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I live in Queens, right near JFK. Since the early 90's I've been living in this apartment with my parents. Over the years the apartment has deteriorated. There are no ceiling lights in the living room or in my room, we have mold, cracks and plaster peeling everywhere, tiles in the tub are moldy and falling off. Our toilet cannot flush for at least a few minutes, it needs time to build up the water. On top of that, sometimes we have to check if we flushed "correctly" to ensure that the water being pumped isn't going directly into the bowl.
On top of that, we have bedbugs. I don't know where they came, but they've kept me up for 24+ hours straight on two separate days this week. It's testing my mental strength seeing as I'm a full time college student and I have to deal with all the other crap in this house. We have no lease, and my parents nor I dare not complain to him out of fear he will raise the rent or tell us to move.
My parents have gotten used to the filth here and make no effort to move because rents are too expensive. From what I know their income is over $40k. But, we are too rich for the projects and too poor for most apartments. We've tried places like Starrett City in Brooklyn, but my mom alone makes too much to be considered for an apartment there.
First go to DHCR and file a complaint with them. Then call 311 and schedule an HPD inspection.
This will get your landlord's attention. Keep in mind though, this might get you on your landlord's $hit list and he will probably not renew your lease. Then you will have to go to court if he tries to evict you.
The thing is, we have no lease. We haven't had a lease for a decade or more. Idk why. It's not like we live in a regular apartment building, it's a 2 apartment private building.
Why don't you just call him and explain the issues to him? You don't have to complain but maybe you could nicely ask him if he could take care of some of these issues for you. If he says no then maybe you should take it upon yourself to fix the issues. Maybe you could come to terms with him if he fixed the toilet and the bed bug issue you would take care of the rest.
You've been there for a couple of decades and if your rent has not gone up considerably since the 90's then it would only be fair for you fix up a few things on your own. A couple of paint brushes, rollers, paint and Spackle will not cost you a fortune.
He lives in the next apartment, he knows full well the state of this apartment. There is no other option but to move, as he won't fix anything nor let us fix anything crucial. Painting and replacing tiles can be taken care of. But other things which is beyond our reach, toilets, sinks, etc., he won't fix nor let a repairman fix.
Why don't you just call him and explain the issues to him? You don't have to complain but maybe you could nicely ask him if he could take care of some of these issues for you. If he says no then maybe you should take it upon yourself to fix the issues. Maybe you could come to terms with him if he fixed the toilet and the bed bug issue you would take care of the rest.
You've been there for a couple of decades and if your rent has not gone up considerably since the 90's then it would only be fair for you fix up a few things on your own. A couple of paint brushes, rollers, paint and Spackle will not cost you a fortune.
Agree, it sounds like many of the problems are very minor stuff that anyone could fix it without costing
much money or time except the bedbug part. The parents obviously think the low rent is worth more
than the trouble to stay that long with the apartment. The rent will probably double or even triple their
current rent if they move now.
If it was me I will probably go buy some wallpaper to fix the room up to make it look nice, and maybe
watch youtube on how to fix the toilet, most of the times you just need to change some of the cheap
parts in the water tank to make it work smoothly again.
As far as ceiling lights, if it's the light socket that connects the ligthbulbs is broken then is not a good
idea to fix it yourself for safty reasons. I don't know why your celiling light not working, but
I did some very stupid and dangerous thing with the ceiling light fixture when I was in High school.
I changed the lightbulb to more than the max wattage is allowed on the celiling fixture and it fried
or overloaded the sockets, lucky I didn't burn down the building.
I suggest talking to the landlord about bedbugs, if you have them then he has them too - or will soon. He's got to take care of it. I doubt he'll kick you out for that.
Just in case, have you looked at cheaper areas outside NYC? Long Island is cheaper, though the commute is harder.
I live in Queens, right near JFK. Since the early 90's I've been living in this apartment with my parents. Over the years the apartment has deteriorated. There are no ceiling lights in the living room or in my room, we have mold, cracks and plaster peeling everywhere, tiles in the tub are moldy and falling off. Our toilet cannot flush for at least a few minutes, it needs time to build up the water. On top of that, sometimes we have to check if we flushed "correctly" to ensure that the water being pumped isn't going directly into the bowl.
On top of that, we have bedbugs. I don't know where they came, but they've kept me up for 24+ hours straight on two separate days this week. It's testing my mental strength seeing as I'm a full time college student and I have to deal with all the other crap in this house. We have no lease, and my parents nor I dare not complain to him out of fear he will raise the rent or tell us to move.
My parents have gotten used to the filth here and make no effort to move because rents are too expensive. From what I know their income is over $40k. But, we are too rich for the projects and too poor for most apartments. We've tried places like Starrett City in Brooklyn, but my mom alone makes too much to be considered for an apartment there.
Any advice would be helpful
NYC landlords keep garbage apartments. I lived in LA for several years and each apartment I had was super decent. I even lived in Koreatown which many would consider "ghetto" and never had any of the issues many people go through here in NYC.
You literally have to beg a landlord to fix stuff here! In LA, all I did was tell the property manager at two of the places I lived at what the problem was and it would be fixed within two days. The other place I lived in the landlord gave you the number to his contractors to let them know of any issues you were having with the apartment and if you couldn't reach the contractors, you were to call him immediately, so that he could.
I saw apartments in the MacArthur Park area that were very well maintained and under $1,000. The only major problem was maybe a "few" roaches here and there, but there was stuff to take care of that or an exterminator was called in. And MacArthur Park/Alvarado is considered to be a GHETTO AREA.
I feel for you. Your parents are not going to call the inspectors or make waves, because they're afraid of change or moving. You're in Queens, you can most definitely find a decent two bedroom at an affordable price.
NYC landlords want the WORLD from YOU, but will treat you like a peasant once you move into one of their closets they call "apartments".
eensfiend720;27382430]He lives in the next apartment, he knows full well the state of this apartment. There is no other option but to move, as he won't fix anything nor let us fix anything crucial. [/b]Painting and replacing tiles can be taken care of. But other things which is beyond our reach, toilets, sinks, etc., he won't fix nor let a repairman fix.
I hate slumlords.
Call the inspectors and let them know of the situation IMMEDIATELY. Maybe he needs a bug up his butt to get moving. I wouldn't do this without the okay from your parents. You don't know what kind of deal they have going on with him.
How much are you paying for this place? Is it truly so little that you cant find another place nearby for a similar price? You say your landlord wont let you fix things? What if you just do it and don't tell him- it's not like he's going to kick you out for making legitimate improvements to the place.
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