Q: Can I sue my landlord?
We have been living in an apartment for almost a year. In the second month of living here, the heater went out and the landlord took over 6 months to fix it, throughout the entire “heat season” in nyc we had no heat. For the past two months we withheld rent to force him to fix the problem. He is now stating he is going to evict us. He also turned off the hot water for over a month because we didn’t put the utilities in our name. We tried to do so, but the utility company said the unit was never registered as a residential unit. After finding that out, we realized that the apartment had never been listed as a residential unit, and was a commercial unit as it used to be a store front. He illegally rented us an apartment that was never inspected or approved for residential use. Now after we found that out, he’s threatening us that we have to pay his legal fees. What can I do?
A: Call "311" and have the Department of Buildings issue violations. You cannot be evicted while violations are present.
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