You cannot exceed the legal rent plus the vacancy increase. So if before you the legal rent was $2k and the vacancy/renewal guideline applicable was 3%, your rent could not be more than $2,060 (plus presumably the small one-time fraction of the renovations, if they applied to DHCR and got an increase for it). Even if the last tenant was paying $1k as a preferential rent, the legal rent is what matters for vacancy lease increase. If you reviewed the history and they increased the legal rent post 2019 HSTPA more than the allowable guidelines then yes absolutely file a rent overcharge with DHCR (NYSHCR is what they are called these days).

So contrary to what you might expect, if you’re in a newer building that’s fully sprinklered and “fireproof” they wouldn’t evacuate you 2 floors down and there wouldn’t be alarms going off on your floor. The sprinkler systems in newer constructions are connected to a panel that’s in the lobby and dispatches to a central station. Smoke/heat and abnormal conditions trigger the panel at the specific locations where it occur. Concurrently if there is an actual fire or enough heat near a sprinkler head, it will go off near the location. In this case, FDNY was likely dispatched to the floor where the actual fire occurred. FDNY takes over in emergency situations and determines who to evacuate. You should have a notice posted on your door called a fire safety notice (if you don’t and you didn’t remove it, then yes, that’s violation #1 for your landlord: this notice would tell you if you’re in a non combustible building which usually says you’re good for 2 hours) TLDR; unless the fire or smoke is near you it’s safer to stay put in a non combustible building and there wouldn’t be an alarm triggered near you without heat or smoke. FDNY is who determines who to evacuate when they respond to fire.

Not to say that your landlord isn’t necessarily trying to screw you over, however you have to realize the following challenges with “patch repairs”- 1. Some flooring supply is no longer made so they’d have to replace the whole thing so everything matches 2. If hardwood floor and they just patch the area that was damaged, they still need to sand and stain the entire apt to match. So just because it might be an area of the floor that was affected, unless it’s a relatively new construction or renovation where the floor stock is still available so the vendor can just replace that particular area, then often times it actually does require replacing the entire floor.

I love dogs more than people but even if you had an elderly or sickly dog you could have been a responsible adult and pet owner and cleaned up promptly or properly protected your floors. I had a dog with kidney issues for the last 6 years of her life and put padding in place for the mattresses and floors to avoid this exact thing. There are plenty of people who legitimately are taken advantage of by shitty landlords, but you are just someone who is not realizing how disgustingly you treated your home.

Did you ask the building if you have the option of brining it down yourself at the appropriate garbage night via the fright elevator to avoid the disposal fee?

Don’t know why you got downvoted for this. I could understand if this wasn’t an NYC subreddit where most people are used to relying on cars and a walk would be something they’d never do! It’s like 20 minutes and it’s beautiful outside! And also helps work off some of the carbs (since both the pastries and the sandwiches are a must-try!).

As I see it, it doesn’t hurt to ask for a reduction in rent due to the change (probably won’t grant it but who knows). Also are they not letting you out of your lease? If you ask and they say no you can potentially say you chose the place for central air and would really like them to restore it- if they cannot, would they consider letting you out of our lease with no penalty to find a place with central AC? But if it doesn’t bother you enough to leave then I suppose this post is a moot point because as you mentioned, AC is not guaranteed in your lease so the owner can change/remove it as they wish.

It does not take years when there are no provisions in the lease requiring the landlord to provide AC. If the tenant stops paying rent for an illegitimate reason they will ultimately lose in court and have arrears sent to collections which affects your credit score. This is horrible advice for this particular situation.

I would say that I’ve noticed for myself and others with nparents that we tend to doubt ourselves because we were so controlled and told we were wrong most of our childhoods. Looking at the facts you presented, it seems like your sister is trying to pull something weird with the house. I’d find ways to avoid her staying there all together, possibly at the cost of her not agreeing to the cremation. Would that possibly be the lesser of 2 evils of what could go wrong if she refuses to leave the house?

Almost always from nausea and about 60% of the time because the migraine becomes so severe, from the pain. The nausea ones if I catch early I can stave off with meds for the rest of the day. The pain ones mean I’m just at the point where it’s going to be a long road ahead of puking and head throbbing and my body feeling like it’s on fire and then eventually after hours I’m able to take like a Benadryl for some relief and when I wake up can take my cocktail of meds to get through the day.

There are a number of possibilities; no one here is actually going to know the answer.

