Exterior stairwell habitability: Balusters and a very high top riser

[alexander468]

What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

I share an apartment, rented out by the room, in an old triple-decker. The landlords bought it in August and began renting it out in September. I wish they'd make repairs to meet minimum habitability standards without prodding from tenants, but they don't. I've made a request/demand about meeting a few minimum standards so far. They have made the repairs quickly. They haven't needed to spend too much on supplies and haven't needed to hire professionals yet. I feel like I should pay a few months rent, point out another habitability issue, and repeat now and then until the place is habitable.

Many people, including me, have lived and paid rent in substandard buildings around Boston for a long time. If you demand too much too quickly to bring your home up to being habitable, your landlord might not resign your lease or make a poor recommendation for your next place. There is a law to prevent landlord retaliation, but who wants to have a lawsuit against a landlord in the public record for the next potential landlord to see? Not me. That's part of the fun of the housing shortage here. I may have asked for too much minimum habitability already.

The exterior stairwells need work. A small stairwell off the sidewalk with only 3 risers has no handrail. The main front and rear stairs with handrails have insufficient or no balusters with horizontal ladder-effect supports or two diagonal plank X-shaped bracing supports that seem like they would snag and break a neck during a fall. The wood treads have most of the paint scraped off but aren't rotten. Life is full of risk. Tenants, visitors, and the mailman got through the first winter here. My place might sound nasty, but it's an interesting building with a not-crazy-high rent in a convenient location. I'm about to ask/demand exterior stairwell repairs to make them reach habitability for next winter.

My question is about a related stairwell issue. The top stair in the front stairwell is much, much taller than the others. It has a higher riser. I've gotten used to it after tripping a few times during the first week, but I need to say, "Watch out for that top stair. It's a doozie." to visitors like that guy from the Groundhog Day movie. I have renters insurance.

Equal riser heights seem like a code issue for new construction but not a habiltability issue where a tenant has the power to get the change done. Is there an amount of habiltability repair work that can make the code issue "kick in" because the repaired stairwell would be considered a new construction? Or do building codes only apply to new buildings and not to replaced parts of buildings?

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? Massachusetts

I share an apartment, rented out by the room, in an old triple-decker. The landlords bought it in August and began renting it out in September. I wish they'd make repairs to meet minimum habitability standards without prodding from tenants, but they don't. I've made a request/demand about meeting a few minimum standards so far. They have made the repairs quickly. They haven't needed to spend too much on supplies and haven't needed to hire professionals yet. I feel like I should pay a few months rent, point out another habitability issue, and repeat now and then until the place is habitable.

Many people, including me, have lived and paid rent in substandard buildings around Boston for a long time. If you demand too much too quickly to bring your home up to being habitable, your landlord might not resign your lease or make a poor recommendation for your next place. There is a law to prevent landlord retaliation, but who wants to have a lawsuit against a landlord in the public record for the next potential landlord to see? Not me. That's part of the fun of the housing shortage here. I may have asked for too much minimum habitability already.

The exterior stairwells need work. A small stairwell off the sidewalk with only 3 risers has no handrail. The main front and rear stairs with handrails have insufficient or no balusters with horizontal ladder-effect supports or two diagonal plank X-shaped bracing supports that seem like they would snag and break a neck during a fall. The wood treads have most of the paint scraped off but aren't rotten. Life is full of risk. Tenants, visitors, and the mailman got through the first winter here. My place might sound nasty, but it's an interesting building with a not-crazy-high rent in a convenient location. I'm about to ask/demand exterior stairwell repairs to make them reach habitability for next winter.

My question is about a related stairwell issue. The top stair in the front stairwell is much, much taller than the others. It has a higher riser. I've gotten used to it after tripping a few times during the first week, but I need to say, "Watch out for that top stair. It's a doozie." to visitors like that guy from the Groundhog Day movie. I have renters insurance.

Equal riser heights seem like a code issue for new construction but not a habiltability issue where a tenant has the power to get the change done. Is there an amount of habiltability repair work that can make the code issue "kick in" because the repaired stairwell would be considered a new construction? Or do building codes only apply to new buildings and not to replaced parts of buildings?

That question is very specific to your locality. Building codes vary greatly from municipality to municipality. I can tell you however that your hope that enough needed repairs would change something enough to be considered "new construction" instead of a repair, is unlikely to get you anywhere. Also, based on the limited knowledge I have of construction, I don't think that the height of any one riser in a stairwell can be changed without replacing the entire stairwell. That would be an expensive endeavor and the stairs would be unusable for the amount of time it takes to replace them. Also, the way that habitability issues generally work is that if a rental is deemed uninhabitable because the landlord won't make the needed repairs, the tenants are required to move out by the municipality.

So, you have to be a bit careful as to how you proceed if you don't wish to be let out of your lease and move elsewhere...or, as you previously mentioned, not have your lease renewed. You also need to realize that the more the landlord ends up spending on the bullding, the higher the landlord will raise the rent at renewal time, to recoup the cost of the repairs.

 

[alexander468]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

That question is very specific to your locality. Building codes vary greatly from municipality to municipality.

This would apply to the riser, so I'll try to check it out for my city. Do minimum habitability codes also vary greatly from municipality to municipality?

I can tell you however that your hope that enough needed repairs would change something enough to be considered "new construction" instead of a repair, is unlikely to get you anywhere.

I thought that might the case, but I was hoping for a different answer.

Also, based on the limited knowledge I have of construction, I don't think that the height of any one riser in a stairwell can be changed without replacing the entire stairwell. That would be an expensive endeavor and the stairs would be unusable for the amount of time it takes to replace them.

