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Until about a month ago (when the terrible rains came to the city) I was unaware that my family has been renting an illegal 3 bedroom (it's a legal 2 bedroom, but was listed as a 3 bedroom on craigslist, we still have the original listing). The landlord called the cellar a master suite (complete with full bath...although, shower, not tub) We've been living here since March 2009.
Once our bedroom had a torrent coming under our bedroom door a couple of weeks ago, we looked for the cert of occ, and found that our bedroom isn't approved for habitability. A NYC codes specialist informed me we were due back our rent because our landlord lied to us. We contacted a lawyer, couldn't afford him, but under his suggestion, tried to discuss a rent abatement situation with our LL. He told us that wasn't going to happen. He also informed us he wants to put a gate over our yard access (means of egress from the cellar) to prevent further flooding. He told us if we didn't allow him access that he would sue us for damages to the cellar. He's broken at least two other codes in our apartment as well as having built a deck over our daughter's bedroom without a permit. Can he really sue us for not letting him block our egress? That seems a bit far-fetched to me.
Our family is moving to California next May and we want to avoid the costs of an interim local move. At this point, we're ready to contact the city to report him for violation, we're just not sure how to proceed. Will he have to pay us our rent back? Will we be evicted by the city? What happens to our personal belongings if this happens? Any help anyone can give would be great. We don't really have to money involve our own lawyer and the threat of him suing us, it just doesn't make sense to me.
Any thoughts? All help and suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
If it's a legal apartment it is unlikely you'd be evicted by the City. 3 bedrooms or 2. Only under extremely hazardous conditions would a forensic engineer demand an immediate eviction. The egress to the back yard may not be considered a legal one in that it doesn't allow acess back to the street (or does it?). You need to talk to the DHCR for your borough. You might be able to withhold rent due to the wrongful categorization of a legal 3 bedroom plus the deck. Use that money to get a lawyer. You need a lawyer to clarify and negotiate with the LL. Do a google search for tenant lawyers in your area. Move to CA sooner. I would.
We've decided to withhold our rent, we're informing the LL that until such time as codes violations are satisfactorily corrected, we will be putting our rent into escrow. We can't move to CA until the summer. Are we liable for the use of the cellar as a bedroom? The ad we answered in craigslist was for a 3 bedroom, it's not my responsibility as a renter to know the building codes before signing the contract, is it?
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