Unresponsive Landlord to leaky ceiling

[MorganUWS]

I've been having the same recurring leak in a bedroom of my apartment through the light fixture on the ceiling. I believe someone has been out to repair the ceiling 4-5 times now and I've lived in the apartment for 5 months. At first, the LL would send the super out almost as soon as we called. Now, the LL is unresponsive to pictures, emails and letters with the rent check. The final email was sent-not about the leak but about the LL's inability to contact me. (he previously stated the a super was fired over the leaky situation) I can understand it takes time to hire someone, however, the lack of communication is a problem. Finally after the final email-1.5 weeks ago, a repair team showed up out of the blue, and repaired the leak.
With the monsoon last night, I discovered the leak was not corrected and is still dripping-also discovered other leaks in the basement (where another bedroom is).
Also with the last repair guys, they stated this partucular leak has been an ongoing problem for the past few years. (Above this bedroom is the upstairs neighbor's balcony).
I really love this apartment-except for the leaks. And the LL being so unresponsive. And the inability to use the leaky room.

Any words of wisdom/advice??

[Jeffnet]

Wow, this is unfortunate - to have ongoing leaks like that.

It sounds like the LL has been responsive but probably doesn't know how to handle it at the moment after all the repairs.

Perhaps you should send them a separate letter via certified mail instead of or in addition to what you send with the rent check.

If it gets real bad and you can't stand it anymore, maybe a call to 311 might be appropriate. See if an inspector can come out and write a violation. That might get the LL on the ball about getting to the source of the leak and fixing it once and for all. Good luck.

[concord]

My concern would be that the water is leaking through the light fixture and that this may cause a threat to the tenants’ safety.

As it would appear that you wish to remain on good terms with your LL you may want to approach this from a safety and expense angle.

That is, inform your LL about the DANGER of water leaking through an ELECTRICAL device [the light fixture]. While I couldn’t estimate the likelihood of it, it may be possible that:

A short could cause a person touching a light switch to receive an electrical shock and even death;
A spike in current may cause tenants’ electrical devices to be destroyed;
There may be an electrical fire;
If the wiring shorts out then the damage could be excessive to the point where the LL may need to replace a considerable amount of wiring/fuse box/outlets.

I would put these concerns into a letter sent to the LL with return receipt requested. That way, if he does nothing and you do incur expenses due to damage by the wiring then at least you will have legal standing to sue him for reimbursement, due to his negligence.

As a further step you can inform 311 of a dangerous electrical condition as Jeffnet suggested. There are further steps that you can take but see what this does for you as a starting point.