Landlord raising rent. 3 months with NO cooking gas and broken laundry. Renewal deadline is days away. Advice?
Hi everyone, looking for some advice, I live in the UES in a semi-basement apartment. On March 1st, our building had a major gas leak, and we haven’t had cooking gas since. The landlord gave me a 3% rent credit for April and a 20% credit for May. They are currently working on the pipes, but there is no estimated completion date. Because of the leak, my in-unit laundry is also completely broken.
Back on March 25th, they sent me a lease renewal with a $100 increase (going from $2,200 to $2,300). The paperwork says if I don't return the signed lease within two months of receiving it, I will face automatic eviction. That deadline is coming up in just a few days.
Today, I texted the landlord’s assistant (who has always been my point of contact; I've never actually met or spoken to the landlord). I asked if we could keep the rent at $2,200 given the lack of gas and laundry. I also mentioned a few ongoing issues I usually just deal with on my own—like lack of sunlight, no kitchen exhaust, hearing the upstairs neighbor's pipes constantly (everytime when they flush the toilet), and the bug issues during summertime (roaches, centipedes, spiders) that I usually just handle with bug spray.
The assistant replied: "Hi. All lease negotiations need to go through the landlord directly. While he is generally amenable to such requests, given the financial burden he's been under as well, he hasn't been so receptive at this time and has denied other requests. You can certainly try. Just want you to be prepared for a not so favorable response."
I reached out to the landlord directly after getting that text, but I haven't heard back yet.
I really don't want to sign a lease with a rent increase for an apartment that doesn't even have functional gas or laundry right now, but the clock is ticking on my renewal deadline and I'm anxious of the "automatic eviction" clause.
What should my next steps be? Do I have any leverage here under the Warranty of Habitability in NYC? Should I sign the lease just to protect myself and fight the increase later? PLS HELP