poot_rootbeer: You know why the landlord doesn't bother fixing those conditions? Because the people who live there still send them checks every month.

Stop paying rent. Spend that money on hiring an exterminator, a handyman, whomever you need to come in and fix shiat so that the place you live isn't actively shortening your life anymore.

Given the tenants' rights laws in NYC, it'll be at least six months before they can legally force you out of the premises. More than enough time to box up your shiat and find a slightly less terrible building to live in.

And then you've ruined your credit, and likely your chances of renting anywhere else.

I don't know... Obviously the landlord is supposed to maintain the property, but why don't the tenants just leave? If I lived in a shiat hole like that I sure as hell wouldn't be having the newspaper tour the place and document how big of a pit it is.

NullReferenceException: If you have rats in the walls, be very careful what you name your black cat. Someone telling your life story could inadvertently break the flow of the story's narrative every time the cat is mentioned.

/Also, your ancestors are some seriously sick farkers
//I feel very geeky that this is the first thing I thought of

S'blood, thou stinkard, that was a fine comment!

Rats skittering in the walls?

Movement. Signal's clean. Range, 20 meters.
They've found a way in, something we've missed.
We didn't miss anything.
17 meters.
Something under the floor, not in the plans, I don't know.
15 meters.
Definitely inside the barricades.
Let's go.
12 meters.
That's right outside the door.
They're right on us.
9 meters. 7. 6.
That can't be; that's inside the room.
It's reading right man, look!
Then you're not reading it right.
5 meters, man. 4. What the hell?

If you want an example of how Giuliani and Bloomberg are raging hypocrites when it comes to improving NYC, this article provides five.

haz gr8t place -

NullReferenceException: If you have rats in the walls, be very careful what you name your black cat. Someone telling your life story could inadvertently break the flow of the story's narrative every time the cat is mentioned.

/Also, your ancestors are some seriously sick farkers
//I feel very geeky that this is the first thing I thought of

I lived in an old cracker house in florida that had rats in the walls when I moved in, but my awesome black cat took care of things fairly quickly, so I got a kick out of your comment.
Miss you Max.

/Smax Jackson, action cat.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: but because the tenants haven't cleaned it!

The floor looks perfectly clean, the stove is rusty and there's who knows what kind of staining on the cabinets next to it. And both the stove and cabinets are probably older than I am. Even if they were clean and rust free, the stove would be past it's replacement date and the cabinets look well a bit dated. And in neither case can you blame either on the woman in the picture, since given the cleanliness of the floor she does try to keep the place clean.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: It looks nasty, not because the Landlord didn't maintain it, but because the tenants haven't cleaned it!

The roof leaks because she didn't bleach the cupboards? Run with that.

SultanofSchwing: Lazy ass tenants.

You ever tried painting a wall that's constantly damp from condensation or leaky walls?

RumsfeldsReplacement: So...move?

My guess is rent control. Their rents are probably so low it makes it:

A) Tough to make expensive upgrades to the building
B) Hard for the tenets to find affordable housing elsewhere.

FTFA: "I spent three years sitting on the toilet with an umbrella."

You're doing it wrong right.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: A clean floor does not equal a clean house.

And a dirty cabinet does not equal a dirty house. Assumptions are being made both ways here.

All in all it's just another rat in the wall.

What the heck with with the renters in here. Don't pick up a damn paint brush unless it's getting taken off your rent. Work it all out with the landlord first. If you have a shiatty landlord sue them, but you should probably move too. Although that can be hard for many people as they don't have first/last/sec

Anyway back to NYC, there is public legal help from good lawyers out there. Hopefully these people get it. There are plenty of shiatty tenants, but these are not the case.

[Is Fark eating anyone else's posts today?]

Rent control does far more harm to affordable housing than good -- even if the past fifty years' worth of evidence to that effect were not at hand, it's a pretty simple mechanism to understand. Rent control is simply a form of price-fixing, which does not work, has never worked, and never will work.

Also: when people get something for free (or nearly so), they don't take care of it. I once worked on a government low-income housing project as a laborer. It wasn't a high-rise, but instead bungalows clustered around a pretty little park with a swimming pool. It was basically a nice little gated community. Hell, I wouldn't have minded getting a place there -- but with my majestic $8/hr job, I didn't qualify. Five years after it went up, it looked like downtown Ramadi during the Iraq war. Technically the "government" owns the site, but so what? There's no accountability, no real ownership, no consequences.

This is when I became a foe of government-backed social engineering. It's not just the government wastes billions of taxpayer dollars on badly-designed programs, or that the plans usually end up doing more harm than good to the very people they're intended for. No, the biggest problem with government social engineering is this: they suck at it. Good intentions are no excuse for wasting that much taxpayer money.

