Tenant Resources
Buyout Calculator
Our Buyout Calculator will help you to evaluate buyout offers from your landlord. It's also handy to figure out what you can afford if you move out of your current apartment.
Government Agencies
NYC.gov
www.nyc.gov
The entire city government and all city agencies are just one click away. . . . For starters, check out:
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Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD)
http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/home.html
100 Gold Street, New York, NY 10038
Find who is true owner of the building, check housing code violations, report violations.
Department of Buildings
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/home.html
60 Hudson Street, Manhattan
File/check for violations and complaints and see if work permits are on file.
Department of Sanitation
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dos/home.html
Get information on sanitation and recycling. File complaints for sanitation and recycling violations.
Department of Environmental Protection
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/home.html
59-17 Junction Boulevard, 10th Floor, Flushing, NY 11373
For concerns or complaints regarding water, air, noise, sewer, industrial wastes, hazardous materials, or water meter problems, call 3-1-1 or email the commissioner: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildep.html.
Division of Housing and Community Renewal
http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/ora/ora.htm
25 Beaver Street, New York 10004 (Phone: 1-866-275-3427)
The DHCR administers the rent regulation process. On DHCR's website, you can get fact sheets and all of the forms you need to request information and file complaints.
Rent Guidelines Board
www.housingnyc.com
51 Chambers Street, Suite 202. New York 10007 (Phone: 212-385-2934)
Offers research reports, information on rent guidelines, and various publications from the DHCR, Housing Maintenance Code, and Attorney General You can send your housing questions to staff by email.
HPD-Authorized Inspections
Neighborhood Preservation Consultants
http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/owners/npcs.shtml
HPD maintains a list of not-for-profit Neighborhood Preservation Consultants who provide early intervention, preservation and anti-abandonment. For details, visit http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/owners/npcs.shtml
Tenant Rights Information
Tenant Net
www.tenant.net
Residential Tenants Rights information, advice and advocacy for tenants from New York. You can do keyword searches to find housing court cases and articles about landlord-tenant issues.
Metropolitan Council on Housing
http://metcouncil.net/
339 Lafayette Street, #301, New York 10012 (Phone: 212-979-0611)
The Met Council is a city-wide membership tenant organization for more than thirty years. Met Council's monthly newspaper Tenant/Inquilino, covers a broad array of topics of interest to tenants.
Cooper Square Committee
http://www.coopersquare.org
Cooper Square Committee's primary service area is from 14th Street to Delancey Street and from 3rd Avenue to the East River. The organization actively supports the Shalom Tenants Alliance and serves as our fiscal conduit (which allows us to receive grants).
Housing Here and Now
http://www.housinghereandnow.org
Housing Here and Now is a "new and feisty coalition of affordable housing groups, labor unions, AIDS activists, churches and community groups [that] have joined together to seize the opportunity presented by a Mayoral election year to demand that our city leaders guarantee housing for ALL New Yorkers."
Tenants & Neighbors
www.tenantsandneighbors.org
New York State's largest tenants' rights organization.
Rent Wars
http://www.rentwars.com/
Rent Wars is a website and TV show that chronicles the travails of tenants who live in buildings owned and operated by Slumlords. It hopes to educate tenants as to their rights. Weekly at 6pm every Sunday, Time Warner Ch. 67, RCN Ch. 110. Without converter: Time Warner Ch. 16, RCN Ch. 110.
Laws
NY State Multiple Dwellling Law
http://www.tenant.net/Other_Laws/MDL/mdltoc.html
Probably the most important set of regulations for New York tenants!
NYC Housing Maintenance Code
http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/hmc/hmc.html
Housing regulations specific to New York City; overlaps Multiple Dwelling Law, but with some notable differences.
NYC Building Code
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/reference/code_internet.shtml
Construction regulations.
Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997
http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/reform.html
Rent stabilization laws.
Rent Law of 2003
http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/renewal2003.html
Amendment to various rent laws.
Legal Resources
Tenant’s Rights Guide
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/realestate/tenants_rights_guide.html
General overview of tenants’ rights from the Office of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The guide is also available from the Attorney General’s office: 120 Broadway, New York 10271 (phone: 212-416-8000).
Rent Law
http://www.rentlaw.com/newyorkrentlaw.htm
Various legal resources for New York tenants.
Consumer Law Help Manual: Landlord-Tenant Laws
http://www.consumer.state.ny.us/clahm/Clahm-Landlords.htm
The Consumer Law Manual addresses the most common consumer questions regularly presented to New York's consumer advocates.
Federal Trade Commission: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm
"It is the purpose of this title to eliminate abusive debt collection practices by debt collectors, to insure that those debt collectors who refrain from using abusive debt collection practices are not competitively disadvantaged, and to promote consistent State action to protect consumers against debt collection abuses."
Free Legal Advice Online
All of these sites allow you to search for info on legal matters or post your questions and get free advice from attorneys:
Nolo: http://www.nolo.com/
Law Guru: http://www.lawguru.com/
FindLaw: http://www.findlaw.com/
FreeAdvice: http://freeadvice.com/
Law Street: http://www.lawstreet.com/
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