alexander468
Active Member
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?
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?