How do I get someone from Department of Buildings to show up?
I am a tenant in a building where there are numerous current violations, with 6 open complaints with the DOB. Most of these are priority “B” and as I understand it, they have 25 days to respond. However, if they don’t catch the workers in the act then they won’t issue a stop work order, or whatever is needed. I assume that the work will be complete in much less time, so nothing will ever come of this.
How do I get someone from DOB to show up and address these complaints in a timely manner? These complaints have been open for more than one week so far. In addition we have compaints on file with the DEP and HPD.
mhassell
in Building Code 12 years and 4 months ago
7
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7 replies
cupolacoffee | 12 years and 4 months ago
The “total lack of respect” is not good motivation, and won’t get you anywhere with either DOB, HPD, or Housing Court. Met Council is a good option. So would be a call to 212-962-4795, http://cwtfhc.org/contact-us/
You would do better to visit their free information desk in person at Brooklyn Housing Court: 141 Livingston Street, Second Floor Clerk’s Office – Room 202, Brooklyn NY, 11201
Monday through Thursday, 9 am to 4:30 pm, Friday 9 am to 1 pm (Maybe closed between 1pm and 2pm)
You can also read this link: http://cwtfhc.org/for-tenants/
Silvermax | 12 years and 4 months ago
Some of these sound fairly serious — the exposed wiring, for one. And the only consolation to having mice is that if you have mice, you don’t have rats. What happens when you call 311 and lodge an “anonymous” complaint? In my experience, that gets the DOB out to a place right quick. You might also contact Met Council on Housing: http://metcouncilonhousing.org/ and see what they suggest.
mhassell | 12 years and 4 months ago
I’m an easy going tenant and have lived in many places across Brooklyn, but this most recent apartment has one of the worst landlords in all of NY. I live in a brownstone and therefor understand that things will break and mice will come and go, but it’s how you address these issues that matter to me. My landlord has refused to respond on any level and has told me face to face that he doesn’t care. This total lack of respect is what motivates me. The entire neighborhood dislikes my landlord, it’s not just me. In fact majority of the complaints are filed by them. They even called the FDNY! The following are the open complaints listed by department – description: DOB – ILLEGAL CONVERSION DOB – PERMIT NONE (BUILDING/PA/DEMO ETC.) DOB – ELECTRICAL WIRING – DEFECTIVE/EXPOSED, IN PROGRESS DOB – FAILURE TO RETAIN WATER / IMPROPER DRAINAGE (LL103/89) DOB – ADVERTISING SIGN/BILLBOARD/POSTERS/FLEXIBLE FABRIC – ILLEGAL HPD – MICE VERMIN APT 2 HPD – MICE VERMIN BASEMENT HPD – LARGE HOLE FLOOR ENTIRE APT 2 HPD – HOLE WALLS KITCHEN FDNY – Neighbor called about exposed wiring, let them into the building to check, they are not tied in yet. Fire fighter said we need to escalate with DOB. Also, my landlord showed up with his workers while the fire trucks were outside and the fire fighter gave him an earful about lack of permits, but he didn’t care. Just wanted to know who called them. Typically I could care less about permits and such, but this man has motivated me to care. However, it doesn’t look like DOB cares about these small matters. Your thoughts?
Bond | 12 years and 4 months ago
The first thing I would do is ask myself how badly I want the work to be done. Having been on both sides of the fence, I know that there are some pretty ornery landlords out there, but there are also a lot of pain in the butt tenants. Are your concerns safety driven, or revenge? Who knows what the landlord’s financial situation is. By making complaints, you are taking resources away that he or she may need to fix the building. I know that ultimately this isn’t your problem, but if the building then doesn’t get fixed, and deteriorates further, doesn’t it become your problem on some level?
cupolacoffee | 12 years and 4 months ago
Your description is not clear. What’s the nature of the violations? What’s your goal? A repair? A stop work order? Or just a gotcha?
NYC DOB violation severity is — 2008 Building Code: Class 1 (Immediately hazardous), Class 2 (Major violation), Class 3 (Lesser violation). 1968 Building Code: Hazardous, Non-hazardous.
HPD has three classes of violations: “A”, non-hazardous; “B”, hazardous; or “C”, immediately hazardous, plus a 4th class, Class I: Violations for which there is an order from a judge to correct a violation.
daveinbedstuy | 12 years and 4 months ago
What sort of complaints?????
ellenlourie | 12 years and 4 months ago
DOB does not really care about illegal work. They turned blind eye on it.