Landlord refuses to make repairs unless tenant pays

After getting earlier advice from a standard lawyer, I interviewed three tenant/ real estate specific lawyers and hired one to represent me. All three felt the landlord was clearly responsible and I could even pursue damages.

Since it was asked, we do not have an ice maker, under sink waterfilter, dishwasher. or through wall A/C unit anywhere near this. There is not a humidifier either.

jacquelyn.grant

in General Discussion 8 years and 2 months ago

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jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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My landlord is attempting to make me pay ~$5k for a flooring issue. The floors are buckling in one of the bedrooms. We even had to remove a door because it was jammed as parts of the floor are pushing up 3-4 inches. The damage is now bad enough that it is causing some buckling in the living room. It is unsafe in the second room and guests can no longer stay in it when visiting. The landlord is attempting to place the blame on us by stating that it is beyond “normal wear and tear” therefor we are responsible. They have had multiple people visit (flooring company, building super) and none have been able to identify what is causing the buckling (although this type of issue is almost always caused by water).

They are being very hostile and intimidating us by saying it will not be repaired until we agree to pay for it.

Besides filing a housing claim and a civil complaint (our lawyer advised us to do both and we are doing them), are there any other steps that this group would recommend?

yudashasom | 8 years and 2 months ago

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are you saying you don’t know what caused the floors to buckle?

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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Correct, we do not know what caused it. Water almost always is the cause of buckling but neither party has been able to find a source (and there was never a large spill, etc.). The building had someone look at the radiator for a long time and test it and they could not determine if it was leaking at some point. The floor company noted that water could be coming in through the outside if there was a brick problem but he also could not determine that. FWIW, the building was renovated 2-3 years ago and its clear that the quality of work was not the best (throughout the entire apartment the seams of the installed hardwood floor do not match up which is a sign of a bad subfloor according to the floor company).

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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Correct, we do not know what caused it. Water almost always is the cause of buckling but neither party has been able to find a source (and there was never a large spill, etc.). The building had someone look at the radiator for a long time and test it and they could not determine if it was leaking at some point. The floor company noted that water could be coming in through the outside if there was a brick problem but he also could not determine that. FWIW, the building was renovated 2-3 years ago and its clear that the quality of work was not the best (throughout the entire apartment the seams of the installed hardwood floor do not match up which is a sign of a bad subfloor according to the floor company).

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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Correct, we do not know what caused it. Water almost always is the cause of buckling but neither party has been able to find a source (and there was never a large spill, etc.). The building had someone look at the radiator for a long time and test it and they could not determine if it was leaking at some point. The floor company noted that water could be coming in through the outside if there was a brick problem but he also could not determine that. FWIW, the building was renovated 2-3 years ago and its clear that the quality of work was not the best (throughout the entire apartment the seams of the installed hardwood floor do not match up which is a sign of a bad subfloor according to the floor company).

resident2 | 8 years and 2 months ago

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It would seem that your landlord tenant relationship has completely broken down, so I would suggest that you negotiate a way to move out without defaulting on your lease.
If water was coming in through the wall, it would show on the walls before the floors. If the radiators were leaking it would be more obvious around the radiators and leak through the ceiling below.
You do not mention what floor you are on, but if you are on a ground floor with no cellar or basement below, the floors may buckle due to no damp course, but you would smell that.
The only other thing I could think that may cause this, is that there is a break in the joists below the floor, in which case you should move out as soon as possible. Some cheap flip renovates just shimmy sagging floors, rather than repair the joists and it will keep sagging with the extra weight….

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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I live on the top floor (6th). There is nothing on the walls to indicate that. At this point I would happily move out, but they are unwilling to compromise. I still have ~18 months left on my lease and the monthly rent is substantial enough that they are willing to fight and threaten me. Half of my apartment is basically unsafe and they are abusing their position to try and get me to pay for something that is not my responsibility.

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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I live on the top floor (6th). There is nothing on the walls to indicate that. At this point I would happily move out, but they are unwilling to compromise. I still have ~18 months left on my lease and the monthly rent is substantial enough that they are willing to fight and threaten me. Half of my apartment is basically unsafe and they are abusing their position to try and get me to pay for something that is not my responsibility.

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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I live on the top floor (6th). There is nothing on the walls to indicate that. At this point I would happily move out, but they are unwilling to compromise. I still have ~18 months left on my lease and the monthly rent is substantial enough that they are willing to fight and threaten me. Half of my apartment is basically unsafe and they are abusing their position to try and get me to pay for something that is not my responsibility.

Rick | 8 years and 2 months ago

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Can you post photos so we can see the damage? Is your floor 3/4″ T&G hardwood ? Or something else? My guess is you have a bad sub-floor, water damage or plumbers have cut sections of the joist and that is sagging the floor. What else could it possibly be? I have seen many floors do this and it is most often a water problem. Standing water on a wood floor will do that. Often in an English basement or a tenant ran the bath and fell asleep and the bath flooded out the apartment. You should be able to see if the floor is water stained. I don’t see how the LL can expect you to pay for these repairs since no one seems to know the cause. If you can’t see the damage on the surface it’s damage from below the finished floor, the sub-floor and joist.

