Fuck being nice to him. Give him some attitude back and don't be afraid to raise your voice and make a stink. Call the city every day and get them involved. Be a pain in their asses as i'm guessing you will end up looking for a new place once your lease is up anyway.

Posted by: Escape From The Planet Of The What at November 18, 2009 1:48 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

Call HPD, get an inspector to come down and see what kind of violations are present. Go to www.nyc.gov/hpd and put in your address to see what other complaints are logged in by other tenants and whether you can get together with them. With violations in hand you may be able to withhold the rent for a bit until the problems are hopefully resolved, but not withhold it long enough for them to bring any legal action against you. Unless they totally ignore the violations and you take a chance in housing court as you could then be entitled to a rent abatement. The court will appoint a lawyer to you for free btw. keep a log book of communications with the super, and send all letters to the LL and CC'd to the super notarized and certified. Those letters automatically become legal documents when notarized and certified and can then be presented in court, IF it came to that. As someone said earlier, tough shit on the super and LL so feel free to be a bit difficult with them.

Posted by: Escape From The Planet Of The What at November 18, 2009 11:13 AM in response to Contacting Landlord

CUNY City Tech school in Downtown Brooklyn offers such courses, as well as Brownstone seminars periodically. Go to: http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/academics/continuinged/index.shtml and download a pdf catalog. Classes are tax deductible as well, up to $1,500 or so?
As far as books, the Black & Decker books are REALLY good. Get them here on the cheap, MUCH cheaper than Amazon: http://www.hamiltonbook.com/hamiltonbook.storefront/4aa7ae89000ec6d0271f424d36d606bb/UserTemplate/7

Posted by: Escape From The Planet Of The What at September 9, 2009 11:01 AM in response to Plumbing/Electrical 101

The poor hipsters most likely patronize all those successful places that offer free pizza with your pint of beer. And why do you think PBR is sooooooo popular? As far as people coming in from elsewhere to dine and drink, every time I pass Sea on my way to Academy records, you see every type of non-hipster you can imagine from all over, especially packed on weekends.

Posted by: Escape From The Planet Of The What at June 23, 2009 12:37 PM in response to Williamsburg Hipsters Aren't All Rich Kids After All

PLEASE stop by Atrani and Positano, arguably the most lovely stops during your Amalfi excursion. Ciao :)

Posted by: Escape From The Planet Of The What at May 21, 2009 9:38 PM in response to Closing Bell: Amalfi Coast, Here We Come

Yanks, first, consult a lawyer. Someone on BS recommended Marc Aronson on Smith St. in another thread. Poster said he knows his stuff, but I cannot verify. Christopher posted correctly above about 120 days notice before the lease is up, send it notarized and certified, ALWAYS. If the lease expired already, or none is in place, you will have no choice but to offer them a new lease, one or two year, then wait till 120 days before that lease expires to start any proceedings. If they are elderly, it will be really tough. Elderly AND rent control, pretty much untouchable. Forget for now about getting out the person with the cheapest rent, you will recoup that rent over time long term, but see which apt. will be easiest for you to make your long term abode. To help your matter, you may also have to get an architect to file plans with the city to make a primary residence duplex. This will help your cause, but you WILL have to follow through. You most likely have to make concessions, letting the tenants live rent free for certain number of months, or cash out of pocket, or both, depends on court proceedings. Most importantly, you CANNOT rent out an apt. evicted for family/personal use, last I remembered, for minimum three years, but that might have changed. If caught doing so, the previous tenants can sue the pants off you to regain their apartment as well as monetary damages, somewhere along the lines of three times each months rent from eviction to recovery, but don't quote me on that, I just know it's harsh. Overall, it can be done, but be patient and please make your decisions wisely, especially dealing with the lives of people you will be uprooting. You may want to personally explain the situation to those tenants, and see if there is something reasonable you can do for them, i.e. money, in order for them to move within a reasonable time frame, and keep all this out of the courts, which for the tenants will be in their best interests as well. You may be lucky enough to find someone who is willing to work with you, but proceed wisely and respectfully. Best of luck. Patience is a virtue.

Posted by: Escape From The Planet Of The What at April 8, 2009 11:39 AM in response to Buying a Rent-Stabilized Bldg

Just wanted to add, that a lot of electrical or plumbing job supposed to be done with DOB permit. So be careful.

Posted by: bobjohn at September 9, 2009 12:24 PM in response to Plumbing/Electrical 101

Like bobjohn said, DOB permits and even it means changing an water fixture. NYC is in need of money and i'm sure they will be more then happy to issue SWO and violations.

Posted by: theart at September 9, 2009 4:14 PM in response to Plumbing/Electrical 101

The NHS class starts Monday. (Attendance at Thursday's orientation meeting is not required.) You could call Monday morning, see if they still have room.

Posted by: mopar at September 12, 2009 10:23 AM in response to Plumbing/Electrical 101

If You Need A Electrician You can Try Erick @ (347)512-4869

Posted by: OldManSam at September 13, 2009 12:27 AM in response to Plumbing/Electrical 101

Thank you all for your responses. The problems in the building are mostly in the common area. The stairs are not well maintained and feel like they are about to break. After a leak in the entrance was fixed after almost 2 years, the plaster wasn't cleaned up for a whole month. The garbage left in the trashcans(by some tenants) inside is left there- stinky and now with cockroaches.. The lightbulbs aren't changed. It's straight up dirty! He hires a guy I have seen around the street asking for money to come in and "mop" the stairs what seems to be every 2 months- and he seems to mop it with dirty water. The building had no hot water for 4 days. The front doors constantly get stuck and hard to open. I know it sounds like a rant, but if you have ever been to my building you would know what I mean. I've tried being polite with him and being nice- and he is still very mean to me. He acts like we are an annoyance, when it is his job to maintain and fix the issues of the building.

Posted by: althea at November 18, 2009 12:13 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

Fuck being nice to him. Give him some attitude back and don't be afraid to raise your voice and make a stink. Call the city every day and get them involved. Be a pain in their asses as i'm guessing you will end up looking for a new place once your lease is up anyway.

Posted by: Escape From The Planet Of The What at November 18, 2009 1:48 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

tybur6:

Don't you have friends who could help you move?

Posted by: SJ at November 18, 2009 8:35 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

Oh yeah, and don't you have any friends who are lawyers who could help you out?

Posted by: SJ at November 18, 2009 8:48 PM in response to Contacting Landlord

To tell you the truth, the only things that are serious and that the city will compel him to fix are the roaches and no hot water. Also, for the roaches, all he's required to do is pay for an exterminator. They won't actually eliminate the roaches, especially if the problem is being created by tenants.

Posted by: mopar at November 19, 2009 5:20 PM in response to Contacting Landlord