For a decade, the residents of 2201-05 Davidson Avenue in the Bronx have endured perpetual leaks, caving ceilings, cockroach infestations, rotting floors, and mysterious cracks in the walls, all while fighting their landlord for basic maintenance.
That’s fair, yeah. Though I must admit that my expectations of buildings in the Bronx are pretty low, based on friends who’ve lived up there. Even in University Heights, it’s a different world - literally one stop into Manhattan is an improvement.
Then again, some of the nicest buildings in NYC have roach & rat problems. It’s an issue when you have that many people, that much water, that much food, and so many connections. You can’t even properly quarantine a building that’s roach-infested. The little bastards escape into the sewers, the phone lines, the power lines, even sometimes directly into the subway! But, it sounds to me like it’s basically an old building with a lot of bad pipework. I wish them luck finding the right plumbing company for the job. If it’s bad enough, they might find out that the reason for a lack of maintenance is the massive cost involved.
Same here in San Francisco. I worked with some tenants who were in the process of buying their building, and they didn’t believe me when I told them it takes an average of 3 percent of the building’s value per year to maintain it, and do safety replacements and upgrades.
As the building’s value goes up, and so do the maintenance costs, because contractors gotta live somewhere.
So you really don’t save any money by putting off maintenance, and raising HOA fees to keep up with maintenance costs and insurance is a good and necessary thing.
And then there’s deferred maintenance: Old roofs, siding, plumbing, and electrical systems that are about to fail need to be replaced in their entirety just to keep the building standing.
This particular property also had a massive retaining wall that looked like it was in bad shape too.
Even with all that, home ownership is still better than throwing your money away on paying rent.
Another unrelated person here. I’d guess they were saying that rent control makes it less feasible to have a livable location. Or that the landlord was intentionally trying to drive them out so they could raise the rent on me tenants.
I’d take the city’s bullshit over this personally
That’s fair, yeah. Though I must admit that my expectations of buildings in the Bronx are pretty low, based on friends who’ve lived up there. Even in University Heights, it’s a different world - literally one stop into Manhattan is an improvement.
Then again, some of the nicest buildings in NYC have roach & rat problems. It’s an issue when you have that many people, that much water, that much food, and so many connections. You can’t even properly quarantine a building that’s roach-infested. The little bastards escape into the sewers, the phone lines, the power lines, even sometimes directly into the subway! But, it sounds to me like it’s basically an old building with a lot of bad pipework. I wish them luck finding the right plumbing company for the job. If it’s bad enough, they might find out that the reason for a lack of maintenance is the massive cost involved.
Same here in San Francisco. I worked with some tenants who were in the process of buying their building, and they didn’t believe me when I told them it takes an average of 3 percent of the building’s value per year to maintain it, and do safety replacements and upgrades.
As the building’s value goes up, and so do the maintenance costs, because contractors gotta live somewhere.
So you really don’t save any money by putting off maintenance, and raising HOA fees to keep up with maintenance costs and insurance is a good and necessary thing.
And then there’s deferred maintenance: Old roofs, siding, plumbing, and electrical systems that are about to fail need to be replaced in their entirety just to keep the building standing.
This particular property also had a massive retaining wall that looked like it was in bad shape too.
Even with all that, home ownership is still better than throwing your money away on paying rent.
But only if you can afford it.
Good luck, NYC Tenants!
With the exception of the leaks, it sounds just like my first apartment.
I bet rent control plays a role in this situation.
Sorry, could you help me understand what you mean? I barely know what rent control even means.
Either a rent ceiling for a given size, or max % of a raise per year
So, then, what would they have meant by saying rent control probably plays a part in this situation?
Not that you are that person, of course. They just haven’t responded yet.
Another unrelated person here. I’d guess they were saying that rent control makes it less feasible to have a livable location. Or that the landlord was intentionally trying to drive them out so they could raise the rent on me tenants.
That’s correct. In New York there is no incentive for the landlord to maintain the buildings when they can make more money when the tenant vacates.