No Hot Water

[rdidio]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Liverpool NY (suburb of Syracuse)

I live on the first floor of a very old (circa 1800s) house in a village. There is another apt upstairs and we also have a shared basement where the furnaces and hot water heaters are.

- Mon 2/14 - my furnace pilot light goes out for the third time in a month. I call utility company to come out and relight it. They do and also discover that the chimney is completely plugged. They turn off and red tag both my furnace and the furnace for upstairs. I call LL who says he will get it fixed.

- Over lunch time on 2/14, I still have no heat, but see a note that the chimney has been fixed. I call utility company to come out again to check the work and to relight the pilot since it was never relit. Utility company comes out and says that's all fixed, but my hot water heater is not venting properly (basically it's spewing CO into the basement). LL shows up while we are there and the guy explains the issues with the vents and turns off my hot water heater until it can be fixed.

- After utility company leaves, LL tells me NOT to call them again because "they'll red tag everything they can." I suspect he's fully aware that the appliances/venting are not up to code. LL says he will get the hot water heater fixed first thing in the morning.

- Tues 2/15 - no hot water all day and I haven't heard from LL. Call him around 5pm and he has excuses about why it's not fixed yet, but tells me it will be fixed first thing in the morning on Weds.

- Weds 2/16 - LL calls me around 10am to tell me that there are even more problems. Both my apt and upstairs apt need new furnaces. Furnaces will be installed on Weds and then someone will come out to re-vent everything and fix the chimney as well. LL says guys will come out at 8pm to install furnaces and everything will be fixed on Thurs.

- 8:30pm and still no one has showed up. I call LL and he says that the guys came out and know what parts they need and also acts like he never told me they'd be installing the furnaces. Says that "hopefully" they'll be able to come out Thurs and get it all done. Both myself and my neighbors upstairs have been without hot water since Monday with excuse after excuse about why it's not yet fixed.

- Furthermore, I discovered that LL is supposed to have building permit/inspection for this kind of work, which he hasn't done.


From NY LL/T Handbook - "Landlords must provide all tenants of multiple dwellings with both hot and cold water. Hot water must register at or above a constant temperature of 120 degrees at the tap. If a tub or shower is equipped with an anti-scald valve that prevents the hot water temperature from exceeding 120 degrees, the minimum hot water temperature for that tub or shower is 110 degrees. Multiple Dwelling Law § 75; Multiple Residence Law § 170; NYC Admin. Code § 27-2031."

Also want to note that I love this apt, the house, and the location - I do not want to move. But I also want to live in a place that is safe. My current lease goes to Sept 2011.

What are my rights? What should I be doing? Obviously, I would like my hot water on ASAP. Should I call code enforcement? Should I threaten to withold rent?

Any direction on this would be great. THANKS!!!

 

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Send your complaints to the landlord in WRITING CRRR so that it is documented. In addition, do you have an email address for him/her? If so, check into readnotify.com - certified method. That can be taken to court.

 

[rdidio]

Send your complaints to the landlord in WRITING CRRR so that it is documented. In addition, do you have an email address for him/her? If so, check into readnotify.com - certified method. That can be taken to court.

Ok, what should the letter say? Basically that my hot water is broken and I'm requesting it to be fixed? I do have an email for the wife of the LL (technically they're both my LL) but the husband is the one that takes care of all of this type of stuff.

 

[BL]

It's only been a few days .

Perhaps the repair Co. is busy .

They should have no problems obtaining the parts needed from Syracuse .

Contact the LL again and see where they are in the process .

Advice if that Co. can not get the job done timely to call one that can .

I've worked in The HVAC field and have spent overtime hours helping to install furnaces into the night .

If the Co. has not started working on replacements by Mon. call in code inspections .

If the furnaces are otherwise working and not red flagged ,surly the LL can have the water heaters and vents from them fixed timely .

 

[atomizer]

I suggest you learn to be patient. Nobody is going to drop every other job they have and fed ex everything they need to complete the job cuz you have no hot water. When you work with third parties you have to go by their schedule.

 

[Tayla]

I disagree on atomizer suggestion. Not to add pun here but telling someone to "chill" is what could happen and its not healthy to ask a paying tenant to endure the cold , pipes can freeze...then what?

OP- write.and document as need be for your safety and tenants rights,

 

[landlord51]

Last month the water heater kaputted in one of my rental houses. After the tenant's call in the afternoon, I called the contractor and he got out there first thing in the morning. He fixed the problem and it broke again by 11pm that night. The tenant called me and the next day I asked the contractor to install a new one. He got in there the next morning to install it. This took 4 days and no one dragged their feet or delayed.

Also, the pipes won't freeze when there's no hot water - only if there's no heat. From your own account the landlord isn't ignoring you. Not having hot water is not the same kind of emergency as not having heat. But I agree it shouldn't take longer than a week. Perhaps after that you'd have some legal recourse? I don't know. But atomizer is right these things don't get fixed in an instant when dealing with third parties. good luck.

 

[Tayla]

Pardon Landlord51, the OP did state that the furnace is not up to code and needs replaced, which I think qualifies as concern. No heat does lead to frozen pipes in the locale this man resides. Perhaps you missed that when gleening the posts....
The tenants concerns are within his rights to address.....and have remedied (timely).

 

[BL]

Pardon Landlord51, the OP did state that the furnace is not up to code and needs replaced, which I think qualifies as concern. No heat does lead to frozen pipes in the locale this man resides. Perhaps you missed that when gleening the posts....
The tenants concerns are within his rights to address.....and have remedied (timely).

Gee I don't know , utility Co. said that's all fixed ( refering to the furnace chimney venting ) .

So is there heat or not ?

- Over lunch time on 2/14, I still have no heat, but see a note that the chimney has been fixed. I call utility company to come out again to check the work and to relight the pilot since it was never relit. Utility company comes out and says that's all fixed, but my hot water heater is not venting properly (basically it's spewing CO into the basement). LL shows up while we are there and the guy explains the issues with the vents and turns off my hot water heater until it can be fixed.

And NO , OP stated he/she suspects everything is not up to code .The LL said the furnaces also had to be replaced .

I go by what I read .

 

[atomizer]

I don't know maybe its just me, but when I am trying my best to remedy a tenants problem and the tenant calls code compliance I am not likely to forget.

 

[Searchertwin]

I don't know maybe its just me, but when I am trying my best to remedy a tenants problem and the tenant calls code compliance I am not likely to forget.

No, you are not the only one.

That's the problem with many tenants. It doesn't matter how hard we try to have repairs done in a timely matter, they are never satisfied. If shoes were on the other foot, it would be a different story.

 

[Searchertwin]

You are one difficult tenant. My first question to you is "Why didn't you call LL to light the pilot light?
The LL has addressed the problem when reported. Did he wait days? No, by noon, you had someone that was there to check it out. Sounds more to me that you are wanting out of lease and that is not going to happen. LL is meeting his obligations within a very good time frame.

LL not getting permits is HIS BUSINESS, not yours. Looking for something that you can use. Again another reason why I believe you just want out. Not going to happen.

Quoting the handbook is nice, but do you not understand that one will be out of hot water if it needs to be fixed? At all times the code is met EVEN when repairs are being done. The only time code is not met is when it is done intentionally and/or LL takes his sweet time to get it repaired. You are searching for a way out by quoting that code without any reasoning on your part. Not going to happen.

My last question to you is "Why do you feel that place is unsafe?" Everything was taken care of within a timely matter. So, you wanting out of the lease, "is not going to happen."