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Recourses after illegal apartment entry

Rights for non-regulated tenants

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Recourses after illegal apartment entry

Postby mikesp » Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:59 pm

Hi, I live in a co-op building in a sponsor apartment. It's not rent regulated, the lease is pretty standard boilerplate.

Our super called us today saying that there was a leak in our bathroom going down into the apartment below. He went into a lot of detail into the work that had to be done, which I thought was odd. They didn't have a key, the super gave us the option to have them have a key or not when we moved in, and we chose not to give them one. After a discussion I came home early to let them in to fix the leak.

When I came home I saw a note on our floor stating that management authorized someone to break into the apt via our bathroom window. We're on the 3rd floor so I guess they had a big ladder to do it. They then backed out the same way after assessing the damage.

The super claimed he knew nothing about someone breaking in, but he admitted the onsight management has done this sort of thing before.

I'm vaguely conservant with housing rights in this instance but I'm not sure what to do in this instance. From what I understand they can enter without notice in a true emergency, but a small leak (which this was) does not constitute an emergency.

So my questions...one, is this illegal entry? I'm pretty sure it is but any advice is welcome.

Two, what can we do about it? My first priority is to ensure it doesn't happen again. My second is to know what recourses are open to us.

Thanks for any and all advice.
mikesp
 
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Location: Brooklyn

Postby TenantNet » Thu Apr 08, 2010 5:42 pm

Call the cops, make a complaint, press charges. But be aware they will claim it was an emergency.

Also find out from the super if they could have turned off the water from outside your apartment and waited for you to return. If so, then it's not an emergency.
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