Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with newyorkcity and apartment

Is my landlord trying to make a soup out of me?

CharlesV42 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:46:03 -0800

Is there a legal maximum hot water temperature for a New York apartment? My hot water is clocking in at 157 degrees fahrenheit, or hotter than the center of a well done steak (measured with a digital thermometer, documented for posterity with a video).

I've found information on the minimum (appears to be 120 / 110 if there's an anti-scald valve), but not on the maximum. And this ruling appears to say that landlords have a responsibility to maintain a safe temperature, but I can't find any documentation on what that is.

Am i being a baby? Additionally, the temperature fluctuates between 110 and 155 so there's no way to take a shower, knowing which end of the spectrum you're on, without getting burned to bits.

I guess I should be happy I don't have the alternative, a cold shower every day.

I'm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn (Kings County), if that helps.

I should mention I asked the super (once in person, once in text so there's a record) if the boiler can be adjusted. She claims it has been, but I am currently ice-ing my back from my attempt to shower this evening.

Not Quite the King of Queens

acorn1515 — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:06:31 -0800

NYC Filter - I'm moving to Queens in August, and on the hunt for both neighborhood/broker recommendations. Astoria appears to be out of the mix. My boyfriend's in law school out on Long Island, (waaay out) in Central Islip. I work in midtown Manhattan. We've decided to move in together at the end of July, and I've agreed to meet him halfway from where I'm at on the UES -- which puts us out in the Forest Hills/Kew Gardens area.

We discussed Astoria, but he will most likely be driving to school most days for 9 a.m. classes and is concerned about traffic. We discussed Bayside/Flushing but I don't have a car and am not big on giving up life with easy access to neighborhood stores as well as the Subway and all parts of Manhattan.

We're planning to drive out around Forest Hills and Kew Gardens this weekend and begin getting a sense for the neighborhood, but would be interested in hearing other suggestions for both where we might considering living, tips about apartment hunting in the neighborhoods, or any brokers you might recommend.

The dream is for a 2 bedroom around $1,500, but it's looking like a nice 1 bedroom (without a bus ride to the Subway) is more realistic.

I need a place to stay in Manahattan!

zerobyproxy — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:27:44 -0800

If I were to want to get a good, sublet apartment in Manhattan (for just 2 months) starting in January 2009 through the end of February 2009--where should I begin? I have looked at Craigslist and a sublet site that I found in Craigslist. There are slim pickings right now for the two months that I will be in NYC.

I would love to know if you have had success with any service or website. Any tips that you could offer to me?

Ideally, I'd like the following: king sized bed, at least one bedroom (preferably two) and I'd like to be just about anywhere in Manhattan. Ideally, this would not cost more than $2500 per month (I have to dream don't I?).

Anyone who could send me some intel on this would be aces in my book! Thanks for the help.

Help me keep a chinchilla without cockroaches.

Brainy — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:19:44 -0800

How do we keep a chinchilla in an apartment where roaches might be present without killing the chinchilla or attracting tons of bugs? My girlfriend wants to bring her chinchilla to our apartment and I would like that too. However we've seen more than a couple of roaches (including one gigantic one in the sink the other day*) I'm worried we'd pretty much be bringing a roach attractor into the apartment.

The cage she currently has is homemade and constructed of wood and wire...something roaches would have no problem getting through. There are solid plastic cages, but air holes = bug holes. Are there any bug proof cages out there?

What about rodent food that wouldn't attract roaches?

Will we have to be more careful with the insecticide, is the chinchilla in more danger because of his size?

My girlfriend and I (and Kirby the chinchilla) thank you!

* Bonus question. we sprayed Raid Roach Max into our sink to kill it. What's the best way of cleaning this poison out of our sink?

Avoiding eviction after minor dog incident?

