Advice dealing with NYC landlord?
January 15, 2020 9:12 AM Subscribe
Our landlord has refused to fix a pipe that has been banging all night for months. My roommate can't sleep. Help! What actions can we take?
At the end of last winter a pipe in our bathroom started banging loudly -- really loudly. The condition, we learned, was called "pipe hammer." You can read about it here. Apparently it happens when there is steam trapped in the pipe.
My roommate, who sleeps in the room next to the bathroom, can't sleep at night because of the banging. He's put ear plugs in (and is actually deaf in one ear), and it still wakes him up, sometimes as many as 4-5 times per night. One night he went in and measure the decibel level of the banging, and it's 90 decibels -- as high as a lawn mower!
We've gone back and forth with the landlord for months, and the issue isn't fixed. My roommate has texted with them at least 100 times. They keep saying they are looking at it, and "investigating," then something else comes up, and nothing happens. The latest is that they claim they will need to replace 15 feet of pipe, and are "in negotiation" with the plumbers, but nothing happens. Our suspicion is that they are just trying to drag things out until the spring, when they turn the heat off in the building, and the banging will stop.
What can we do? We want to push them into action without risking getting kicked out of our place. We really like the spot, and they've been okay about other things -- if not always immediately responsive. Is there some organization we can talk to for advice? Or some simple action we can take to hold them accountable without getting into legal action?
Any advice would be so appreciated. Thanks in advance.
At the end of last winter a pipe in our bathroom started banging loudly -- really loudly. The condition, we learned, was called "pipe hammer." You can read about it here. Apparently it happens when there is steam trapped in the pipe.
My roommate, who sleeps in the room next to the bathroom, can't sleep at night because of the banging. He's put ear plugs in (and is actually deaf in one ear), and it still wakes him up, sometimes as many as 4-5 times per night. One night he went in and measure the decibel level of the banging, and it's 90 decibels -- as high as a lawn mower!
We've gone back and forth with the landlord for months, and the issue isn't fixed. My roommate has texted with them at least 100 times. They keep saying they are looking at it, and "investigating," then something else comes up, and nothing happens. The latest is that they claim they will need to replace 15 feet of pipe, and are "in negotiation" with the plumbers, but nothing happens. Our suspicion is that they are just trying to drag things out until the spring, when they turn the heat off in the building, and the banging will stop.
What can we do? We want to push them into action without risking getting kicked out of our place. We really like the spot, and they've been okay about other things -- if not always immediately responsive. Is there some organization we can talk to for advice? Or some simple action we can take to hold them accountable without getting into legal action?
Any advice would be so appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Met Council on Housing – Tenants’ Rights Telephone Hotline.
posted by zeikka at 9:38 AM on January 15, 2020
posted by zeikka at 9:38 AM on January 15, 2020
You can call 311 or go to their website. The Tenant's Rights number above is probably exactly where they will tell you to call, but the website does have some rules you may want to read through.
posted by soelo at 10:30 AM on January 15, 2020
posted by soelo at 10:30 AM on January 15, 2020
A quick review of the noise code suggests that a sufficiently loud radiator might be a violation (but I didn’t really chew it over thoroughly, so don’t take that as gospel or legal advice). However, calling 311 on your landlord, while unlikely to result in any kind of drastic consequences for them, is liable to get your lease not renewed if you’re not rent-stabilized.
If this is really something you might move out over, you might try conveying that in a simple factual way, expressing your regret that you might feel you couldn’t stay in this place. But I’d be hesitant to do that unless you were pretty sure that was what you were going to do if the problem isn’t fixed.
I don’t know much about radiators but probably it’s easier to fix them outside of heating season?
posted by praemunire at 11:49 AM on January 15, 2020
If this is really something you might move out over, you might try conveying that in a simple factual way, expressing your regret that you might feel you couldn’t stay in this place. But I’d be hesitant to do that unless you were pretty sure that was what you were going to do if the problem isn’t fixed.
I don’t know much about radiators but probably it’s easier to fix them outside of heating season?
posted by praemunire at 11:49 AM on January 15, 2020
It’s actually water in the pipes, steam builds up behind the water the pushes, explosively, through. Kind of like a cough. The ideal solution is to have the pipe incline towards the ‘riser’ (where the condensation pipe goes, leading back to the boiler), so there’s no build up of water. If there’s only one pipe going to the radiator (instead of one at each end) it’s even more important that the pipe be pitched correctly.
It might be worth having a plumber come in and give it a look, see if things can be put to right. The landlord will see this as an intractable problem that is not actually worth his time. Maybe if it’s annoying enough You’ll move out and then he can get a different tenant next year. (I’ve seen this rationale in action. It’s not some new thing)
posted by From Bklyn at 12:47 PM on January 15, 2020
It might be worth having a plumber come in and give it a look, see if things can be put to right. The landlord will see this as an intractable problem that is not actually worth his time. Maybe if it’s annoying enough You’ll move out and then he can get a different tenant next year. (I’ve seen this rationale in action. It’s not some new thing)
posted by From Bklyn at 12:47 PM on January 15, 2020
On the extremely unlikely chance someone hasn't already thought of it-a partially closed radiator valve can cause this issue with steam heat. Make sure all radiator valves are fully on or off.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 3:56 PM on January 15, 2020
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 3:56 PM on January 15, 2020
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Do you have a rent stabilized lease? If so, don't worry about agitating for a repair. So if you can, the best approach is probably asking them to replace all the relief valves on each unit in the building (note this is speculative fix - I'd had it done a couple times to no real avail - I suspect the super just had a box of old ones and switched them out to make it seem like something was done).
I don't know anything about the cost/impact of turning the boiler off and on again (I suspect it's not like flipping a switch). But if you have an on-site super and get all the residents to agree and be around for it, everyone could open their radiators completely (because of the massive overheating issue with steam, people, esp on lower floors, probably crank theirs all the way shut), and maybe that could help, but socially, that seems like a long shot (I lived in a 10-unit building for six years and never saw or met the people in the other apartment on my floor).
posted by 99_ at 9:38 AM on January 15, 2020