Yes. The stairs would be unusable. Rents are so high around here even for substandard housing that homeowners who do install new front stairs still seem to do it while tenants are present. They either do the work in sections while maintaining a sufficiently wide stairwell or—what's more common for triple-deckers—break a section of the porch wall and install a temporary metal stairwell in the summertime for tenants to use.

Also, the way that habitability issues generally work is that if a rental is deemed uninhabitable because the landlord won't make the needed repairs, the tenants are required to move out by the municipality.

Yes. The city wants habitable buildings anyway. That's why the mayor and council approved designated housing for tenants displaced for this exact reason. But I think the spots were filled up rapidly (as intended) by families with small children, and I'm a single man.

Many years from now, the city will likely use the statistics collected now by providing this designated housing. If locally decided rent stabilization becomes a reality, large political forces will use our city in the distant future as an example of how "rent control creates substandard housing." By providing some housing to families displaced now due to uninhabitable homes, the city can counteract this argument in a rational way by showing data about the prevalence of substandard housing before rent stabilization. Of course, rationality and data have little impact on the voting public and politicians, but there are still policy wonks out there who pay attention to reality.

 

[FarmerJ]

Back when i had rentals the city I lived in required a hand rail with any set of stairs over three stairs So at the back door of the home i had moved out of and rented out when i tore out the old tiny enclosed porch due to its condition and replaced it with a platform and steps it had three steps to go up before going to the back door and I did not have to add hand rails SO once you have asked your city how many stair steps are allowed with out hand rails then you should know better how to proceed before contacting your landlord again about the stairs. ANY other issue look at it in three ways , If its cosmetic , things like paint failure then first try to determine if the wood or surface is old enough that it could be painted with lead based paints (prior to 1976 ? ) if its a structural or mechanical issue such as leaking roof or a hot water heater giving off hot water that is scalding hot and sounds like its boiling gurgling then contact the landlord in writing and keep a copy for your self. The stairs and winter time, you are free to ask your landlord if they picked up a coating of gritty paint designed for anti slip or them strips that go down like tape and are gritty the landlord may well be willing to do that since its a lower cost way to help prevent slips/ falls on wet stairs.

 

[LdiJ]

Thanks for taking the time to reply.



This would apply to the riser, so I'll try to check it out for my city. Do minimum habitability codes also vary greatly from municipality to municipality?

Everything varies. Particularly when it comes to grandfathering in older structures.

 

[alexander468]

...once you have asked your city how many stair steps are allowed with out hand rails then you should know better how to proceed before contacting your landlord again about the stairs.

Minimum standards of fitness for human habitation in my state are available to all from the state website. That's where I have found information about my requests/demands.

Stairway means any group of stairs consisting of three or more risers.

Requirements for handrails and guards or balusters are in section 410.520. Other requirements for stairways are in section 410.260(D)(2). I don't know whether my city requires more stringent standards than the state minimum, but I'm sure they won't require less stringent standards than the state.

...you are free to ask your landlord if they picked up a coating of gritty paint designed for anti slip or them strips that go down like tape and are gritty the landlord may well be willing to do that since its a lower cost way to help prevent slips/ falls on wet stairs

The landlord has made it clear that no action will be taken unless it is required by law. Of course, I am free to ask my landlord about anything at any time. The answer will be no unless the request also has an implied threat behind it of the building being condemned. That's why I call them "requests/demands". In the Boston area, the need for housing is so great and the pool of good tenants is so large that there is no incentive for most landlords to say yes to any tenant request without the threat of condemnation being present. Most landlords think of themselves as investors rather than providers of good housing. Maybe decades ago, landlords were proud about their buildings, but the culture has changed and most homeowners like that are now dead and gone.

 

[LdiJ]

Minimum standards of fitness for human habitation in my state are available to all from the state website. That's where I have found information about my requests/demands.



Requirements for handrails and guards or balusters are in section 410.520. Other requirements for stairways are in section 410.260(D)(2). I don't know whether my city requires more stringent standards than the state minimum, but I'm sure they won't require less stringent standards than the state.



The landlord has made it clear that no action will be taken unless it is required by law. Of course, I am free to ask my landlord about anything at any time. The answer will be no unless the request also has an implied threat behind it of the building being condemned. That's why I call them "requests/demands". In the Boston area, the need for housing is so great and the pool of good tenants is so large that there is no incentive for most landlords to say yes to any tenant request without the threat of condemnation being present. Most landlords think of themselves as investors rather than providers of good housing. Maybe decades ago, landlords were proud about their buildings, but the culture has changed and most homeowners like that are now dead and gone.

A landlord HAS to think of themselves as an investor. They have to make a profit being a landlord or it is a losing proposition for them. Most of them make their actual living being a landlord so if they don't make a profit, they can't live. If you cannot grasp that concept, then you will make mistakes...many of the same mistakes that other tenants have made and that more tenants will make.

A landlord who thinks of themselves as primarily providers of good housing could easily end up bankrupt. They have to meet code and standards, and they have to charge enough rent to meet code and standards and still make a profit. A landlord can be proud of their building and still make a living, but only if they charge enough rent to make that possible.

 

[alexander468]

A landlord can be proud of their building and still make a living, but only if they charge enough rent to make that possible.

I wrote "good housing" when I meant "habitable housing." My view is that an ethical homeowner would recognize the humanity of their tenants and the mutual benefit derived from living in a place with laws, so an ethical homeowner would alter their building to meet the minimum standards of habitability before taking on their first tenant. With that view, there are fewer ethical homeowners around Boston now than 30 years ago.