Intercom Problem/Safety
About 3 months ago landlord changed all 11 intercomes in my bldg but the 12th tenant is refusing to allow electrician to do so. Now I’m stuck for 3 months without intercom [missed packages, deliveries etc almost daily] as every apt on this tenent’s line does not work. Tenent sometimes have to leave lobby door…
About 3 months ago landlord changed all 11 intercomes in my bldg but the 12th tenant is refusing to allow electrician to do so. Now I’m stuck for 3 months without intercom [missed packages, deliveries etc almost daily] as every apt on this tenent’s line does not work. Tenent sometimes have to leave lobby door open for deliveries etc and of course this is not safe but there is no other way. Landlord cannot get this tenant apt it seems as the tenant is intentianally refusing to let electr. install a new buzzer thinking that the rent would increase [my and other tenant opinion].
Anyone have idea what to do in this situation? It is extremely inconvenient situation as I get almost daily some kind of delivery [UPS, USPS, Supermarket etc]..it’s now more than 3 months of this hassle
Park Slope area.
Thx.
Just re-read and noticed you were a tenant and not the landlord, apologies for my previous post. You can direct the landlord to do that.
As a tenant, you could start an HP case against your landlord for repair in L&T court, but the downsides are 1. it’s $45 to initiate the case (unless you receive PA or can prove hardship), and 2. it might not go over well with the landlord lol.
The upside is that it would probably result in access to that tenants’ apt being ordered by the judge.
Go to Civil Court to the Pro Se/Office of the Self-Represented and ask them how you go about obtaining an access order to perform repairs. If the tenant doesn’t allow you access, that’s pretty much the only way to get in.
fsrg- I realy try not to assume anything about anyone. Makes life easier. I also try to avoid dissing entire groups of people for an individual’s mistakes. But that’s just me.
bfarwell- I hear you and understand how you feel. But on the issue of security for a building, it can’t be tolerated for one tenant to basically hold the rest hostage. One tenant did that in my old building- refused to have the intercom fixed. Would always leave the front door open for packages, etc. Of course sh*t happened.
By the way- intercoms would not add to the rent. Landlords are responsible for security so these are not upgrades. If he went to a fancy video intercom from a basic buzzer type, the it could be considered a capital improvement I think- but vinca would know more about that.
(and yes, if you buy my building and then improve it a bunch and tell me my rent is going up, I’ll be pissed. I wasn’t asked if I wanted [insert whatever here], it was done and my rent was raised. how is my being pissed difficult to understand??)
God, these f*cking poor people. If they’re not a bunch of riff-raff deserving to be hassled, they’re a bunch of jerks who should leave the city and move to somewhere far away, and then, I guess, commute back to serve me coffee in my exclusively fancy-people neighborhood.
They make me sick, living in their cramped quarters out of some twisted desire to live in tiny apartments. Why don’t they get bigger apartments? What’s wrong with them? And why do they want to stay in this neighborhood they’ve lived in for decades? It’s a nicer neighborhood now, they should get out and let more starbucks patrons in. I mean, what says community and neighborhood more than a bunch of people who just moved here from somewhere else drinking lattes? I know I certainly didn’t start rent regulation for any particular reason, and gave landlords no benefits. It was just a whim on the part of the city and I! And god, if we had known it would encourage people to live in apartments, we would never, ever, have done it.
wtf is wrong with you people? you’re not usually such assholes.
Let’s take a tiny moment to consider than this person isn’t just being an asshole for fun. I’ve lived in some buildings where people were either a) paranoid about everything, b) old and not entirely all there, c) of uncertain language ability, or d) Are sick of being harassed by landlords who are trying to get them out. Any of these things could be part of the reason they won’t let the landlord in. And, as noted, the landlord can (maybe it isn’t easy, maybe it isn’t pretty) do a workaround to wire the intercoms differently if this is such a big deal. So maybe you should all back the hell off.
There are systems that dial phone numbers so you don’t have to hardwire the apartments. It is great because you can buzz someone in from the backyard or roof.
It’s lots more work (plus additional expense) to run new individual outside lines to every apartment. My apartment buildings were wired for intercoms probably 20 years ago and they are all interconnected. I’d be hesitant to run new lines as long as the existing ones work due to all the extra work involved in cutting channels in the plaster hallways, repairing the damage, repainting, as well as having to run new wiring to each intercom in every apartment and repairing any interior damage as well. You’re talking about a lot of additional work just because one tenant is being a jackass. In historic buildings, you don’t want ugly wire moldings either, especially in public hallways, so everything has to be hidden in the walls.
Maybe an Obama style “beer summit” will work.
im still trying to wrap my mind around TWELVE apartments in a single brownstone :-/ im all for compact living, but that just seems strange to me.
*rob*
This is absurd. If indeed the intercom wire is running through the tenants apartment, all the wire for a simple intercom system could be replicated in the stairwell to bypass the asshole’s place. Much, much cheaper than starting an eviction that ultimately won’t occur.