Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New York

No Smoke Alarm, Hole in Ceiling. Help!

I really hope someone out there can help. My boyfriend and I are having an awful time with our landlord. We live in a co-op building and are leasing the apartment from the owner (the shareholder) for one year. The apartment had multiple issues when we moved in. The landlord had not moved her stuff out yet, there was spoiled food and her furniture all over the apt, the apartment was really dirty, the apartment ceiling had been rebuilt and she hadn't cleaned up after the construction. There was no smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector.

We immediately began calling and writing letters to her reminding her of the remaining issues. Whenever we get ahold of her (which is rarely) she humors us on the phone and says she'll do it, but then never follows up. We are now 4 months into our lease and still have no smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector. There's also a huge hole in our bathroom ceiling around the heating pipe. We have been writing her for months about these issues and she's been completely unresponsive. She's even gotten nasty towards us, stating we are ''high maintenance'' tenants even though she's breaking state law. At this point she seems to be completely ignoring us. What can we do?


Asked on 7/28/05, 10:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Stephen Loeb Law Office of Stephen R. Loeb

Re: No Smoke Alarm, Hole in Ceiling. Help!

Stop paying rent, or move out.

Should you like to discuss this or any other legal matter, you can e-mail me for more information about low cost face-to-face, on-line, or a telephone consultation with a lawyer in our office.

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Answered on 7/28/05, 11:07 am


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