Landlord refuses to fix the heat

[jvega82]

I have been living in my house for over 30 years. My landlord has been giving me a lot of issues with repairing the boiler since my father passed away Aug 2016. At one point winter 2017 we had no heat at all and the landlord said he would repair while taking money from us. I want to know what are my exact rights in this situation now that the boiler is not working again. My father before he passed away knew how to repair boilers and the landlord was giving him a break so he didnt have to be bothered. Now that my father is passed he is threatening to raise the rent and says i need a boiler contract with a company and that he is not responsible even though it is his house. He still continues to collect rent but does not want to make any repairs about our plumbing either since we get a lot of clogs once in a while. I feel that the amount of years i have been living there he would take it in consideration that we are good tenants. Please help!

 

[Zigner]

What US state?

What does the lease say about repairs such as this?

ETA: The length of time you have lived there has no bearing on this.

 

[jvega82]

I am in NY, I do not have a copy of the agreement and the landlord does not want to give me anything. My father always dealt with him all these years and he is becoming a hassle threatening to sell the house all so he can avoid maintaining the house

 

[jvega82]

the landlord puts a lot of blame on my father saying that he was the one maintaining the boiler but my father did a lot of things to the house because he felt the house was ours. All my 30 years we have never had a technician in the house until now and i feel my dad was making too easy for him but its just me my mother and my sister and he is taking advantage and wanting to raise the rent when our rent has been the same for years.

 

[Just Blue]

I am in NY, I do not have a copy of the agreement and the landlord does not want to give me anything. My father always dealt with him all these years and he is becoming a hassle threatening to sell the house all so he can avoid maintaining the house

Seems to me you are better off someplace else. Do you have the financial ability to move?

 

[jvega82]

I am in the process of saving money and working on my credit to buy a house and moving right now would be extremely hard especially if he is taking the rent every month. I do not know what the original security of if there was any when we moved in back in '87. i just want to know what my rights are and what i can do now when i cannot leave over night.

 

[Zigner]

Are you subject to rent control?

You could call the local municipality to report the lack of heat. They can order the LL to fix the problem. Of course, assuming you are not under rent control, you could see an increase in your monthly rent.

 

[jvega82]

and i would like to mention that the $2100 does not include utilities on top of that.

 

[jvega82]

he wanted to raise the rent $100 i am able to deal with that i just want a stable and safe living environment while i make my move else where. I dont feel that the landlord should run me out because of not wanting to fix my heat. Plus we will leave him voicemails and he never returns them his excuse is he is too old to be dealing with problems and that he should sell the house but still take my money.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

The LL has every right to sell his property should he want to get out of the LL business. The moment he sells the house you will have a new landlord.

 

[Just Blue]

he wanted to raise the rent $100 i am able to deal with that i just want a stable and safe living environment while i make my move else where. I dont feel that the landlord should run me out because of not wanting to fix my heat. Plus we will leave him voicemails and he never returns them his excuse is he is too old to be dealing with problems and that he should sell the house but still take my money.

Uhh..yeah. If you are living there you pay rent. Send a certified return receipt requested letter to LL notifying him of the heating issue.

 

[NeilTheCop]

Handy booklet from the NY AG
https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/tenants_rights.pdf

 

[xylene]

You don't need to buy a house to move.

The past does not determine the future.

Your landlord is obligated to fix the heating system.