explained the situation to him. Now, I wasn't paying him for his services and he isn't a housing specialist, but his advice was to see how much it would cost to fix and if it was cheaper than hiring a lawyer I should just pay because my landlord had "covered his bases". The reason is that our heat comes from a unit that is specific to our apt (a rooftop heat/ ac unit) and we have been responsible throughout for paying our own utilities. Therefore since we're in what would be considered a "single unit" and the lease I agreed to is worded in a way that could be construed to place all responsibility for repairs on the tenant, I've essentially given up any claims under the warranty of habitability, or in any case would have to hope that I got a sympathetic judge as the case isn't as cut and dry as it would be in a multiple unit bldg etc.

Of course, my roommates don't want to split the cost of repairs, because they think we should take him to housing court. I'm the only one on the lease, and the lease also states that the tenant will be held responsible for the LL's unnecessary legal expenses in any dispute so I'm kind of afraid to go off to housing court and end up digging myself a $5000 hole instead of a $500 one.

Any advice, (other than "read the lease next time and don't trust any verbal assurances from a landlord)? Fix it and deduct cost from next month's rent? Small claims court? Any advice would be appreciated.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place.