I am Christopher Purnell, once owner of EZ Assembly & Interior Innovations,LLC and now a Very Proud owner of my new company New York City Handyman & Furniture Assembly,LLC. Besides assembling flat pack furniture or commonly called RTA ( Ready To Assemble), doing all types of Handyman work I actually LOVE to design, create, and install kitchens. However, over my 15 years working in the construction field I have never run into the SLUMLORDS that I have since working in nyc and renting several apartments myself from the Bowery, SOHO, Ozone Park and now Astoria, Queens. I moved into an apartment on 44th street in Astoria just as I was beginning this new company and getting over a severe injury and didn't follow my own advice and was ignorant to some NYC and NY state building and living codes that didn't apply to my business.
However, today I can quote the NYC and state codes like a Preacher quoting scriptures on Sunday morning because I am paying $1500.00 plus some utilities for nothing short of a Hell Hole. I sat all weekend thinking about the people who live here in our city and don't know they are victims and/or have not the slightest idea where to turn for help and that is why I decided to share part of my story and what YOUR Rights are as a tenant and where to turn for help.
As I stated I live in Astoria, in a 3 story 10 unit building that was illegally converted. How do I know that? First I went to the NYC DBA website and typed in my address and to my amazement the owner had more complaints and fines than Carter had Liver Pills. Go to this site and just check your address out and see what's behind door #3. My building was built in 1911 which we mostly all know was built out of concrete,brick, and chicken wire with a plaster over the wire to form the walls. Well, after freezing for months which I will get to I began my in depth inspection of the apartment. First giveaway was the outdoor glass pane swinging doors between my bedroom and my roommates bedroom. Then I began to look at the walls and noticed the original trim on my one wall was about 2" lower on my other wall so I knocked on it and it was hollow! They sheet rocked the bedroom to make it smaller but forgot to insulate it maybe that's why our apartment has went as low as 49 degrees! That's when I began to call 311 as my roommate started his very terrible ordeal with phenomena which he is still fighting. After they called the landlord who is about 90 years old in her nightgown and her son who still lives with Mommy they made an unexpected trip from where they live in Rocky Point to collect their rent and figured they would blast the heat because an inspector is coming and I believe her intentions where to make us look like liars, but Granny doesn't know they and YOU have the right to see the last two (2) years utility bills so it will be funny when they see since october the bill was nothing but after all my calls it shot up for a few days. The inspector didn't show to date so being a paralegal as well I gave her an envelope which she assumed was our rent check. NO WAY!!!!!! I wrote down all the code violations I found and explained that her rent was in a bank account and once an INDEPENDENT Inspection was preformed by the NYC Housing and Preservation Department's findings I would pay her or we would proceed to court. Now in a building this old I have peeling paint in every rooms ceiling which is without a doubt loaded with LEAD and/or ASBESTOS, most rooms still have the two prong receptacles instead of the three prong GFIC outlets to ground the wiring. Except there is no receptacle in our bathroom.(TOTALLY ILLEGAL) along with only one two prong outlet in the kitchen with no exhaust fan in the bathroom nor a hood over our gas stove.(TOTALLY ILLEGAL) They did at sometime, probably when they were allowed to accept HUD tenants they installed new windows with two panes on each frame to keep the cold out and heat in and vice versa in the summer only these are cracked or somewhere leaking because they are all fogged up telling me the vapor seal that keeps the cold out is broken. (DUH!!!!) I almost forgot one more ILLEGAL thing amongst a plethora of others I won't bore you with, our bathroom door swings inward and if someone is using the commode it can't be opened because the toilet is only about 1" from the toilet when opened which is (TOTALLY ILLEGAL)
If it is BELOW 55 Degrees outside between the hours of 6 A.M. and 10 P.M. your apartment must be at least 68 DEGREES and between 10 P.M. and 6 A.M. if it is below 40 DEGREES outside your apartment must be at least 55 DEGREES from OCTOBER 1st to MAY 31st!!! And if your landlord keeps it at the minimum at night they are a SLUMLORD because in my opinion a house should remain about 72 DEGREES 24/7. YOU MUST HAVE HOT WATER EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF EVERY SINGLE DAY OR IT IS.................I_L_L_E_G_A_L!!!! I forgot we don't even have enough hot water to shower it lasts about 2 minutes!!!
I really wanted to write about kitchens today and stay on focus with my new company but I felt I needed to vent and hopefully educate some people who are living in Igloos as well as me and my sick roommate. DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL 311 they will make a report and go to the NYC DEPT OF BUILDINGS to check up on your SLUMLORD! Another GRRRRRRRRRReat site to look at is the NEW YORK Tenant's' RIGHTS which is from the Attorney General but there is also a book by a Mary something that is great, even better than the one from the atty General and can be found on Google Books but the only catch is you can't copy anything because she is selling the book so get a pen and pad ready. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO WITHOLD RENT UNTIL YOUR ISSUES ARE TOTALLY RESOLVED!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment