Problems with my landlords..

Znil

New Member
Hi everybody..

Could use some advice on a situation I got into.. About 3 weeks ago or so, I ended up finding a house for rent with help from my friend. She knew her landlords were renting out the house next door to her, and arranged a showing for me. It is an older house (built in 1935) but I thought it was exactly what I wanted and needed, so I decided to take it.. now I'm starting to rethink my decision as I'm having a lot of problems with my landlords.. The only problem, is I've rented through complexes my whole life.. this is the first time I've ever gone through a private renter and I don't know a lot of stuff about the house being up to code and whatnot.. so that is the reason that I came here. The more I look around the house, the more I'm uneasy and regretting my decision of deciding to move in. I will list all my concerns.. please tell me if I have a right to be concerned, or if I am being too picky!

Certain electrical outlets do not work

Most lightbulbs missing, or burned out

Some windows do not open or stay open (I believe I read somewhere that at least one window has to open in every room, so if that is the case, I understand that this is not a reason for concern). Some windows do not have screens and with some of them, the glass is broken

Garage was listed in the renting ad.. landlord agreed to take $100 off of rent PER MONTH from the listed price on the ad (since my friend knows the landlord, and it was more affordable for me, she agreed to do so). One night, the owner of the property (and main. tech) showed up while I was there delivering some boxes asking me to move my car and proceeded to put an old sports car into the garage. I asked what was going on, and he informed me that the garage was not part of the rental. I showed him the ad where it said garage included and he said to call the landlord back to have money taken off the rent, cause garage was not included. When I called her the next day, I was told that she did take money off, so they decided to take the garage away. I was told if I wanted to pay the full rent that was listed on the ad, they would include the garage but that was the only way..

ZERO smoke detectors AND Carbon Monoxide detectors (now I do know this is illegal..)

Landlord is not responsive. If I text her about anything, she refuses to respond. I eventually had to have my friend text the landlord to tell her to get in touch with me and she finally did. The landlord told me that she will not respond to any texts, but that I need to know she gets the texts and she will reply to me if only absolutely needed.

She did agree to install smoke detectors, but after she said she would on a certain day, I went to check and they were not installed still. I of course texted her to find out what happened, but of course there was no reply back..

This is all I can think of for now.. like I said above, I'm not sure exactly what out of my concerns is a legitimate concern, or me over reacting, so please don't hesitate to tell me which one it is in your reply.

I gave my current apt. my 30 day notice and I am to be out of this apt. on Feb. 5th, so my time is running out. I was considering calling the town tomorrow to have an inspection done, as I do not know what else could possibly be wrong with this house, but I don't know if I should yet or not.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

(Btw: After talking to my friend after all this has happened, she did tell me that that's how the landlord is.. You never see either the owner of the property or the landlord unless they come to collect rent and that she has asked for repairs to be done before, and the landlord tells her "okay" and schedules a day that the repair will be done, but then never shows up and never does the repair, so she ends up fixing it herself. I did not know this until recently..)
 
I'm assuming you are in NY because of your IP address. Read the NY landlord tenant statutes for the landlord's obligations, put all your concerns in writing to the landlord and the owner (you seem to have made a distinction between the two), by letter, not text or email, and call the city for a code inspection right away.

2017 New York Laws :: RPP - Real Property :: Article 7 - (Real Property) Landlord and Tenant

If you haven't paid yet, you can back out. If you have paid you are stuck with the statutory requirements.

By the way, a lot of this stuff you could have found out by doing a careful inspection before you agreed to take the place.
 
I'm assuming you are in NY because of your IP address. Read the NY landlord tenant statutes for the landlord's obligations, put all your concerns in writing to the landlord and the owner (you seem to have made a distinction between the two), by letter, not text or email, and call the city for a code inspection right away.

2017 New York Laws :: RPP - Real Property :: Article 7 - (Real Property) Landlord and Tenant

If you haven't paid yet, you can back out. If you have paid you are stuck with the statutory requirements.

By the way, a lot of this stuff you could have found out by doing a careful inspection before you agreed to take the place.

Oh sorry about that.. I thought I put NY in my post but yes I am in NY

And yes, I do FULLY take blame for not doing a thorough inspection before agreeing to take the place.. I agree that that is on me.

Unfortunately, I did pay the security deposit and 1st months rent...
 
Take dated photos of visible conditions, document everything, send written notices to your landlord by certified mail with a return receipt requested AND by regular mail with a delivery confirmation (no signature required). Quote the statutes wherever appropriate. Make additional mailings every two weeks for whatever isn't taken care of. Call your local code enforcement agency, report code related defects and ask for an inspection.
 
If you have not yet moved out of your apartment you may still be able keep it and avoid this mess. Talk to the landlord and say your plans fell through and you would like to stay (you don't have to move out just because you gave notice).
You may be able to recover the security deposit and a portion of the rent you paid, but considering the landlord seems shady don't count on it.
If you are able to stay in your current apartment then tell the home owner plans changed and you are unable to move in. If you are polite about it you may be able to negotiate something and recover a bit without legal hassles.
 
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