Could be leasing continuing to lease despite a limited budget or mgmt who has no intention of doing these repairs or 2-3 other possibilities (none of which are ideal for you but just saying); 1. They sent you a pic of the grill at 450, do you have an onsite maintenance team/front desk, can you follow up in person with one of them or back to your email and say “its not getting to 450 for me despite my efforts, is someone available from the maintenance team to show me how to get the grill working?” If the mgr thinks it’s working they are not working on buying a new one. 2. You can write back to the emaill and ask if they’ve ordered a new grill while reminding them they both still aren’t working (good quality grills for rooftops sometimes have 4-6 week lead time). 3. And you can do this along with items 1 and 2- if they are going radio silent on you if you’re asking direct questions above, you and your neighbors should start looping in managers/corporate after giving them about 4-5 generous business days to respond.

Disclaimer: all of this might not work- your mgmt might be incompetent or your ownership might be running really lean and not approving new grills. Most leases allow for buildings to add/remove these types of things at their amenities as they please (unless you’re paying an amenity fee to access this particular area?) so you might be SOL

I know this was humiliating but this literally made me LOL because I can totally see this happening to me. I’m always terrified in yoga that my body is going to get a bit too relaxed lol.

I would maybe have the high value treats in the bathroom for now. Keep her comfortable there and once she gets a little more at ease move the treats throughout the house until she eases back into all the rooms. Maybe also keep the shade closed if you have one at the window where it happened.

Gosh I’m sorry. I hope the gastro has some other options for you. IIRC there were a few other meds like linzess my gastro had offered at the time before lactulose ended up working for me. I know how awful it is to be constipated for days and then the terrible cramping and nightmare that follows when you can finally actually go to the bathroom. And it’s usually something we all have to deal with while living our normal lives (and it makes me just want to curl up into a ball until it’s over).

Have you tried miralax or lactulose? Lactulose really did the trick for me and you can adjust how much you need (it’s a syrup). Also when you say a decent amount of fiber did you go over how much with your specialist? I thought I was eating a decent amount until I saw a motility specialist after dealing with constipation for 2 years and I’ve seen incorporated a TON more which has helped- snacking on prunes, half a sweet potato with skin on, smoothies in the morning with chia and flax. Linzess similarly didn’t work for me. It was still many days not going and then just Diahhrea; no regularity.

Same here. Migraines since 5th grade that my parents didn’t get treated. Obviously the ped neuro can advise on meds, but the following things helped me get through it as a kid- Entirely dark room when needed (blackout curtains not even light from an alarm clock) and a cold rag on forehead or back of neck Those migraine head patches that are minty and cool for head and neck Sometimes getting in bath and shower and alternating hot/cold water Be weary of hot weather. My worst migraine memories as a kid were on day trips or sports events when it was hot and they hit my like a ton of bricks; make sure he is extra hydrated, maybe wears a hat and can try to stay in the shade if heat is a trigger for him. My mom used to rub my temple/side of my head. That would help me get to sleep.

They should take over the old Urban Outfitters space.

I’ve been tipping 20% post-tax for the last 17 years. Back to when I could only afford to go out for a special occasion or two, because I’m aware of how the industry works and while it may be backwards, I want to make sure my server is paid appropriately for their work when I’m contributing to the business. Post-Covid I’ve been rounding to about 22% for inflation. With that being said, you under tipped about $7- and since you spent that amount of money on 4 people this wasn’t a high fine dining establishment where the server needed to be on their high horse about service so it was clearly to shame you about the tip. That’s so fucked up and tacky and I’d never go back and I certainly wouldn’t have added $10 to the tip.

If I am very on top of my diet I can get ahead of my constipation most months. There are times it will catch up to me no matter what and I have no choice to go the miralax/lactulose route.

Otherwise, my gastro specialist informed me HOW much fruit and veggies you truly need for a good amount of fiber. It’s more than you think. Staying super hydrated. Keeping active. So for diet, every day with dinner I will make sure to have a vegetable like grilled zucchini or sautéed spinach/kale, etc. For lunch I would have half a baked plain sweet potato with the skin on. For breakfast I have smoothies and I put ginger, chia and flax in it (and then half an apple along with some frozen berries, almond milk or macadamia milk and some baby spinach). I also add aloe from my plant or sea moss in it at times. I also snack on prunes when I get hungry during the day. Even 20 minutes of exercise like yoga or a stationary bike ride has also helped “keep things moving.” Hopefully some of this will help for you. Assuming you can tolerate the foods above.

I think the OP and this post actually brings up a harsh truth underneath the glitz and excitement and “living your dreams” that a lot of people want to believe about NYC. If you’re just living your life getting by here as most of us are, we’re one change away from it all falling apart (ie job loss, health issue, housing situation changes). Unless you start out with a leg-up here, it’s so hard to afford life and save on top of that. And a lot of people’s time here is temporary. Anyone middle class and below needs to be taking any opportunity while they are young and able bodied to make/save/invest as much as they can to have a plan for themselves to be their own landlord or retire elsewhere or amass enough wealth to live comfortably if they want to be in NYC forever. It’s especially sad for NYers who were born here, go to school and get a job let’s say making $60k/year as a teacher. Does that person not deserve to live in NY for the rest of their lives?

