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No Heat, Lights - Landlord Won't Fix

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Vycor

Member
This is in NY state.

We rent office space in the basement of a building. Our landlord owns the building and operates the business upstairs.

Our setup is I think illegal and we are actually moving next month to a legal building that was just built. However right now we have some issues and im just wondering if theres anything I can do. I don't know how official the lease is but we do pay rent every month.

Right now we have a stairwell that has a broken light so you can't see the top of the stairs going down. We also have no heat right not because they did not pay their electrical bill. My office is also leaking water to the point where ceiling tiles have fallen on my equipment (this is an ongoing issue as well, constant leaks from above, they have big water tanks above us).

Anything I can do or because of the legality setup, not much???
 


You Are Guilty

Senior Member
It depends on the terms of your lease. It's possible, likely even, that all the problems are to be fixed/paid for by the tenant, not the landlord.
 

Searchertwin

Senior Member
This is in NY state.

We rent office space in the basement of a building. Our landlord owns the building and operates the business upstairs.

Our setup is I think illegal and we are actually moving next month to a legal building that was just built. However right now we have some issues and im just wondering if theres anything I can do. I don't know how official the lease is but we do pay rent every month.

Right now we have a stairwell that has a broken light so you can't see the top of the stairs going down. We also have no heat right not because they did not pay their electrical bill. My office is also leaking water to the point where ceiling tiles have fallen on my equipment (this is an ongoing issue as well, constant leaks from above, they have big water tanks above us).

Anything I can do or because of the legality setup, not much???
Which is it? You said stairwell has a broken light, right now and electric is off right now..so how can one be on and the other off? I think there is more here than you are indicating and wanting to find a way out of lease using this as an excuse. Also what do you define as a "legal and illegal buidling?" If you mean not liveable, you should have seen this PRIOR to moving in..no one forced you to sign a lease...this also goes with the ceiling tiles...so what can you do to the legality of the setup? Stay till lease is up and move
 

Vycor

Member
I actually meant no heat due to oil, but had "electricity" on the mind... way to start bashing me for no reason. There was an instance where they didn't pay their electrical bill and the utility company turned off their power.

Now today, with the snow, I see they did not shovel out our parking spaces. They came in towards the end of the day and only cleared their own parking spaces.

The guys we rent from are real aholes. They havn't paid some of their employees in a while (but employees cant quit because they happen to own the equipment and are responsible for it)... they take every advantage they can.

Its not my place, i came to work here and found out later the entire story about the landlords and our situation. But it is what it is now, we're moving next month and just riding it out now... but getting a little tired of them not doing a thing. Lots of safety issues, which is again why we are leaving.

Its not so easy to just pickup and leave when you learn things are not as "legal" as they should be. But just hoping for a solution I can use against them for our last month here, as with the snow lately its a bit much, especially with the no heat.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
What makes you think they have to shovel out your parking spaces? Do you have a snow removal contract with them? (If that's true, and they didn't comply with the contract, you probably have legal recourse).
 

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