Getting Screwed By Your Landlord? 5 Things You Can Do To Fight Back

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Tenants at 80 New York Ave. in Crown Heights haven't had heat for two winters after Gold Management illegally removed the central boiler from their building in 2015.

The owner of the building, Chananya Gold, and the company's attorney, Arun Perinbasekar, have failed to answer Patch's questions for four days in a row about why an 80-year-old woman in the building has had to suffer through two winters when temperatures have reached single digits with no heat.

SEE ALSO:

• Crown Heights Tenants Say They Haven't Had Heat For 2 Years
• Battle For Heat In Crown Heights Apartments 'Grinding, Slow,' Attorney Says
• Mom Whose Landlord Cut Off Heat Can't Host Christmas, Thanksgiving Anymore

While we wait to hear back from them, here's a list of things you can do if you find yourself in a similar situation.

Call 311

Here is a list of things your landlord has to do for you. The city's 311 line is your most basic avenue for reporting issues and possible violations in your building. Keep your case number, the city's public advocate's office says, and encourage other tenants in your building to report the issue, too.

Create A Tenants Association In Your Building

Housing law allows tenants to meet in a public space in the building and advertise the meeting with flyers and posters in the building. Tenants can have a stronger impact when they work together.

Go To Housing Court

If you have to take legal action, housing court can order owners to let you back into your apartment or restore services that are required by law, such as heat. (As we've seen in the case of 80 New York Ave., though, that process isn't always so fast.) If you do go that route...

Get Legal Assistance

The city has put together a list of groups that provide free or inexpensive legal advice for tenants who believe they are being harassed or denied basic services. Click here to see that list.

Join A Larger Tenants Organization

These groups can provide resources and offer help to people having landlord issues. The city's public advocate's office has put together a list here. There are also lots of neighborhood-specific ones, such as the Crown Heights Tenants Union, which is helping the tenants at 80 New York Ave.

Image via Naomi Dann