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venting about my brownstone apt — Brooklynian

venting about my brownstone apt

findcate
findcate
edited November -1 in Park Slope
Ugh! my landlord redid our kitchen (which he had agreed to do in our lease when we moved but it took him 6 months to get to it). He put in a nice fridge/oven/dishwasher...but his contractor left half of the old cabinets and put in new cabinets that don’t match. And they are the cheapest, nastiest cabinets ever. They didn’t even put them in properly, they are all misaligned with little gaps, nails showing, ugggh. And he put in the cheapest kitchen sink you can imagine, it’s new but it looks like the design is from the 70s. I don’t even know if I can fit my larger pots in the sink b/c it’s so shallow, and the spout is not adjustable vertically, there’s no little spray/hose thing either—it’s just cheap.

We constantly have problems with electricity, the wiring is a million years old. The other day I was in the kitchen and suddenly an outlet made a loud bang and sparks came out. I wasn’t even using appliances. A similar thing happened downstairs and it took him 3 weeks to get his electrician over here. I called him & he said to call his electrician who, of course, couldn’t come to fix it and meanwhile I have to work and really don’t have time for this. The toilets are old & constantly breaking and you have to hold the handle the whole time it’s flushing and I mentioned it to his ‘plumber’ who spent an hour downstairs doing something, but nothing was fixed afterwards. 3 of the 4 bathrooms have showers where you can’t control the temperature, so we don’t use them. I also told the plumber that, and he said there was nothing he could do about it. I suspect they could, but they don’t want to spend the money on it.

He doesn’t clean the outsides of the windows for the apt (they are visibly dirty) or the hallway (which looks like a barn, esp since the contractors left a mess on their way out). The glass in the front door looks like someone was throwing fried chicken at it. I’ve vacuumed it a few times since I’ve been here but I refuse to do a regular cleaning of the hallway. He never shoveled the stoop in the winter (I fell twice trying to get out). We pay WAY too much rent to have to constantly ask for basic services, I mean way too much. The problems are endless, I didn’t realize the place was needing so much work when we moved in, but this kitchen is the last straw—we’re so out of here.

I expect these things to be taken care of properly and immediately, without having to ask five times. Is this just typical of brownstone life? do most people clean their own hallways or does the landlord do it? next time i'll be checking every detail before we sign the lease.

Comments

  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    I can't say whether or not it's typical of all brownstones, but it's the kind of thing that I've experienced a lot in Brooklyn apartments in general. In my experience it's a negligent landlord who's not worth taking to court. So you're left in a really frustrating position. Clearly the landlord isn't holding up his or her end of the rental agreement, but there aren't many options at your disposal besides moving out.

    I've tried to think of ways to protect myself against obnoxious landlords like this and so far I haven't come up with anything. It's just luck. I've moved into Brooklyn houses where the landlord is the same way yours is. And I've moved into houses (where I am now in Clinton Hill) where the landlord is really responsive and actually cares about the condition of his property.

    I've come to think that's a total crapshoot. Sorry for not offering any help. Maybe someone else has better ideas than I do.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    get a new landlord. landlords like this doesnt deserve the money in rent and maybe he'll sell one day and someone else nicer would come take over!
  • linusvanpelt
    linusvanpelt
    a little off topic but... 3 of the 4 bathrooms? Do you rent the whole house?

    I once rented in brownstones and had unresponsive landlords but not as bad as yours, it sounds. Now that I rent a floor in my own house, I try to learn from that experience, but you'd have to ask my tenants how well I do. From my anecdotal experience, I don't think most brownstone LLs let their places get so shoddy -- if for no other reason than to get top dollar. But certainly an LLs definition of "urgent" and "timely" and "necessary repair" is often going to be different from yours.

