A few days ago I noticed the stove (gas fueled) wasn't working so I submit a request to fix it via our online portal, minutes later my landlord calls me trying to help eventually after discussion about the pilot, he asks me whose name is the gas bill in. I answer none of ours because it is included in our rent we (I have 2 roommates) and we were informed when viewing the apartment as well as by the management company rep that gas was included in our rent.
It is not specified in our lease that gas is to be put in our name and paid for by us, the only utility we were informed that we would have to pay is electric(Con Edison), however the landlord's point is that there is a welcome sheet (not the lease) stating that we will need to sign up for utilities with National Grid(gas) Con Edison (Electric) Time Warner (Cable) Verizon (internet) upon move in which we currently only have 1 of those services (electric) and have other companies for internet/cable.
The lease is incomplete with regards to some of the utility responsibility, however it does say that WE are responsible for hot water. I call him back the next morning because the hot water isn't working as well and resetting the circuit breaker didn't work so he begins to say he'll have someone fix it and tells me to take a picture in order to get the service/unit number. I then explain to him that there is a gas line from the hot water heater to the wall his reply is "oh shit" neither of us knew it was gas powdered even though it does plug into the wall (outlet). This is where the trouble starts he finds out that the gas for our apartment hasn't been paid for 7 months and begins to blame us. Eventually he offers to pay 25% of the bill which he claims he doesn't know that balance of if we agree to pay the other 75% and put one of our names on the account, and again he claims that he can't access the account in order to figure out the balance yet he's the one that set it up in the first place, not to mention the fact that while on the phone with me told me that it makes sense that there's a 7 month gas bill because something has affected his credit and he lets me know that the gas bill has gone into collections. Essentially we are legally responsible for hot water but not (according to the lease) responsible for what he calls "cooking gas". Gas fuels the water heater however cooking gas is not a necessity, the option to have cooking gas is dependent upon the tenant's discretion to use the stove to COOK (IF it is a gas powered range).. If we had known (or HE had known) that the water heater was gas powdered surely we would have initiated an account prior to moving in.
Yes he has agreed to cover a portion of it but are we on the hook for the total bill? He claims its not his responsibility and that we chose to ignore the welcome letter and "here we are" with no hot water I would just like advice on this situation although I have already spoken to an attorney and filed a HPD complaint for lack of hot water here in Brooklyn
Submitted January 13, 2017 at 03:50AM by Jahmal482 http://ift.tt/2jeMV7o
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