SultanofSchwing: [i.imgur.com image 350x363]
+
[www.cameraphonesplaza.com image 400x300]
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[stagetecture.com image 371x300]
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No more shiatty walls.

Lazy ass tenants.

But the owner of the building, whose responsibility it actually is to fix the ceilings and walls, they get a pass, eh? Not lazy or irresponsible on their part, amiright?

Fix the shiat you are responsible for or I take you to court, how's that instead?

1. you don't have rats and roaches if people are cleaning up after themselves.

2. you get what you pay for. If you cant afford to live in NYC, maybe you shouldn't live in NYC.

I'm all for fixing things in a place I'm renting, but it's not on me to fix the roof or remove lead paint.

GoodOmens: A) Tough to make expensive upgrades to the building

These are large scale slumlords we're talking about, they have cash flows that many business owners would envy. They're plenty capable of fixing up the places. And if they're not, then they shouldn't own such properties.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: They come with the bare bones electrical coil stove and stock oak cabinets.

Around here it's always gas stoves. Also, those stains on the cabinet look like they might be from dripping from the ceiling. And a clean floor almost always equals a clean house. And the level of rent is no excuse for poor upkeep by the landlord.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: HotWingConspiracy: Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: It looks nasty, not because the Landlord didn't maintain it, but because the tenants haven't cleaned it!

The roof leaks because she didn't bleach the cupboards? Run with that.

No, that's clearly a Landlord issue but the mystery shiat on the cupboards? Rather than say, "fark it. My Landlord's a piece of shiat and the roof leaks so I ain't gonna do shiat." she should get out some Mr. Clean and get to work.

What makes you think that isn't staining from water damage? No amount of cleaning fixes that.

Bathia_Mapes: Sin_City_Superhero: You are aware that it's the LANDLORD's responsibility to maintain their rental properties, not the tenant, right? That's why you pay rent.

Exactly.

An exception would be if the tenant or one or more of their guests deliberately caused the damage themselves.

However, fixing leaking faucets, removing mold caused by those leaks, pest control (rats, cockroaches, etc.), ensuring that rental units have working smoke alarms, removing lead based paint, etc. are all the responsibility of the landlord.

I don't think most people know their rights when renting. I know I don't know what I'm responsible for and what they are responsible for. I'm finally moving out of the apartment that my brother and mom have shared for the past fifteen years. It's just been cheapest to live there, and I finally have money to pay for two moderately nicer apartments than the shiat hole I've been living in.

It's obviously my own fault as a consumer for not shopping around. But I've always been a cheap bastard.

Wood floors need to be re-surfaced every few years, ours were old and shiatty when we moved in. They refused to replace the broken tile in the kitchen and dining room and it's simply had a carpet over the transition to the wood floor. The kitchen had a fire in it before we moved in and they never resurfaced it. The bathroom sink was falling away from the wall so the superintendent "fixed it" by adding caulk to the wall. The bathroom door needed to be replaced and wouldn't fit in the door so he "fixed it" by smacking the door frame until wood chips flew off to make it looser.

Anyone know what your rights are as far as getting your deposit back? I can do without it, but I've been told by well-to-do coworkers that I should just not pay the last month's rent and tell them the landlord to take it out of the deposit. That way, the responsibility is on them to sue, and not the other way around.

poot_rootbeer: If you had a good credit rating you wouldn't have been living in one of these terrible buildings to begin with.

Huh? Your credit rating has nothing to do with what you can afford to pay in rent for something.

My credit is great, but I don't make enough to afford to rent more than a low-end rental house in a shiatty neighborhood.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: she should get out some Mr. Clean and get to work

And maybe it was there before she moved in and she's tried to clean it and it won't come out.

bluesbox: when people get something for free (or nearly so), they don't take care of it.

The problems here aren't because of tenants, they're because of landlords. youfoundthekingbaby: 1. you don't have rats and roaches if people are cleaning up after themselves.

False on both counts.

2. you get what you pay for. If you cant afford to live in NYC, maybe you shouldn't live in NYC.

So poor people should have horrid housing cause fark the poor. Got it.

youfoundthekingbaby: 1. you don't have rats and roaches if people are cleaning up after themselves.

Yeah I'm sure if everyone pushed a mop in that building, all the rats would just go away.

Pest management is for the landlord, it's his property.

HotWingConspiracy: What makes you think that isn't staining from water damage? No amount of cleaning fixes that.

