Landlord Not Providing Heat
I signed a lease on an apartment in a brownstone in Clinton Hill. Article 5 in our lease says “the landlord will only pay for cold water in the sink and bathroom. The tenant must pay for gas, electric, heat, and sewerage.” There are radiators in the apartment, but the landlord says they’re broken. He’s…
I signed a lease on an apartment in a brownstone in Clinton Hill. Article 5 in our lease says “the landlord will only pay for cold water in the sink and bathroom. The tenant must pay for gas, electric, heat, and sewerage.” There are radiators in the apartment, but the landlord says they’re broken. He’s provided us with electric space heaters instead.
The language in the lease seems contrary to what the NY State Tenants Right Guide says about warranty of habitability: “Under the warranty of habitability, tenants have the right to a livable, safe and sanitary apartment. This is a right that is implied in every written or oral residential lease. Any lease provision that waives this right is contrary to public policy and is therefore void. Examples of a breach of this warranty include the failure to provide heat or hot water on a regular basis, or the failure to rid an apartment of an insect infestation.”
The landlord has a plan for a more permanent solution to install electric floorboard radiators hardwired into our electric. We’ll be able to control the heat from there, but it will still be on our electric bill. That doesn’t change that currently we’ve been given 4 space heaters which are inadequate to heat our apartment. Without running the space heater my bedroom is 45 degrees.
The NY State Tenants Right Guide PDF also states “Heat must be supplied from October 1 through May 31 to tenants in multiple dwellings. If the outdoor temperature falls below 55°F between the hours of six a.m. and ten p.m., each apartment must be heated to a temperature of at least 68°F. If the outdoor temperature falls below 40°F between the hours of ten p.m. and six a.m., each apartment must be heated to a temperature of at least 55°F.”
So is my lease void? Does my landlord have to legally heat our place? Should I file a complaint? So many questions!
If you signed a lease saying that you will pay for heat, then you have to pay for heat. However, not having a safe means of getting heat is unacceptable. If I were you I would look for a new place immediately and just move on. I recently left an apartment where I had to pay for heat (which I knew going in, but had no idea what the bills would look like) and, worse, deal with a deadbeat landlord, and moving into a decent well-run apartment has made a huge positive difference in my life. It was awful to have to move again so soon after moving in to the last place, but it really was worth it. The issue here isn’t so much paying for heat (and sewage??), but what it says about your landlord that he is willing to have space heaters running all the time in his building. That is very dangerous, and unfair to you in terms of your electric bills, which will probably be quite high.
On a related note, while looking for a new place, I went to see an apartment at 330 Park Place, where the landlord wanted us to sign a lease that said that we would split the monthly water bill for the building 5 ways with the other tenants! No way to know who was using how much water etc. He also wanted to specify in the lease that as tenants we were responsible for snow removal. At any rate, we passed, and found an awesome lovely place with an over the top fabulous helpful landlord, and it has really just been a dream. So, go ahead and get out of that apartment. Good luck!
OP, not that I think that what is happening is right but I have a few questions…
Did you know upon signing the lease that the radiators in the apartment were broken?
Did you know upon signing the lease that you’d have to use space heaters to heat your apartment?
Is this a rent stabilized building? Doesn’t sound like it in which case, right or wrong, the heating rules are different.
Were you promised a timeframe for installation of the baseboard heating?
How the heck is the sewerage metered??
This is a real apartment building and not some commercial space kind of under the radar place? ELECTRIC BASEBOARD HEAT WILL BE EXPENSIVE!!!!!!!!!!!
You better be paying next to nothing or have an incredible space for the “rent” you are about to pay.
Landlords have to provide heat and hot water but they don’t have to pay for it.
You said that your lease said that you are responsible for paying “gas, electric, heat, and sewerage”. Did you ask your LL or Broker (if you used one) about that?
Usually sewerage is paid by the LL in a residential lease so I’m not 100% sure if that’s legal or not.
If your LL knew before-hand that the radiators didn’t work, he should have told you. That would’ve been the decent thing to do. Is it just your apt or is it the entire house that’s affected?
As the others have said, space heaters, even though they’ve gotten safer, are still dangerous and are wholly inadequate for heating an entire apt.
Tell your LL that he/she has to fix it asap (especially for the rent you’re probably paying)
Start looking for another apt
Call 311
While I suspect the OP got a helluva a deal, or so he thought until it got cold, it ain’t worth the risk using space heaters. It ain’t worth the cheap rent you are paying. Morally, he signed an agreement acknowledging this so I don’t think he should be calling the government. But that’s just me. Still, I would leave.
What do you know about the electric service in the building? If the LL doesn’t even have the cash to install some kind of heat, do you think he’s got modern electric service.
Also I’d love to know how he planned to bill you for sewerage.
Welcome to Brooklyn.
Yeah, unacceptable. Sorry OP.
Lease seems kinda vague in sense that you pay for heat – but you paying for heat is different when radiators don’t work. That would seem to me to be one of those things that you have a right to expect – like there not only being a fridge but having it work. Versus having landlord drop off ice once a week.
Formal MO is file complaints. Informal is document problem, send at least one registered letter saying their aint no heat, don’t pay next month’s rent and get the eff out.
Good luck!
Totally unacceptable. What are you paying this guy for rent? Electric space heaters can be very dangerous and are no way to heat an entire apartment, and even electric baseboard heat would cost a fortune. How is the rest of the building heated? You should absolutely file every complaint you can.
Is this 1910? File all the complaints and then leave.
There’s a world of difference between a tenant paying for heat through separate metering or by costs that have been included in the rent, and a tenant becoming responsible for supplying the actual heating appliances. Call 311 and file a complaint (make sure you keep a record of the call, and of the complaint number). As much as possible, keep a log of the actual temperature throughout your apartment throughout day and night. Visit Housing Court and consult with someone at the Help Desk: http://www.courts.state.ny.us/courts/nyc/housing/resourcecenter.shtml
Visit your local firehouse and discuss with them, too. Text extract from the FDNY site: “…Space heaters are temporary heating devices and should only be used for a limited time each day and should never be connected to an outlet with an extension cord….”
http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/html/safety/firesafety_heating.shtml