
Quoting
SChinFChin
Here's an idea.
You'll go crazy each time you have a problem to try to figure out what department it is, and who to call. Then when you get hold of someone, you get transferred from one person to the other.
For these problems, what I do is figure out who the councilman, alderman, or rep is for my area. Usually, they would tell you the particular person within the department, such as code enforecement, to call, and better yet, even sometimes make the call for you.
If you grab hold of the "white pages" of the phonebook, you'll find a section in the back, listings for the Federal Government, then State, and finally local, the township. Then look up your local reps, in my case, the councilman for my district.
I complained to my councilman on a few occasions, and I was surprised how quick I got action.
Once people on my block was complaining about sanitation not picking up garbage when the garbage pail is too heavy. They called, and they got nowhere.
I thought I called my councilman anyway, even on such a thing so ridiculous , and believe it or not, they called sanitation department, and sanitation called me back to apologize, and told me they're sending a specail truck just to my house, to pick up that one pail of garbage. The man wanted to know if I'll be home at 3:00PM, and I wanted to know why. He said he wanted to check back if the garbage was picked up, obviously to report back to the councilman.
I bet you if your councilman, or local rep calls code enforecement, code enforcement will hop on it immediately. In my area at least, the "Buildings Department" is in change of code enforcement, and they've been criticized for lax oversight, and the last thing they want is the councilman getting on their case for another screwup.
I find calling the my councilman, or the local paper, beats getting a lawyer every time, and it's free, and it's what looks good or bad that counts, not the law, and you get action in hours, not months, if ever.
As to judgements, I suggest that if you look for a new place, say up front you have a dispute with the LL, but otherwise, you've been prompt.