There is NO level of drunk or high I or my spouse could ever be to use that word. Simply because it’s not in our vocabulary and we’re not racist. So him being drunk is not an excuse; it goes to show that it’s a word and thought that your fiancée uses. As someone who is not black, that would be unacceptable for me. For you and your family, I applaud your father for not whopping his ass. RUN. The fact that he didn’t even apologize afterwards. What a piece of scum. There’s nothing he can possibly offer that would make up for that kind of bigotry and hate in my mind.

You need to give yourself a reason. Even if it’s something small but “frivolous.” When I had time on my hands but was unmotivated to leave my room due to depression I bought a cute bike and that got me out of the apartment. Would bike around Brooklyn and go to Prospect Park. In the winter I would find a cute bar in Brooklyn and grab a cocktail by myself or maybe make an effort to leave the house to buy one nice thing for myself- a book or a coffee mug, something small as I didn’t have much money at the time. I didn’t really have it in me to go to social activities although obviously that would be the best route; a league or fitness classes or a group related to an interest you have. Now I don’t have much time on my hands but it gets depressing to only work sleep and repeat. So walking by the waterfront for 15 minutes or going to a yoga class or even going somewhere other than my usual place for grocery or clothing shopping (I purposely don’t shop online whenever possible) are the little things I’m able to do for myself to get out of the house.

OP our dog has this exact problem. Our trainer suggested giving treats but now it seems it’s either had no effect or has encouraged her to bark/lunge more to get treats. She simply doesn’t understand we don’t want her to bark/lunge when guests get up or move around (she’s relatively relaxed when they are sitting and has gotten to the point where she allows them to pet her and plays in front of them etc). Can you please explain how you are distracting and marking if you don’t mind?

So I am not wheelchair dependent but I have thought about your question a lot over the years due to the following considerations- 1. I’m a property manager for many years of different building classes in Brooklyn/NYC 2. My brother grew up here blind and with developmental disabilities so he was dependent on access-a-ride and aides for 30 years here 3. I have issues with migraines/neck and I have difficulty opening doors and mobility often.

With that said, I cannot imagine how anyone in your situation would “make it” here and I feel awful that a city that’s supposed to be one of the greatest in the world isn’t more cognizant of disability in their design.

First of all, you would have to live in an expensive new construction building (unless you qualify and get selected for the affordable housing lottery) with an elevator AND still be on a low floor because elevators are bound to go down every once in a while (at least 2x a year for testing). You’d still be dealing with so many manual doors. Or otherwise find a private home in one of the boroughs that is accessible. Secondly, navigating the sidewalks would be difficult- there are curb cuts and they are redoing them in HCOL areas but so many things are often blocked by construction or assholes and there’s just so many people to navigate. The subways barely have accessible stations and the elevators are poorly maintained; I would bet on relying on access-a-ride instead. If you can be flexible with your schedule, they are a great service but can often be late and traffic sucks so that’s the only issue there. The doors to most businesses are so heavy and most don’t have handicap push buttons, very few have ramps or lifts, and a lot of “cutesy” businesses in Brooklyn or the village have stairs or are teeny tiny and packed to the brim and you can barely get around in them walking. With that said, it’s not impossible. If it’s your dream you shouldn’t let anything hold you back. Just account for what myself and others are sharing here.

I did have one Tenant who was wheelchair dependent in a luxury building who was young seemingly navigate a “normal” life with a job. She chose the building because she worked within a few blocks so she did not have to rely on public transportation. I think they also had their own car to travel and get out of the city when they wanted to. Also, she had a very supportive partner and I think that made a huge difference in him advocating for her and assisting with her getting around. I will say that it was a new construction that ended up having intermittent elevator issues to the point where we had to get a device to carry her down the stairs. I felt terrible for that (they lived on like the 15th or 20th floor). So even with the best laid plans, she still encountered difficulty beyond their control.

I completely feel you. I feel like I haven’t caught a break since really 2019. Since I’m more or less stuck in the city and the beach/sound of waves makes me happy, I usually go to the waterfront. Dumbo, Williamsburg and Greenpoint have beautiful views but can get very packed with tourists so I bike ride when I can to Red Hook Valentino Pier and then go to the pier a few blocks beyond that near Fairway or Wegman’s I believe it is. There are a few nice places to walk and green areas there and nice views.

Sorry maybe I meant to say I assumed I was doing it the intuitive way and I didn’t realize most people would take a different approach. I fully intend to keep my “backwards” system going lol. Husband posted this here because we both found it so fascinating that there seemed to be 2 general mindsets (green=go/red=stop) and (red=action required/green=task completed). Seems now there’s a 3rd camp of left to right which makes a lot of sense too! So I’m loving this whole “debate”…