Tenant Rights: NYC Building Renovation Causes Noise & Dust

A Brownstoner reader who rents an apartment in East Williamsburg just resigned a lease with a hiked-up monthly rent — but then the landlord began a disruptive gut renovation.

Commenter nicanica writes:

I am a tenant who recently renewed a lease in a 4-unit building in East Williamsburg. The rent went up $400, which I protested because the building has been neglected over the years and is in disrepair in a variety of ways. I ended up re-signing anyway, which I now regret, because a month later the landlords have begun gut renovating every unit in the building except for mine. The halls are filled with dust, the building is loud, and the landlords have employed someone to “live” in the apartment below mine for “security”. This person chain-smokes right below my bedroom all night and begins loud construction work at 7:30 every morning. Meanwhile the main hallway and entrance to the building are just trashed. Do I have any recourse? Is it within the landlord’s legal rights to do this kind of work without informing tenants ahead of time? I’ve been reading the tenants bill of rights and this seems to be a gray area, so I was wondering if at least there needs to be a DOB permit posted in one of the main areas. Thanks to anyone who has some information for me on anything I can do, or anything my landlord is required to do.

What are the tenant’s rights here? Commenters suggest this shouldn’t be difficult to get out of — what do you suggest the poster do? Chime in over in the Forum.

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  1. This is the downside of hipster colonization; honesty, scheming bums like this lady who look at every way they can live rent free or takeover someone else’s building. What did she expect would happen if she remained in a building under construction. I bet she wants to bully the landlord into moving her into one of the new units once it’s completed. This usually happens to unsuspecting Hispanic and Black landlords.

  2. How can you gut and renovate without creating dust? I am sure the landlord warned her of his intentions to renovate the vacant units and the consequences of remaining in a building under construction. Let me take a guess; she is now looking for feee legal advice to see which angle she can use to either sue or not pay rent during construction. Lady eat lemons