Q: Can I withhold rent if landlord took 14 days to replace a boiler and I had no hot water or heat in December?
I live in an apartment in NYC. The boiler of the building broke and they needed to install a completely new system. The repair was constantly extended from 3 days to 6 days to 9 days to 12 and finally 14 days before it was fixed. If I have evidence of the temperatures in the apartment and evidence of no hot water, can I pro-rate the monthly rent by day and withhold it from the next rent check? What is the customary protocol for breaching warrants of habitability?
A: You cannot withhold rent without a court order. You should have called 311 for an emergency repair when it happened.
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