how to deal with a sloppy ass landlord

mable

so ive had a leak in my bathroom ceiling for 2 months,
it got worse and worse, i complained and complained.
my dumbass super and landlord did a lazy and retarded job, figuring out where it was coming from...(the leak happened every morning and in the evening...shower...tub....maybe. nope they thought the fridge was leaking in the other room , and travelling to my bathroom...)

and now, the ceiling has fallen down, a 4'x3' section. its moldy,
there are chicken bones in it, dirt, and mushrooms
yes mushrooms in my ceiling.
i cleaned it all up myself, sprayed it down with bleach.
the repair upstairs wont happen till monday. theyre apparently replacing a pipe... and then who knows..
i do home repairs for a living, and i was trying not to get too involved in this b/c of the principle of the thing.
i pay them rent, they fix it.
but now, im involved, cleaning shit up. hauling out moldy sheet rock and concrete and who knows what else to the curb. running upstairs at 8 this morning to the neighbors and finding out the source of the leak. which the super has worked on for 2 months! and it was soooo, simple. a seal in the water line was corroded!
i have to replace all my soaps, toiletries etc.
and i took the day off of work to figure this out! and i have to take off monday to let them in. b/c they wont come in without me there?

soo.... my question is, how do i deal with this? can i legally be re-reimbursed for my time. should i even bother...?
has anyone else gotten into something like this?

any advice would be wonderful...
thanks

daver

I know you could be reimbursed if you paid someone to do it, so... I dunno. Maybe you could get him to give you a bit off the rent for the month or something.

Some info: http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/repairs.html#recent

MOD

I don't understand the reason you have to be there to let them in.
If they need your permission then a letter, note or email should suffice and your landlord has keys and can supervise. End story on that one, from my point of view.

If you don't want to help with hauling shit around then just don't do it. If you're shy or feel you need an excuse to get out of it just say you threw your back out or say you have back problems.

Now cleaning up dirt/mess after they're done is going to be your problem. I had the plumbing go bad in the kitchen once and the plumber made a nasty mess after he was done. I cleaned it. Of course, if they leave stuff other than dirt and crumbs behind I guess you can complain and the landlord should toss it out. Move all your stuff out and out of the way.
I've never had a landlord replace toiletries and stuff. You can see if he'll drop the rent for the coming month compensate for the loss of your bathroom during that time.

Lastly, you wont get reimbursed for time off work. You can fight about it, but you'll get nowhere.

Sounds like a major repair. Just stay out of the apartment as much as possible, stay with a friend if you need to. Avoid the place until they're done. That's the way it goes with rentals.

bojolais

You do not have to pay your rent if this is happening. Seriously, that's absurd. Document every call and contact, take pictures. Contact an attorney. .

arlette

Whatever expenses you incur as a result, keep receipts and have deducted from the rent. Also take pix, document any and everything.Not your responsibility to remove the debris from the ceiling that fell.Your landlord is lucky you werent injured when it came down .

vanilla

i have a lazy & cheap landlord and an overworked super. sometimes when i call, the super comes to looks at the problem and i am told to call back ONLY if it gets worse. in cases such as our bathroom ceiling coming down or tiles falling down in our shower, i have choosen to pull down pieces of the ceiling and rip down more loose tiles to not only get them to fix the problem, but also to make the situation safe so that no one in the bathroom or shower (in this case) would get injured. sometimes you've got to be creative with those bastards.

mable

well...
i gave the landlord my only serious yelling in 3 years of living here, the other day.
he got to work quick. but im still missing MY work, and they are NOT cleaning up after themselves!
the leak is fixed upstairs, but i have an even bigger gaping hole where the drywall is to be fitted TOMMOROW! (and not today b/c they were tired. its the easiest part of the fucking repair!)
i had to sit aound and make them clean up the debris from today. and its still all inside the shower on the toilet, sink, everywhere. im going to have to scrub down the whole place again. and tonite, i just hope to god nothing comes through that hole in the ceiling....

thanks for the advice everyone. i think im going to write a letter, include some pics of the job, use certified mail, and ask for them to deduct at least half the rent.
this has been on going for 2 months now, which has been more than enough of my time wasted. :evil:

armchair_warrior

on the other side of the coin. my tenants didn't bother to tell me if things leak and so on. i only found out after the move out. when i clean the place. found leaks and everything. i wish they told me things like this.