Rick | 8 years and 2 months ago

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In addition. It would be smart to take a look at the ceiling in the apartment below you to see if there are stains.

boredatwork | 8 years and 2 months ago

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Sounds like you have things well in hand with a good lawyer. Are you escrowing rent instead of paying the LL? Given the condition of the floor, the LL is likely violating the warranty of habitability and you might win in court.

Some of this doesnt add up, though. Did the buckling occur overnight? What kind of notice did you provide LL over time. Also, not sure what you mean that “half of the apartment is “basically unsafe?” Are you saying that its structurally unsound or a tripping hazard?

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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We contacted the landlord when we first noticed the buckling. They’ve taken their dear old time addressing this. They first came into the apartment to look at the situation about six weeks ago and has obviously gotten worse since their initial visit. By unsafe, the second bedroom buckling is so bad that it is dangerous to walk around. We have guests scheduled to visit who opted to stay in a hotel instead of navigating the room. The rough edges of the wood are exposed and it is easy to trip/ slip. The buckling is going into an area of the living room as well. We’ve even had to build a barricade to keep our dog away.

Here are pics of some of the buckling:

[FullSizeRender (10)](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:y0qY:fullsizerender10.jpg.jpg) [FullSizeRender (9)](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:N82E:fullsizerender9.jpg.jpg)

For a discussion about the sub-floor and the quality of the floor, here are a few pics of the floor in areas where the floor is not buckling, but you can easily see the bad seams, etc.

[IMG_0480](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:Vqi6:img_0480.jpg.jpg) [IMG_0476](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:JxqI:img_0476.jpg.jpg)

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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We contacted the landlord when we first noticed the buckling. They’ve taken their dear old time addressing this. They first came into the apartment to look at the situation about six weeks ago and has obviously gotten worse since their initial visit. By unsafe, the second bedroom buckling is so bad that it is dangerous to walk around. We have guests scheduled to visit who opted to stay in a hotel instead of navigating the room. The rough edges of the wood are exposed and it is easy to trip/ slip. The buckling is going into an area of the living room as well. We’ve even had to build a barricade to keep our dog away.

Here are pics of some of the buckling:

[FullSizeRender (10)](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:y0qY:fullsizerender10.jpg.jpg) [FullSizeRender (9)](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:N82E:fullsizerender9.jpg.jpg)

For a discussion about the sub-floor and the quality of the floor, here are a few pics of the floor in areas where the floor is not buckling, but you can easily see the bad seams, etc.

[IMG_0480](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:Vqi6:img_0480.jpg.jpg) [IMG_0476](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:JxqI:img_0476.jpg.jpg)

jacquelyn.grant | 8 years and 2 months ago

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We contacted the landlord when we first noticed the buckling. They’ve taken their dear old time addressing this. They first came into the apartment to look at the situation about six weeks ago and has obviously gotten worse since their initial visit. By unsafe, the second bedroom buckling is so bad that it is dangerous to walk around. We have guests scheduled to visit who opted to stay in a hotel instead of navigating the room. The rough edges of the wood are exposed and it is easy to trip/ slip. The buckling is going into an area of the living room as well. We’ve even had to build a barricade to keep our dog away.

Here are pics of some of the buckling:

[FullSizeRender (10)](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:y0qY:fullsizerender10.jpg.jpg) [FullSizeRender (9)](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:N82E:fullsizerender9.jpg.jpg)

For a discussion about the sub-floor and the quality of the floor, here are a few pics of the floor in areas where the floor is not buckling, but you can easily see the bad seams, etc.

[IMG_0480](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:Vqi6:img_0480.jpg.jpg) [IMG_0476](//muut.com/u/brownstoner/s1/:brownstoner:JxqI:img_0476.jpg.jpg)

resident2 | 8 years and 2 months ago

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You need a Landlord /Tenant lawyer specialist. You say you have a lawyer, but it does not sound like he/she is a Landlord/Tenant specialist or you would not be asking these questions here. There are many City agencies to protect tenants in this situation. The first might be to get an HPD inspector to inspect the building. Check with DHCR to see what capital improvements were added to rent, if there were substantial MCI’s ask them for an inspection if any involved the floors. Your Lawyer should be checking all the public records for your building……

Rick | 8 years and 2 months ago

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I took a look at the photos. This looks to be thin laminate flooring, NOT a proper 3/4″ T&G flooring. My guess is that the flooring was not installed well. Wood will expand and contract with the seasons causing the wood tiles to pop up unless they were prepared and installed correctly with a proper subfloor on the underside. A little adhesive may have prevented this problem.

Guest User | 8 years and 2 months ago

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I know the cause! I have lived here since being born in the home I still live in in Park Slope 50 years ago. I see and feel many minute changes in the hood. Land is shifting in park slope / gowanus. Unbeknownst to most in the neighborhood, in the past few years, there were a few earth trebles in the area and one moderate quake. This SAME floor damage occurred on 12 street & 4th ave at another 3 family residential building. The building shifted/flexed/moved and there was a sort of squeezing of the building. This caused the same adage to floors in this building as above. Evidence of shifting is found in out of square doorways that stick and straight & level surfaces being out of wack. This is real and did happen!

Guest User | 8 years and 2 months ago

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In which case, might not the landlord’s insurance cover the damage?