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526 E. 11th WORST APARTMENT BUILDING IN EAST VILLAGE

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526 E. 11th WORST APARTMENT BUILDING IN EAST VILLAGE

Postby CaveatEmptor2 » Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:33 am

I have lived here for almost a year and there has been nothing but problems.

There has been no Heat for ALL OF OCTOBER! and they are legally obligated to put it on beginning October 1st.

Also, this is the 5th day with no Hot Water!!!!!!! And they are doing nothing about it!

There is also a large Hole in the wall where they fixed the gas pipes and have not repaired the hole of months... and mice are happily entering and exiting the apartment through the wall.
Last edited by CaveatEmptor2 on Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Cranky Tenant » Fri Oct 28, 2011 3:24 pm

We've also been without heat until the night before last and we're currently without hot water. Not the same building but maybe we have the same landlord?
I'm a cranky tenant NOT a cranky lawyer.
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Postby Emeraldstar » Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:36 pm

Hi All
Everyone in the bld. who choses should call 311 & file complaints. Keep the pressure on by calling daily with different neighbors then repeat if needed. Remember to jot down the complaint confirmations.
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Postby ronin » Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:24 pm

It is definitely officially heat season so LL's really have no excuse. But I think this cold snap surprised everyone, even the trees!

I have never seen snow with all of the tree leaves still green. Not one fallen leaf yet. It's bizarre.
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Postby Emeraldstar » Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:45 pm

Hi All
Ah yes.........the LL's see green as well, so make those calls folks :wink:
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Postby ronin » Mon Oct 31, 2011 1:09 am

LOL! Good one!

Yes. They see plant based green as well. Unfortunately for tenants, the LL's see evergreens....

But seriously, have you ever seen a late October with so few leaves fallen and snow like this? Very disturbing.
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Postby Emeraldstar » Mon Oct 31, 2011 11:40 pm

Hi All
Ronin, odd yes.....that said, I see it as a tangiable blessing in disguise for tenants.
What a way to start the battle of the heat season. What's a LL who's cheap on heat going to say.......it wasn't cold? LL's are flakey like that....OMG did I really say that :roll:
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Postby Cranky Tenant » Tue Nov 01, 2011 3:28 am

My cheap landlord never provides heat before October 15th. He probably figures that even if tenants complain it'll take a while before the City comes around to inspect. This year we had a warm October so he got to drag it out a bit more, and then add a few days to that before everything works the way it should. I don't think the idea of prepping the boiler so that we could have heat by October 1st, if needed, ever occurred to him.
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Postby concord » Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:15 pm

I have a wonderful LL like the rest of you.

The only thing that will cause him to turn on the heat is a call to 311. It’s the same pattern every year. If no tenant calls 311 the LL shall never turn on the heat. It’s his wake-up call.

While I have heard it repeated many times here that 311 is useless and that 311 is basically a record-keeper and not much of an enforcer, they do nonetheless when you call them mention that, if an inspector finds that the LL is not providing heat that the LL shall be fined $500 for the first offense an $1000 for the second offense.

I don’t know if such fines have ever actually been applied however.

Perhaps it helps that I have caused my LL to incur fines for violations in the past and he now knows that if I pursue him he may face more fines. One call to 311 is all it takes these days.

You have to start somewhere.

My LL strongly regretted denying us adequate hot water once upon a time. To summarize, I called 311; an HPD inspector came; he determined that there was inadequate hot water supply; a violation was issued; I remained persistent with HPD while following their instructions on how to proceed.

Finally (after about two weeks) the LL was given the ultimatum by HPD to correct the violation and to provide adequate hot water within a week or HPD would get a court order to correct the violation with their own people and to then bill the LL. If the LL would then refuse to pay a lien could be put on the building.

The hot water problem was resolved within a month of my initial call with the installation of a new hot-water boiler and no rent increase to the tenants.

All it took was persistence [making many phone calls] and following instructions exactly as HPD told me to.

---

The building referred to herein is rent-stabilized and privately-owned with no subsidies.
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Postby TenantNet » Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:26 pm

herein?
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