No Elevator for a Week
The elevator in our rental building has been out of service for more than a week. As a result, we have had to climb 5 flights of stairs every day to walk the dog, go to work, go shopping etc. The building keeps promising that it will be be fixed “tomorrow” but it hasn’t happened….
The elevator in our rental building has been out of service for more than a week. As a result, we have had to climb 5 flights of stairs every day to walk the dog, go to work, go shopping etc. The building keeps promising that it will be be fixed “tomorrow” but it hasn’t happened.
What rights do we have because of this? Can we withold rent or negotiate a reduction? Or does the building have no obligation to provide an elevator?
Thanks.
everyone in my building calls 311 to report anything like this after a few days. can be anonymous if you prefer. there’s a perception that it puts pressure on the landlord, but unconfirmed. can’t hurt. good luck!
OK, thanks to all for your responses. This is certainly not a hardship, more like an inconveninece. I’ll just hope it doesn’t last much longer.
If you’re rent stabilized, you can probably ask for a rent reduction for the period the elevator is out of service. If you’re a market rate tenant there’s not much redress, you might as well whistle Dixie. If the elevator is less than five or ten years old, parts should be available, if it’s older than that, it could be coming in from Germany, or being fabricated somewhere as Minard says.
I went through the same exact thing. 3 months w/o an elevator. Some of the tenants took the LL to court. What happened? The landlord showed a timeline showing when the initial event happened, the repair co. responses and in the end the part that was needed was so old it was no longer made. The part had to be fabricated by a machinist. Thus the long delay.
No award of reduction given.
A week is peanuts if the building you’re in has an ancient elevator.
careful or they will charge extra fitness center fee to your rent.
Part of the problem might be as Minard suggested, the part for repair isn’t an off-the-shelf piece and needs to be custom fabricated.
Also, depending on the reason for the repair, the city might need to come out and re-inspect and certify the fix. That would delay it too…
do the apartments in the building all have cathedral ceilings? 5 flights really isnt that bad.. i guess it could be annoying with a dog or kid tho. i cant imagine they would give any kind of rent reduction.
*rob*
whenever I see really expensive apartments on this blog in non-elevator buildings I think back when our elevator was being repaired. Oy! The laundry, the dog, up and down those flights, it wasn’t a joy. In our case the repairs took a week because one of the large pieces, the flywheel? had to be re-fabricated. These elevators are so antique that there are no off-the-shelf replacements for the original mechanism. I can imagine that in a rental building there is always the uncertainty of whether repairs are actually progressing or not. I sympathize.
Pain in the ass, but likely not a rent reduction worthy one.
I would try to get an answer directly from the management company, and ask for the reason for the delay. Get specific. State also that you have elderly/feeble friends/family coming for thanksgiving, hence your concern, as they “clearly cannot make the 5 story trek” to your apartment. Or something to that effect.
And as all else fails, envision your rock hard butt and hamstring muscles following this inconvenient forced gym-at-home time.