When you think of lead poisoning, you might think about the recent news from Flint, Michigan. The city was in the news for months after its citizens learned their water was steeped with lead. But what you might not know is that recent reports found 69 neighborhoods where New York City children suffered elevated lead levels at nearly twice Flint’s rate.
The Difference a Day Can Make
On September 11, tenant Lareese Williams asked the owners of the East New York apartment building to install railings in the apartment where his family resided. It was not the first request from the patriarch as he repeatedly requested improved safety measures. In January, the grandmother who lived with them and often cared for her grandchildren complained that the window needed repair due to it not completely closing.
New laws helping protect NYC renters with Asthma
Over 25 million individuals in the United States suffer from Asthma, a common lung disease that causes a person to experience difficulties breathing. Unfortunately, for many people, the quality of their apartments is making their Asthma symptoms even worse.
Lead poisoning: A hidden hazard for unwary New York renters
How many apartments in New York carry the threat of possible lead exposure to occupants? No one has a solid number. What we do know, because the city recently admitted as much, is that at least 820 young children living in units controlled by the public Housing Authority tested positive for lead in their blood between 2012 and 2016. We also know that the presumption under law is that any building in the city built before 1960 had lead paint, and a major portion of local housing fits that description.
Renter safety is a landlord's obligation
The news has been filled lately with sad stories of death and injury due to fires in rental housing in New York. One story making headlines involves a Buffalo family that lost three of its members, including an 8-year-old girl, in a 2016 house fire. Loved ones sued the Brooklyn-based landlord for negligence and won a default judgment now worth $5.4 million. According to The Buffalo News, they're still waiting payment.
3 tenant rights you might not have known you had
If you are a tenant in the Big Apple, there are several rights that you have. These rights can vary from city to city and state to state, so it's up to the tenant to know his or her rights and the responsibilities of the landlord. Below, you will find three rights that you have as a tenant:
What should you do to address a landlord-tenant dispute?
Your living situation is an incredibly important part of your life, obviously. Everyone expects a peaceful, warming and welcoming home to live in. So when a landlord fails to live up to his or her standards thus putting the tenants at risk, it is no wonder that the people living in the building get upset and assert their rights.
Criminal charges filed against landlord and accomplices in East Village gas explosion
New York City residents likely remember seeing images of the aftermath of a gas explosion that rocked the city's East Village neighborhood last March. As a result of the explosion and fire, two people died and dozens more were injured and lost their homes when the building went up in flames. Nearly one year later, the individuals responsible for causing the dangerous conditions which led to the explosion have been formally charged.
Why are so many rent-controlled buildings and units falling into disrepair?
Residents of New York City are all too familiar with the rising costs of living in the city. Among the most expensive of all living costs are those related to renting an apartment. According to an April article in Time Out Magazine New York, today a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan rents for an average of $3,100 per month.
Revisiting the 2010 Brooklyn apartment building fire that killed 5, injured 1
In New York City, space is in high demand and landlords readily exploit every opportunity to attract more tenants and increase rent prices. Some landlords have even gone so far as to illegally section off portions of an apartment to create additional living spaces that they then rent out as single units. The practice is not only illegal, but also extremely dangerous as these illegally partitioned units don't comply with legal safety codes and often don't allow tenants access to emergency exits.
