- Always contact the landlord or any of its employees (super, managing agent, etc.) about the needed repairs. This may be done in-person, by phone, or even better in writing.
- Call 311 to report the conditions in your room, apartment or building.
- If your apartment is rent-regulated, file a complaint for a decrease in services with NYS Homes and Community Renewal, the state agency which administers the rent laws.
- File an HP Action in Housing Court. An HP is a lawsuit against the landlord to compel him/her to make repairs.
- Request that a city agency (HPD or Health Department) make the repair if the condition is an emergency that is causing or will cause imminent harm or danger to the occupants of the room, apartment or building.
- If you’ve given the landlord notice of the repairs but the landlord has not done them, you may withhold your rent until the repairs are completed. You must set the rent money aside and not spend it. Once the repairs are completed, you can pay the outstanding rent or negotiate for an abatement (a reduction in the amount of rent due).
Note: The landlord may commence a non-payment eviction case against you if you do not pay the rent but you will be able to raise the lack of repairs as a defense and ask the court for an abatement.