Judging by the pattern and color I'd venture that it quite probably if not quite certainly is water damage.

evilboyevil: Anyone know what your rights are as far as getting your deposit back? I

It varies not only from state to state but can also vary from county to county within a state and even towns and cities can have their own rules. One nice thing about renting in Chicago is, if the landlord doesn't fix it, you can just call someone in to fix it, and then deduct what you spent from your rent. And as long as you provide a copy of the bill to the landlord, there's not a damn thing they can do about it. Obviously this assumes having the money to pay for the repair, which for something large would be out of the question for the vast majority of people, but for smaller things it does make it possible for people to get things fixed when the landlord won't do it.

stonicus: Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: A clean floor does not equal a clean house.

And a dirty cabinet does not equal a dirty house. Assumptions are being made both ways here.

*shrugs* I can't even tell if it is dirty, or just missing paint on the front.

HotWingConspiracy: Pest management is for the landlord, it's his property.

And poor garbage storage will bring in rats no matter how clean the apartments are. And having proper garbage storage falls squarely on the landlord. If one dumpster isn't enough, time to get a second, if two aren't enough, time for a third. And if they have something else, then it's time for more of whatever they have.

youfoundthekingbaby: 1. you don't have rats and roaches if people are cleaning up after themselves.

2. you get what you pay for. If you cant afford to live in NYC, maybe you shouldn't live in NYC.

Rats and Roaches are basic facts of life for dense city living. Sure cleaning up after yourself helps, but NYC does have to commit regular acts of genocide against both types of vermin to keep populations under control.

if they don't like the way the place is maintained MOVE!!! Don't biatch for someone else to jump in and fix it for you. As was already mentioned here; they probably stay because the rent is super cheap but they want to biatch until they get a nice place without the rent going up. I would say that these places are probably rent controlled so there is very little profit in them as it is for the landlord. And whats to say that these people wouldn't just trash whatever repairs were made. I work on about 1000 foreclosed houses a year and you wouldn't believe what people do to places they own, I can't even imagine what they would do to a place where their only liability is their $500 security deposit.

Honestly i'm glad that landlords are allowed to rent crappy places for bottom rent. When I was in college I rented a crap hole for $290 a month (everything else was double that) I spent my evenings for a couple weeks sprucing it up (yes this did include drywall work and some structural) . I probably put about $300 into it but then I had a very nice place and I stayed there at half rent for the next 2 years.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: f they rat the Landlord out and the issues aren't enough to get the building condemned, he's probably going to keep doing what he's been doing- nothing

If? There's no if. The city of New York has files a mile long on all these landlords and refuses to even lift a finger to do anything about. And condemning the buildings would be an issue if they had serious structural problems, and the city would, hopefully, move on that. In the case of what's going on with these buildings, the city could force the landlords to fix things or put them into receivership. That almost happened here in Chicago this last winter. The chimney at a fairly nice apartment building broke, the landlord said they'd get around to fixing it at some point. Well, they couldn't run the heat with a busted chimney cause of carbon monoxide poisoning risk. And per the law here the landlord is responsible for making sure the heat is on when the temperature is below a certain temperature. Yet even with it being winter the landlord was saying it would be weeks before they'd get around to fixing the issue. Since this was a nice building in a nice neighborhood, a few tenants were friends with lawyers. Who quickly found a suitable lawyer who booked down to court. And at this point the city was involved. It wasn't the tenants versus the landlord, it was the city versus the landlord. And the city said, either the problem gets fixed now or they would seek to have the building put into receivership, meaning the landlord would get no say so about anything to do with the building for some period of time, if ever. Needless to say the landlord suddenly had no problem fixing the problem post haste.

Kaldea: RumsfeldsReplacement: So...move?

That was my thought too. Oh well.... The names are out. Internet, go forth. Do your thing.

Now go do... that voodoo... that YOU do... SO WELL...!

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: HotWingConspiracy: Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: HotWingConspiracy: Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: It looks nasty, not because the Landlord didn't maintain it, but because the tenants haven't cleaned it!

The roof leaks because she didn't bleach the cupboards? Run with that.

No, that's clearly a Landlord issue but the mystery shiat on the cupboards? Rather than say, "fark it. My Landlord's a piece of shiat and the roof leaks so I ain't gonna do shiat." she should get out some Mr. Clean and get to work.

What makes you think that isn't staining from water damage? No amount of cleaning fixes that.

Assuming whatever caused the mystery stain is from a problem only the Landlord can fix, at what point do you say, "fark it. I can't afford to live anywhere else and I refuse to let my family live in a shiat hole. I am going to try to clean/fix it myself!".