    No good advice, I guess, except that it sounds like moving is the right thing. Many of your complaints, while I certainly wouldn't want to live with them, don't sound like a fix is mandated either by law or most leases. (Nice cabinets and sinks, e.g.) If you can get your money's worth elsewhere, elsewhere you should go. Good luck.
  • rose
    rose
    All the landlords I ever had were like this. The last apartment I lived in was in a brownstone on Berkeley Place that was owned by an architect (who lived downstairs) -- he presumably knew something about buildings and had access to skilled workers, but every time something needed repair, it was done in an ugly, crappy, jury-rigged manner. One day when it was windy, one of the front windows fell right out and shattered on the sidewalk three stories below . . . luckily no one was walking by at that moment. Stuff like that, over and over. The place was barely habitable. It was incomprehensible that he maintained the place that way -- it was on a great block and if he had put a little work into it he could have probably doubled the rent or close to it.

    The place before that had virtually no heat -- the owners had moved to California and they wanted their rent on time but not to be bothered with any problems with the apartment, like the lack of heat or the broken door lock or the flaking paint. Oh, and they were trying to sell the place so they wanted us (with baby and toddler) to keep it neat at all times for showings.

    This is why I bought my own place -- just could not live at the mercy of people like that anymore. :x
  • findcate
    findcate
    Wow, Rose, that is REALLY crazy about the window falling out...in an architect-owned bldg! I know, we should buy a place. My husband thinks it's bad timing with the market, but prices seem to keep going up in nyc no matter what...and we are also definitely feeling like it's worth it to have more control over our home.

    Anyway, it's odd that there are 4 bathrooms here. It's two floors, lower duplex. I'd be happier with one nice bathroom, rather than 4 bad ones.

    Thanks for the input. I've made up my mind to move. We just can't be comfortable here. It's annoying, but I know we can do better than this and it's true that this jerky landlord doesn't deserve our money.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    good for you findcate :). now thats a stiff upper lip thing to the landlord :p.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    looking back on my worst experience (4 BR house in williamsburg from 2003-2005), there were clues that should have tipped me off that the landlord was extremely lazy and unresponsive.

    1. The house needed to be painted before we moved in.
    Instead of finding painters and getting it done himself. The landlord just asked us (and we agreed) to paint it for him in return for a free month's rent plus the cost of painting supplies. Our effort was actually worth the money. But the fact that the landlord was too lazy to even have his own painter/repairman on call should have told us something.

    2. The interior was never really finished
    • There were hardwood floors, but no moldings.
    • They redid the bathroom, but they put in a plastic shower.
    • There was a nice closet on the first floor underneath the stairs but the closet door was homemade (apparently by a blind person with a broken saw).
    This half-assed effort should have told me something. If someone cares about their place and they're going through the trouble of redoing the bathroom or the floors or whatever, they'll spend a little extra money and do it right. When it's a lazy landlord he's going to do enough to get yuppies like my roommates and me to rent out his place, but he won't do anything to maximize his investment.

    3. There was a backyard (and porch above) but it was completely overgrown and disgusting.
    The backyard could have been a big selling point. But it was so disheveled that the broker hardly wanted to show it to us. If you're a landlord and you have a place with cool features like a yard and a porch, go through the effort to fix it up a bit and you'll get a lot more money on your return.

    All these things were clues as to what type of landlord he was, but I didn't see any of it coming. He wasn't a slumlord, but he wasn't going to lift a finger to improve anything either. When our heat broke, he fixed it. But about three months late. When a ceiling caved in, he fixed it. But about two months late. Like I said in my first post, he wasn't doing things that were worth taking him to court over. But he was making our lives miserable.

    He was a landlord who was just happy to own a piece of land that all the sudden happened to be in a really hot neighborhood (W'burg). The concept of investing money to make more money was foreign to him. The concept of making needed repairs in order to keep reliable tenants happy did not apply to him. If we moved out, oh well, he could find the next group of suckers. He was going to make as much money as he could without having to do anything. It was tolerable for a while, but eventually we had to move out.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    Boygabriel wrote: looking back on my worst experience (4 BR house in williamsburg from 2003-2005)
    dang man should of move out the first year!!!!
  • findcate
    findcate
    Boygabriel, that sounds too familiar. There are so many little things, like the closet door example you mention, the just add up to a world of frustration. Like the bathroom cabinet that was installed badly so the shelves slope down and everything falls off when you open it. Looks ok from the outside though. ugh! I think also he just really has no clue about current design or quality.

