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MET COUNCIL FACT
SHEET
Your Rights as
a Rent‑Regulated Tenant ‑ At a Glance
The New York City housing codes, state law, and federal law
all establish your right to a safe, well‑maintained, livable
apartment. Following are some of your basic rights as a
rent‑regulated tenant:
You have a right:
• To building services: heat and hot water, elevator service
(if there was an elevator in your building when you moved
in), superintendent service on a 24‑hour‑a‑day basis,
regular cleaning of hallways and common areas, proper
garbage disposal, and elimination of rats, mice, and
cockroaches. The landlord is required by law to
provide these services.
• To working appliances; if an appliance cannot be repaired,
you can have it replaced with a used one in good repair at
no charge.
• To have the landlord paint your apartment regularly (every
3 years).
• To pay for oil deliveries to your building and deduct the
cost from your rent, and to pay utility bills for public
areas of the building and deduct the cost from your rent, if
the landlord has failed to ensure an adequate fuel supply or
to pay the utility bills.
• To take the landlord to court‑either by yourself or with
other tenants in an HP Action‑if the landlord fails to
maintain the building and/or your apartment. (Changes in the
law and a landlords' "blacklist" put tenants who withhold
rent at risk. Before deciding to withhold rent to get
repairs, seek expert advice.)
• To the quiet enjoyment of your apartment. This means that
the landlord or agent must enforce your right to live
peaceably in your apartment, without interference either
from the landlord or from other tenants.
You have a right:
• To go on living in your apartment, with or without a
renewal lease, under most circumstances. If you are a
rentcontrolled tenant‑that is, if you moved into your
apartment before July 1, 1971‑you do not need a lease. If
you live in a rent‑stabilized apartment, the landlord must
offer you a renewal lease at least 120 days before your
current lease expires. If your landlord does not offer you a
renewal lease, your old lease remains in effect.
• To share your apartment with one other person not related
to you and that person's dependent children. You do not
need the landlord's permission to have a roommate, and
you do not need to inform the landlord of your roommate's
name unless the landlord requests it.
• To keep a pet that you have kept "openly and
notoriously"‑not hidden‑for at least three months without
complaint from the landlord‑even if your lease has a "no
pet" clause.
• To "inherit" the right to live in your apartment from your
husband, wife, child, stepchild, parent, stepparent, sister,
brother, step‑sister, step‑brother, grandparent, grandchild,
father‑in‑law, mother‑in‑law, son‑in‑law, daughter‑in‑law,
or "nontraditional family member" if you lived there with
that person for at least 2 years before she or he moved or
died. For senior citizens and disabled people, the time
limit is 1 year; nontraditional family members must be able
to prove that they were emotionally and financially
committed and interdependent with the tenant from whom they
are "inheriting" the apartment.
• To know the name and location of the bank where your
security deposit is kept and the amount of the deposit, and
to be paid the interest on your security deposit annually
(minus a 1% administrative fee).
You have a right:
• To belong to a tenants' association. The tenants'
association has the right to use common areas of the
building, such as the lobby, for meetings. The landlord
is forbidden by law to harass you for tenant‑organizing
activities. • To organize rent strikes. (But be sure to
get help and legal advice if you do.)
• To complain to government agencies and to protect your
rights as a tenant.
You cannot be evicted unless the landlord takes you to
court and the judge gives the landlord a warrant for your
eviction. Only a sheriff, marshal, or constable with
a warrant can carry out a court‑ordered eviction. If you
are evicted, the landlord cannot keep your personal
belongings or furniture.
For more detailed information about your rights as a tenant,
or for assistance in organizing a tenants' association,
call our Tenant hotline: 212‑979‑0611 (Mondays, Wednesdays
and Fridays 1:30‑5:00 p.m.)
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