elevator broken for 4 months, any recourse?

ps. by recourse, I mean entitlement to a reduction in rent for the period that the elevator isn't working (the same apartment would rent for less in a walk-up) or getting out of my lease.

pss. it's a sublet

Being a sublettor, I'd say not a chance.

New York Real Property Article 7 § 235-B doesn't say anything about excluding sublettors. In fact, the very first line notes that it applies to "every written or oral lease or rental agreement for residential premises."

Sounds like a good time to have a discussion with your landlord (not the building management company or the owner). You have the ability to sue for a rent reduction but that should be a last resort.

just pass the problem to the next guy, sub-sublet it, or put it on AirBnB.

By the way, we never got context - what neighborhood is this in?

as you can imagine a landlord can't just go to home depot and pick up a new elevator. most are built semi-custom and many are built completely custom. then the parts must be assembled on site. 6 months is a long time but not unreasonable.
The real question is - what do you want? Do you want out of your lease? Do you just want a bit of compensation? If you're on the 2nd floor it's one thing - it you're on the 8th floor it's another. But I would think a 10% reduction in rent is reasonable under most circumstances....breaking your lease is probably not a right you have but the tenant (your landlord really) may be amenable to it - I don't think a court would allow for your sublease to be broken unless you can prove that the walk up the stairs makes the building uninhabitable for you.

>as you can imagine a landlord can't just go to home depot and pick up a new elevator.

Well that is true. But the landlord could regularly maintain the elevator to minimize the likelihood that it will break and be unusable for extended periods of time. We don't really know the circumstances here, but the elevator breaking isn't an act of God, and between the landlord and the tenant, it is the tenant who should be made whole, not the landlord. I'm sure you agree Jazzman, since the OP isn't rent regulated.

If the tenant were rent regulated then the rules are simple - the law says he goes back to his last legal rent and stays there until the elevator is fixed. It's a simple decrease in service case.
For market rate renters it's more complex. It really is just a negotiation between renter and landlord. Because the apartment still functions fine as a place to sleep/live I think a 10% reduction is reasonable.
FWIW - I bought a building several years ago. Two bids I got before I bought the building concluded that the elevator just needed some maintenance that would cost about $15k. Two days after I closed the elevator went down and the contractors wouldn't touch it. It took me 7 months (and $150,000) to get the elevator up and running.
This summer in a different building we had plenty of notice. The elevator was working but was just old/tired. We got the permits in place and ensured the parts were ready well in advance of taking the elevator offline. But it still took over 3 months to fix it. There are only so many guys who can fit in an elevator shaft to do a major overhaul of an elevator. And then the DOB needs to inspect and sign off etc. It just takes time to do it right....

>If the tenant were rent regulated then the rules are simple - the law says he goes back to his last legal rent and stays there until the elevator is fixed.

The law doesn't says that.
It happens to be typical practice, but it is not the law.

Aboutready turned a broken toilet seat at Peter Cooper Village into an opportunity to sue the landlord and win, this issue should be easy to turn into a big windfall.

Just want to say, the elevator is STILL broken and unworking! My landloard gave me some money off, but not enough, and then raised the rent for the sublet renewal. This is not a case of a broken toilet seat. It's now been almost a year with no elevator!

Are you renewing?

Sorry to hear this is more than a case of a broken toilet seat.

So why don't you move instead of renewing? Because everywhere else (presumably with working elevators) is too expensive? Now you know the cost of having a working elevator.

Have you contacted NYC? If there are elderly tenants or ones with handicaps this could be a violation. Only way to find out is to contact the appropriate authorities.

http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/1592/elevator-or-escalator-complaint