Hollow — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:33:38 -0800

ApartmentFilter: My friend's dog got our of her NYC apartment today, and a neighbor overreacted. Now the neighbor is trying to get her evicted from the building (her lease goes all the way til February). Should she be worried? Can she fight back? My friend has two formerly abused dogs that she adopted to save them from being put down. Today one of them managed to work all three of her locks and get out into the hall. A neighbor's kid was out in the hall, and the dog bounded up to the kid happily, playfully, excitedly, as dogs are wont to do. The neighbor kid freaked, and the neighbor came out. By the time my friend got out there, her dog had peed the neighbor's floor, which my friend knows that he only does after being hit. The argument got heated, and the neighbor called the police. When the cops arrived they were very nice and did not press any charges, telling my friend to just be more careful. Nonetheless, the angry neighbor is pressuring the building manager to cancel my friend's 12 month lease and kick her out.

My friend's building allows dogs, and her dogs would never hurt a fly. Still, her neighbor is claiming the dog attacked the kid, and between the dog getting loose and peeing the floor, she is worried that management might find cause for canceling her lease.

Any advice for her?

How to avoid paying an insane broker's fee when renting a Manhattan apartment?

Afroblanco — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 13:41:04 -0800

How to avoid paying an insane broker's fee when renting a Manhattan apartment? My roommate and I are looking to move into a 2-bedroom apartment on Sept. 1.

All of the brokers that I found on Craigslist say the same thing - "You're moving at the worst time of the year, and our fee is 15% of annual rent."

There don't seem to be too many non-broker options.

What are some strategies for getting around this? As far as I see it, Craigslist has already failed us.

Advice on finding an aparment in New York City

AlisonM — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:14:59 -0800

I am moving to New York City this summer, and I have no idea how to start looking for an apartment. Well, I do have an idea, but it's all very intimidating. I've started combing through Criagslist ads, and while I've seen what seem to be some promising places on there, the cynical bastard in me thinks that I'll never find a place that looks as good as it does in pictures (and I'm a photo major, I know that crappy places can easily be made to look good). I've already been to look at a couple places (roommate situations), but I passed on the places that I was offered (one because I wasn't "feeling" the roomies, the other because it was a short-term thing, and she didn't tell me until after I went down to meet with her).

Right now, I live about an hour (driving) away, and I'm moving to be closer to school (I've commuted to school via train for 2 years, and I just can't do it anymore - door to door it was about 2 hours each way). I do have a full-time job at home, so I can't really go down during the business hours to look at places, even though I know this is optimal.

I'm 26 years old, female, and I'm looking to move to Brooklyn or Queens, or possibly somewhere in Jersey, as long as the commute is alright. I really don't want to live with a roommate if I don't have to, but I'm willing to give it a try if the situation is decent. I'm looking to move sometime between now and August 1. I can afford about $1,000 a month. I really want to avoid the August/September student rush (I've heard about this, but since I've lived at home this whole time, I don't really know how bad it is, or if it's just a ploy to get people to move in sooner. Either way, I'd like to be there sooner rather than later).

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Where should I start? Should I bother trying to find a place on my own through Craigslist or other classefieds? Should I just suck it up and go through a realtor that will charge me a brokers' fee? Does anyone have any advice? Anyone know/work with an awesome realtor? Should I suck it up and take a couple days off work to go down and meet with someone to look at places? How can I avoid getting totally screwed?

I don't know if this is Chatfilter or whatever, but hellllp! I simply can't deal with spending 4 hours a day commuting anymore, it nearly killed me this past spring. I'd ask the advice of my friends, but my nyc friends aren't going to be much help, I fear. You MeFites are the smartest bunch of people I've ever come in contact with (and I'm not just sayin' that), and I know there's a whole boatload of you in nyc.

Apartment Hunting tips in NYC?

Stynxno — Fri, 07 May 2004 18:48:45 -0800

Well, I'm moving to NYC at the end of June/start of July and I need to find a place to live. I'm looking for a 1 bedroom apartment, hopefully on Manhatten. Now, I've never gone apartment hunting and I was hoping some nyc mefites might be able to give me some pointers on what to do, how to do it, and where a good place to live is.

Partitioning a large studio apartment

condour75 — Tue, 16 Dec 2003 15:23:23 -0800

I'm moving into NYC for the first time. It's a studio, but a relatively large one, and I'd like to partition it. I've looked mainly at shoji screens, but I'd rather not take up the extra space with the accordion footprint. I don't want to spend a huge amount of money, or do anything that requires a permit. What are some creative options?; for_name=condour75 and follow up question: any other advice for a NYC newbie?