I do not live here but have several friends who do. This building has had no gas, heat or hot water for nearly two months. All heating pipes in the building were installed illegally and in violation of building codes, and therefore have to be removed and replaced. Construction has been slow and has caused damage to tenants' individual apartments which the landlord has been unwilling to fix.... [more]
I do not live here but have several friends who do. This building has had no gas, heat or hot water for nearly two months. All heating pipes in the building were installed illegally and in violation of building codes, and therefore have to be removed and replaced. Construction has been slow and has caused damage to tenants' individual apartments which the landlord has been unwilling to fix.
Management is nonresponsive to the problem and unwilling to deal with this. They are notnot offering any compensation to the tenants. This problem will not be fixed any time soon.
Management requires tenants to sign a rider stating that if you are late on a single rent payment, they will increase your monthly rent by ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. This is obscene.
You're a fool if you move in here after reading this. The landlords are scumbags.
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Response by jelj13
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 821
Member since: Sep 2011
See the NY Times article on how landlords are getting away with this:
My sister lived in a small building where the landlord had the super turn down the heat and hot water between 8 and 6 every day. It was set so low that, in essence, it was as if she had no heat. Everyone home had to wear coats in the apartment during the day. The landlord said he was not heating the building when everyone was out to work. My sister was home with 2 very young children. She spent over a year in housing court while the landlord pulled every trick in the book for postponements. She moved out finally.
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Response by alanhart
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
Landlords are all parasites.
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Response by Jazzman
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 781
Member since: Feb 2009
I own a couple of buildings that have had this issue. The nat gas pipes are over 70 years old in the majority of NYC buildings. They all go through a repiping at some point. When gas is smelled by the tenants, Con Ed comes and puts a red tag on the building. Landlords must then do a pressure test on the pipes to see if they are sound (these pressure tests almost always fail).
The issue is the entire process takes months even if the landlord is 100% on top of things. Finding a contractor who is skilled (and available) and then signing a contact takes time (it's not like every landlord has a guy with these skills sitting around on retainer), getting the permits from DOB, actually doing to work and getting access to all of the units, having Con Ed come and inspect (takes way longer than it should and is out of the landlord's control), sign offs from DOB (again takes longer than it should and is completely out of the landlords control), gaining access again and again from each tenant for the multiple inspections/sign offs etc etc. One tenant doesn't give access and Con Ed or DOB won't come back for a few weeks to reinspect etc etc.
Unfortunately it just takes a long time to do this work. I've seen it done in 3 months but 5 months is probably more common.
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Response by alanhart
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 12397
Member since: Feb 2007
Or you can proactively stay on top of repairs and capital replacements before there's a leak. Do you think 100-year-old Silk Stocking District buildings shut down cooking gas, heat and hot water for 3-5 months?
Plus there are those mobile boilers that (I assume) can run off fuel tanks.
Parasites.
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Response by csn
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 450
Member since: Dec 2007
alanhart, you sure make it sound easy. So do you replace the gas pipes every 5 years, or ten years or ...
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See the NY Times article on how landlords are getting away with this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/25/nyregion/a-year-after-suing-their-landlord-brooklyn-tenants-still-lack-heat.html?ref=realestate
My sister lived in a small building where the landlord had the super turn down the heat and hot water between 8 and 6 every day. It was set so low that, in essence, it was as if she had no heat. Everyone home had to wear coats in the apartment during the day. The landlord said he was not heating the building when everyone was out to work. My sister was home with 2 very young children. She spent over a year in housing court while the landlord pulled every trick in the book for postponements. She moved out finally.
Landlords are all parasites.
I own a couple of buildings that have had this issue. The nat gas pipes are over 70 years old in the majority of NYC buildings. They all go through a repiping at some point. When gas is smelled by the tenants, Con Ed comes and puts a red tag on the building. Landlords must then do a pressure test on the pipes to see if they are sound (these pressure tests almost always fail).
The issue is the entire process takes months even if the landlord is 100% on top of things. Finding a contractor who is skilled (and available) and then signing a contact takes time (it's not like every landlord has a guy with these skills sitting around on retainer), getting the permits from DOB, actually doing to work and getting access to all of the units, having Con Ed come and inspect (takes way longer than it should and is out of the landlord's control), sign offs from DOB (again takes longer than it should and is completely out of the landlords control), gaining access again and again from each tenant for the multiple inspections/sign offs etc etc. One tenant doesn't give access and Con Ed or DOB won't come back for a few weeks to reinspect etc etc.
Unfortunately it just takes a long time to do this work. I've seen it done in 3 months but 5 months is probably more common.
Or you can proactively stay on top of repairs and capital replacements before there's a leak. Do you think 100-year-old Silk Stocking District buildings shut down cooking gas, heat and hot water for 3-5 months?
Plus there are those mobile boilers that (I assume) can run off fuel tanks.
Parasites.
alanhart, you sure make it sound easy. So do you replace the gas pipes every 5 years, or ten years or ...
http://streeteasy.com/talk/discussion/39407-gas-restored-at-230-west-140th-street