    I also raked out bags of leaves/debris from our backyard & planted perennials. I'm thinking of deducting the cost of the perennials from our rent (i kept the receipt).
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    armchair_warrior wrote: [quote=Boygabriel]looking back on my worst experience (4 BR house in williamsburg from 2003-2005)
    dang man should of move out the first year!!!!

    we would have but we couldn't find anything decent that didn't have a broker's fee. none of us had an extra $700 we could drop on a broker.

    we tried to move, lol.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    Boygabriel wrote: [quote=armchair_warrior][quote=Boygabriel]looking back on my worst experience (4 BR house in williamsburg from 2003-2005)
    dang man should of move out the first year!!!!

    we would have but we couldn't find anything decent that didn't have a broker's fee. none of us had an extra $700 we could drop on a broker.

    we tried to move, lol.i hate brokers!!! they suck.
  • rose
    rose
    Boygabriel wrote: looking back on my worst experience (4 BR house in williamsburg from 2003-2005), there were clues that should have tipped me off that the landlord was extremely lazy and unresponsive.

    1. The house needed to be painted before we moved in.
    Instead of finding painters and getting it done himself. The landlord just asked us (and we agreed) to paint it for him in return for a free month's rent plus the cost of painting supplies. Our effort was actually worth the money. But the fact that the landlord was too lazy to even have his own painter/repairman on call should have told us something.
    Hey, same with my crappy apartment on Berkeley Place! I can't even remember if we got a break on the rent for that or if he just reimbursed us for the cost of the paint. But you're right, that was definitely a sign of things to come.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    Rose wrote: [quote=Boygabriel]looking back on my worst experience (4 BR house in williamsburg from 2003-2005), there were clues that should have tipped me off that the landlord was extremely lazy and unresponsive.

    1. The house needed to be painted before we moved in.
    Instead of finding painters and getting it done himself. The landlord just asked us (and we agreed) to paint it for him in return for a free month's rent plus the cost of painting supplies. Our effort was actually worth the money. But the fact that the landlord was too lazy to even have his own painter/repairman on call should have told us something.
    Hey, same with my crappy apartment on Berkeley Place! I can't even remember if we got a break on the rent for that or if he just reimbursed us for the cost of the paint. But you're right, that was definitely a sign of things to come.

    my room was pink with purple trim! it was a nightmare. one of our roommate's room was blue so he didn't even bother painting it. my pink room, however, made me want to vomit. it took primer and almost three coats of paint to get it to a color that resembled white.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    Boygabriel wrote: [quote=Rose][quote=Boygabriel]looking back on my worst experience (4 BR house in williamsburg from 2003-2005), there were clues that should have tipped me off that the landlord was extremely lazy and unresponsive.

    1. The house needed to be painted before we moved in.
    Instead of finding painters and getting it done himself. The landlord just asked us (and we agreed) to paint it for him in return for a free month's rent plus the cost of painting supplies. Our effort was actually worth the money. But the fact that the landlord was too lazy to even have his own painter/repairman on call should have told us something.
    Hey, same with my crappy apartment on Berkeley Place! I can't even remember if we got a break on the rent for that or if he just reimbursed us for the cost of the paint. But you're right, that was definitely a sign of things to come.

    my room was pink with purple trim! it was a nightmare. one of our roommate's room was blue so he didn't even bother painting it. my pink room, however, made me want to vomit. it took primer and almost three coats of paint to get it to a color that resembled white.ouch. if you were a girlie or a gay guy could of done well with that color :p jk.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    armchair_warrior wrote:

    my room was pink with purple trim! it was a nightmare. one of our roommate's room was blue so he didn't even bother painting it. my pink room, however, made me want to vomit. it took primer and almost three coats of paint to get it to a color that resembled white.
    ouch. if you were a girlie or a gay guy could of done well with that color :p jk.

    for real.

    a girl lived there before me and I'm pretty sure the color was her choice.

    I kept the radiator purple just to remind myself how badly things can go wrong when you paint your own room.

    i never truly got the pink to go away, i just had off-white walls with a hint of pink.
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