Tennant in brownstone house being renovated
I live in a 1 bedroom apartment on the second floor of a browntone. The house has 6 units like mine: two on every floor. I have a rent-controlled lease. My new landlord has started extensive renovations in the whole house. He claims he is renovating one of the floors, the first one, for himself…
I live in a 1 bedroom apartment on the second floor of a browntone. The house has 6 units like mine: two on every floor. I have a rent-controlled lease. My new landlord has started extensive renovations in the whole house. He claims he is renovating one of the floors, the first one, for himself and his wife to move in, whereas the 3 floor units are going to be rented out. He is renovating the entire 3 and 1st floor.
It’s not only the noise, but the dirt, and dust: the front door steps, the stairway, the walls, the It’s absolutely unbearable. All this dirt and dust is filtering into my apartment. there is dirt and dust all over my apartment: floor, furniture, clothes, everywhere. I came home last thursday and my apartment had a layer of dust, literally, i would just rub my finger on the floor and get it all black…I have even started coughing at night because of the dust. Just today somebody told me there might be asbestos in the house and I got terrified.
Can he do such renovations legally? Can a landlord renovate a house with tenants inside when the renovations are affecting the tenants so badly? What can I do?
Thank you.
IMBY has good advice. I did a renovation when I bought my place and one tenant, an really easy going, cooperative, patient one, flipped out over the holidays once when she was away and then came home to everything in her apartment covered in grey/white dust. We cleaned it all up. I got her a new door (all the dust went under her old door which had a gap at the bottom) which helped, but you need to prevent the dust from getting in. I didn’t realize how bad it was for her. So do the tape and then drop cloths. It will be a huge improvement. See if you can get money for that and if you can get a cleaning person in your place periodically until the work is done. Good luck. That is a real PITA.
What is your relationship with the owner like?
You should definitely ask him to do something to mitigate the impact on your apartment. Tarping your door when you’re out is probably a good start. Does he have permits for the renovation work that he’s doing? You can look that up on the DOB website.
If you’re rent regulated you should start understanding your rights now: http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/Rent/
After the demo is over most of the black dust will stop… Then you will have the brown dust followed by the white dust.
Get yourself a few rolls of blue painters tape and a dozen or so plastic drop cloths and tape your front door around the cracks. I would also bag everything that you don’t use on a regular basis. Cover your furniture when you leave for the day. Hiring a cleaner to come once a week to stay on top of things is advisable. Might get an air cleaner as well.
So how to get the LL to pay for all this, that’s what your wondering right? Two magic words… Lead Paint.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/homeowners/lead_paint.shtml
What does he say about it when you talk to him about all the dust? Yes, he’s allowed to do renovations.