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Q: I’m a senior who has lived quietly in my rent-stabilized Brooklyn house for 22 years. For the previous three years, my residence has been infested with biting gnats. I’ve disposed of infested possessions — furnishings, rugs, clothes, bedding — however the bugs proceed to chunk me all through the evening. My complaints to administration have gone unanswered. I paid an exterminator $200, to no avail. One other exterminator stated my landlord needed to make the request, not me. After I known as 311, a metropolis inspector visited my house and contacted the owner, who reported that the issue was resolved. I challenged that, however the case was closed anyway. I opened a brand new grievance and have but to get an inspection. What can I do?
A: You shouldn’t need to dwell with vermin, together with bugs. It’s your landlord’s duty to resolve this drawback. So escalate the strain.
Preserve calling 311, and name typically. It’s attainable your newest request was routed to the unsuitable metropolis company (this needs to be dealt with by the Division of Housing Preservation and Improvement), otherwise you missed a name from an inspector.
“There isn’t a hurt in submitting a number of complaints,” stated William Fowler, an HPD spokesman. “All of that helps construct a paper path and will increase strain on the proprietor to resolve the difficulty.”
Because the bugs are biting you in your sleep, request an inspection for bedbugs as properly, because it’s attainable you’ve got a couple of infestation and you could want a couple of kind of inspection.
Whereas your 311 calls work their manner by means of the system, you may file what is called an HP continuing in housing court docket. This may deliver your grievance earlier than a decide, who can order the owner to appropriate the issue. You don’t want a lawyer to file a housing court docket case.
“Now the owner has to face in entrance a decide,” stated Samuel J. Himmelstein, a Manhattan lawyer who represents tenants. “It’s not possible that they declare the issue has been resolved in the event that they haven’t accomplished it. Then they’d be committing perjury; they might be held in contempt.”
Name your neighborhood board and your native Metropolis Council member’s workplace, and ask them to advocate for you. On June 6, HPD is internet hosting a coaching program on Zoom the place residents can discover ways to cope with pests and vermin. You possibly can join it on-line. It would present some helpful info.
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