Cold apartment? Landlords are obligated to keep the heat up
CANTON — Heat is an undoubtedly necessary commodity in the north country, and with many aging homes, tenants can often find themselves in frustrating and occasionally dangerous situations when landlords can’t, or won’t, keep the temperature up.
State law requires that landlords ensure units can be kept at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit. While in many cases that’s not an issue, code enforcement officers say they often are dispatched to check out frigid dwellings.
“Our goal is to achieve compliance in one way, shape or form,” Watertown Code Enforcement Officer Carolyn Meunir said. “First of all you look at the safety aspects.”
Generally, Ms. Meunir said, many of the units she gets calls about are older dwellings prone to drafty windows, aged insulation, and poor ventilation, all things that are difficult if not impossible for landlords to fix in the immediacy. What she does sometimes find that is remediable are run down inefficient heating systems, usually accompanied by landlords who have put off replacing them.
“That we can certainly make them do something about,” Ms. Menuir said. “But if it’s just a case of an older house that’s drafty, we just ask that they come to some type of understanding or agreement between them.”
The Village of Potsdam Code Enforcement Officer, Lisa Newby, said she hasn’t dealt with too many complaints about heat, but when she does, the cases can usually be resolved. While tenants do have the ability to file complaints with the state and legally withhold rent, she said things rarely go to court.
“I’ve never had it go that far,” Ms. Newby said. “Usually the landlords, once we become involved, aren’t aware that the heat is off or not staying steady. That sort of thing. So once we reach out to them, they’re more than willing to comply because they know it is a law.”
Such was the case last month after Village Trustee Alexandra Jacobs-Wilke voiced at a board meeting that some constituents had approached her after temperatures dipped and said they were having trouble heating their apartment.
“One person told me they were using their oven to heat the apartment out of desperation, very scary and dangerous obviously,” Mrs. Jacobs-Wilke said.
While Ms. Newby said that case was addressed, both her and Ms. Meunir said they’ve run into instances where tenants are simply trying to get their landlords in trouble or avoid paying rent.
“We’ve had calls where someone was just trying to get their landlord in trouble. We got there and they had all their windows open,” Ms. Meunir said laughing. “We do have to be aware of what goes on.”
Source: nny360.com
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