Loft/Commercial Lease/Large Leak from Ceiling

[Thomas2222]

Hi, I just moved into a loft in Brooklyn about a month ago. I noticed when I moved in some repaired water damage along the ceiling, but it wasn't leaking for the first month that I've lived there.

Last night, I woke up at 3 am to the noise of what sounded like rainfall. Seemed awfully loud though, so I turned on the light to find that the rainstorm was in my loft, right along the line where the repaired water damage was (which stretches the entire length of the unit). There was a significant amount of water falling, all along the length of the room. I put down towels and buckets, called the landlord (not answering at 3am which is understandable, left a message).

Today I checked my lease, which I believe is a commercial lease, though I'm not sure. It said I am responsible for maintaining the premises in good repair, including pipes, electrical etc. However, the leak is coming from somewhere above my concrete ceiling (I'm on the second floor of a three story factory building). WHatever is causing the leak is above my concrete ceiling (not sure if it was from the snowstorm last night, or some other cause).

I called the landlord again today, but have not heard back from him. I am just doing some preliminary homework here, and hoping that all will go well, but I want to know if the landlord would be responsible for fixing this problem. It definitely renders the place uninhabitable, that's for sure, as there was a large quantity of water all over the floor (not damaged becaused I mopped it up), and dripping about as much as a rainstorm.

Luckily, none of my possessions were damaged. I don't believe the building is covered under the Loft Law, which stipulates that it must have had residential use between 1980 and 81 (or something like that). It is a factory that has two floors converted to lofts (that are used as residences), and the bottom floor has a warehouse. It is obviously for residential use, as it came with a kitchen, bathroom and shower, refrigerator, and everyone living there is a resident.

I'm just wondering if I inherited a $5000 repair job for whatever is leaking. And who would I go to if I have any problems getting the landlord to remedy this obviously untenable situation? And could I move out if he refuses to remedy the situation (thereby breaking the lease)? Or is the landlord breaking the lease if he refuses to remedy the situation?

Thanks for any advice. THis situation (i.e. the loft and the commercial lease) seems to fall through a lot of the cracks of the various legal things I've read. It is without a doubt a residential situation though.

P.S. I just went to the building department website and noticed that there is no certificate of occupancy for this building, except one for one around the corner (part of the same building) that was filed in 1926 for a family dwelling (I guess someone lived there in the building back in teh 20s. Does this make any difference? I noticed by their other filings that they are trying to make the individual units seem like "individual factory units" when in fact they are loft apartments. Do they need a certificate of occupancy?)

<small>[ March 12, 2005, 09:43 PM: Message edited by: Thomas2222 ]</small>

[Downtown]

True in a commercial lease the tenant is responsible for repairs within the space. Anything outside is the LL's (or if problem from other commercial tenant's space)responsibility.
Might be calling an office so try Monday...explain that this is coming from an obvious repaired area.
Tread carefully with the rest ie: CO. There are still a lot of illegal conversions and awhile back some raids removing all residential tenants from buildings. You might want to check zoning for live/work. Also check if an application for CO has been applied for.

[Anna]

Residential use of commercial space w/o a new CO? Illegal: LL might not be able to sue for unpaid rent. Learn about it. search for: 'illegal three' 'illegal apartment' 'commercial' 'loft' in these forums, here http://tenant.net/ and here http://www.tenant.net/Court/Hcourt/
Then contact your local politicians, local tenant clinics, and this org: http://lmlt.org/

ps: even in commercial use, tenant is not responsible for leaks originationg outside of their space.