Seriously, what the fark is your obsession with this woman's cupboard all about? If she can't clean it, it needs to be replaced. Guess who that falls on? Not the tenant. They don't exist to give the landlord free labor and material.

Because seriously, what other options do they have?

Looks like they can go to the press.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: don't leave trash in the stairwell or other common area etc

In some of NYC's slums there's little other place except common areas for trash a couple days after the last garbage pick up. The landlords just don't provide a suitable amount of space for properly disposing of the garbage.

FarkerinMN: Don't biatch for someone else to jump in and fix it for you.

That would work if it wasn't the landlord's legal responsibility to fix certain issues. And they refuse to fix the problems for years. Worse the city refuses to do anything about it even though they have various legal remedies at their disposal should they choose to pursue them.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: HotWingConspiracy: youfoundthekingbaby: 1. you don't have rats and roaches if people are cleaning up after themselves.

Yeah I'm sure if everyone pushed a mop in that building, all the rats would just go away.

Pest management is for the landlord, it's his property.

Pest management is for the Landlord. Pest prevention is for the Tenants. Take out your trash, don't leave food out, don't leave trash in the stairwell or other common area etc.and you'll greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the number of pests you get.

Well the pests are there, so looks like by your standard the landlord is on the hook for dealing with it.

Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: HotWingConspiracy: Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: It looks nasty, not because the Landlord didn't maintain it, but because the tenants haven't cleaned it!

The roof leaks because she didn't bleach the cupboards? Run with that.

No, that's clearly a Landlord issue but the mystery shiat on the cupboards? Rather than say, "fark it. My Landlord's a piece of shiat and the roof leaks so I ain't gonna do shiat." she should get out some Mr. Clean and get to work.

Look above the stained cupboard. There is a drainboard there with dishes drying. Your "mystery stains" are probably 25 years of runoff from that drainboard. Or, could be from the leaky ceiling. Or maybe that cupboard is hiding plumbing, which leaks.

Having lived in two such apartments, albeit with a slightly more reasonable landslum lord, there are certain things you know not to even bother trying to get fixed. You have to save your complaints for "my sink just exploded" or "that wall sconce is going to burn the building down" type issues.

In my case, the buildings I lived in were torn down a couple of months after we moved out and are now a Walgreens. My entire building would sway when a semi drove past on the main road, and I got off without having to pay a security deposit because the realtor refused to enter the apartment and said "You clean it, no deposit for you..." I figured it was a fair deal until I learned the former tenant was a crack dealer who had ferrets and cats but no litter boxes.

clear_prop: NYC doesn't have back alleys,

I know, but in the case of larger apartment buildings like the ones in TFA, it's not about a few trashcans, that wouldn't come close to cutting it. And decent landlords find ways to deal wit it.

building maintenance is defiantly a landlords responsibility, a tenant would be foolish to spend any money on fixing rented property.

I don't get the trash excuse, everyone has trash, if you are 1/2 way worried about, you will find a way to deal with it properly. dumping it in a common area isn't dealing with it, its making your problem, everyone's problem.


WhyteRaven74: Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii: don't leave trash in the stairwell or other common area etc

In some of NYC's slums there's little other place except common areas for trash a couple days after the last garbage pick up. The landlords just don't provide a suitable amount of space for properly disposing of the garbage.

FarkerinMN: Don't biatch for someone else to jump in and fix it for you.

That would work if it wasn't the landlord's legal responsibility to fix certain issues. And they refuse to fix the problems for years. Worse the city refuses to do anything about it even though they have various legal remedies at their disposal should they choose to pursue them.

You would have to be one dumb sunsabiatch to pay for a lot of what's wrong in that building/apartment out of your own pocket.

Even if you had the expertise to do it yourself, there are landlords out there that if it isn't done exactly to their standards, it'll be "fixed" by people he will hire at your cost anyway and quite possibly anything else that might be adjacent to the work area. On more than one occasion I've seen renters go out of their way to spruce up the place only to have the landlord notice, wait a few months, and then evict them for whatever BS reason they can think of knowing full well that they can now rent out the "Newly Renovated" apartment for more money.

HotWingConspiracy: youfoundthekingbaby: 1. you don't have rats and roaches if people are cleaning up after themselves.

Yeah I'm sure if everyone pushed a mop in that building, all the rats would just go away.

Pest management is for the landlord, it's his property.

Oddly at a former townhouse I rented, pest control was the tenants responsibility. That was spelled out in the lease. Also to the OPs comment about the rats and roaches, where I live here in Florida roaches and palmetto bugs are guaranteed. I don't care how clean you are.