If your apartment has defects and needs repairs, we generally advise renters to follow the following steps, IN ORDER:
1. Contact your super about the needed repair.
2. If your super fails to respond and the condition is an EMERGENCY, such as a cascading leak, no heat or an imminent fire hazard, contact the Central Complaint Bureau of the NYC Department of Housing Presrvation and Development by dialing 311.
3. In a non-emergency, if your superintendent or management company is not being responsive, and the repair has not been made in a timely manner, write a letter to the owner of the building detailing the problem and asking for the repair to be made by a certain date. If the super is simply lax about making repairs, this type of "prompt" to the owner may elicit action. Send the letter by certified mail and keep a copy in your files.
4. If the letter does not bring a response, try to contact the owner in person or by phone. Let her know that resolving the problem is important and that if it is not resolved you will have to file a complaint with the authorities.
If the owner still does not respond you can do any (or a combination of) the following:
* Make the needed repair yourself (or hire someone to do it) and deduct the cost from your rent. Be CERTAIN that the expense was necessary to correct a violation of the City's Housing Maintenance Code. Also, be careful to get bids for the work and to document both the needed repair and the costs.
* Ask the NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) for a housing inspection. Again, the number for complaints is 311. HPD can order the landlord to make repairs and/or fine the landlord. Bear in mind that HPD must prioritize inspections based upon the level of hazard involved. During the winter months much of the inspection staff is allocated to heat emergencies.Thus, non-emergency inspections may take some time.
* If your apartment is rent-stabilized, file a decrease of service complaint with the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the agency which administers the rent laws.
* If your landlord persistently ignores serious conditions, you should consider filing an
HP Action in Housing Court.