APT ISSUES: Rights?

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

Ok, another thread looking for qualified feedback and discuss from both seasoned landlords and tenants.

Long story short, my girlfriend recently signed the lease on a 2 bedroom APT with a friend of hers. I stayed completely out of the process, and was happy when I heard they had landed what I was told was a “great place.”

They signed the lease with the landlord, and payed 1st, last and security at that time.

One month goes by and here we are, the girls get the keys and begin to move in a few days ago. This is where I, as any good BF would, step in and begin to help. Upon viewing the APT for myself I am rather upset. Apparantly it “looked better furnished, etc.”

Old carpet, a smoke smell from a previous tenant, no smoke detectors or fire extinguishers, stained ceilings from water damage, OLD paint, etc. It fucking looks like a college party house and I am rather upset, as is my GF and her friend. It was not represented this way to her and the landlord had made promises that he is not delivering on.

I have done some research today on ‘tenants rights’ and it appears the landlord has a great deal of responsibility that he is not following through on.

Yes, I am mad as hell at my GF for making such a poor decision, but life is full of mistakes and we are all human. I feel bad for her. Her “new apt” bubble has been popped and she is very stressed out. If it were me, I would have never signed the lease having taken one look at the place, but who knows what the girls were looking at a month ago. If I were in her shoes I would honestly chalk it up as a lesson learned and move on. The place is garbage and I do not want to even spend time there. :tdown:

What rights does she have here if the landlord refuses to take care of some of these issues? IE: old paint (chipping, possibly lead based IMO), old musty carpet, no fire EXT/smoke alarms, etc.

2

Smoke and CO detectors are required by the landlord but unless they got in writing that the work would be done to clean up the water damage, paint, etc. shes on her own there. They saw it before so not sure what her recourse is if nothing was in writing before hand what was supposed to be done before moving in.

3

If you would have stopped using “apt” as an abbreviation for the word “apartment”, I would have kept reading past the first half.

4

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/real_estate_finance/pdfs/tenants_rights_guide.pdf

Pg. 21

“If a landlord breaches the warranty of habitability, the tenant may sue for a rent reduction. Alternatively, rent regulated tenants can also file a rent reduction complaint with DHCR. The tenant may also withhold rent, but in response, the landlord may sue the tenant for non-payment of rent. In such case, the tenant may countersue for breach of the warranty.”

Tenants have a lot of rights in NYS, exercising those rights is the hard part.

apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.apt.

Just trying to keep you out of the rest of the thread.

5

I have this document.

lol boardjnky, apt apt apt.

6

Not sure there is anything she can do about the carpet and paint because if it’s not stated in writing, perhaps even verbally would be acceptable, she really has no recourse other than asking the landlord to fix it. The smoke detectors, CO detectors, and fire extinguishers are required to be there and she can file a complaint, but she can also go purchase them and deduct it from the rent. Just make sure she saves the receipts for them. I would advise her to talk with the landlord FIRST and air out all her issues with the apartment to see if there is anything he would be willing to do for her.

I own 4 rental units and I almost always fix whatever the tenant asks for, within reason, because I feel that if I treat my tenants right, they will do the same for me, but not everybody thinks the way I do.

7

Agreed. I wanted to stay out of this but I am willing to do what I can to help. I am hoping the landlord is reasonable as I have never met or spoke with him. We will see.

8

Throw a bunch of keggers to recoup the money lost and then move out ASAP.

9

I initially thought this was a Linux issue with Apt-get

10

Women.

11

I would try speaking with the owner first to resolve the issues.

If that doesnt work, then I have great news.

In the State of New York, an anonymous call can be placed to the code enforcement office of your locale mentioning the lack of fire extinguishers, CO alarms, and smoke detectors. A licensed code enforcement officer will then make a visit and ask each tenant permission to inspect the apartment for aforementioned missing equipment…

this is where you win, because in NYS the person whose privacy is at risk(tenant) is the one with the right to allow or refuse the inspection, not the owner.

If these items are not found in the apartment, the code enforcement officer will then cite the owner for being in breach of building code and he will legally be held responsable to remedy the issues.

This will piss him off, because once he has been cited, they have to re-inspect when it’s done, and the town will also get some $$ out of him because he will likely have to apply for permits to do the work, where if he just fixed the stuff when asked he could have done it on a weekend hush-hush and saved some money/headaches.

If you want to see the specific section of the Building Code book, PM me…I’m currently in training for Code Enforcement for my job and have all of this year’s books ($3-4k worth of books hahahahaha)

12

this fucking guy^^^^
Nice.

13

sudo apt-get a new APT

14

:lol: I thought the same thing followed by advanced persistent threat

15

LOL @ boxxa, LZ, and travisn

16

my mom once called code enforcement on my neighbor for having a uncovered compost pile made of chicken wire, and they were getting serious rat problems.

She called and just asked if it was legal or not… She didn’t give her name, address or anything because she didn’t want to rat him out. She just wanted to ask questions if that could be causing the rat problem.
the SAME day, code enforcement shows up and talks to my parent’s neighbor.
I would assume they used reverse look up to figure out who was calling.
However, it turned out my parents neighbor and the code enforcement officer were good buddies.
2 years later the compost is still there, and there’s more rats then ever.
About a year ago my mom actually did file a formal complaint… still nothing has been done though.
A pest control division of Erie county even came out and baited my parents property.
Then the pest control lost their funding and took the bait boxes away, haha.

They use havahart traps and catch a rat every couple of days.
They catch a lot of birds and skunks though.
More birds then anything else.
I catch a lot of cats on my property :expressionless:

17

Usually if the paint sucks the landlord will pay for WHITE paint, but you’re on your own for colors. And it’s more than likely not lead.

18

i would talk to the landlord first. if he’s not willing to do anything, i guess make the best of it. rent a carpet shampooer steam cleaner thing and give the landlord the bill with the rent. can i ask how much the rent is and what location it’s in?

there’s a lot more to be worried about than old paint and bad carpeting. and definetly talk to him about smoke detectors.

19

Had a ‘strong’ conversation with the landlord. Smoke detectors have been installed, every wall has been painted, and carpets have been professionally cleaned. The bills will be taken off next months rent.

20

welp, that was easy.

ive lived in my apartment for over a year and there are things that were supposed to be fixed before i moved in that arent… but i just make him take shit off the rent all the time.