Might want to check that "saga up to this point" link...

As a fellow resident of upstate Manhattan I heartily applaud your results.

Sometimes, even when you win, you still have so much to lose.

Is there some website which compiles a list of slumlords along with complaints in NYC? I'm moving to Manhattan in late spring and it would be nice to know to avoid certain landlords.

Link no work

Congrat's Dan! I pray you will still have reasonable housing come August.

The Heat Miser makes a return.

Dermot did something to the link.

You should call the TAPS guys from Ghosthunters, they also do rotorooter plumbing.

Why would you care if they "price you out of the apartment" in August? Why would you consider staying there? If you do stay there, I say that you shouldn't submit anymore stories here because at that point it's your fault.

@Tadowguy: ya because moving is soooooooo easy to do. Lets blame the victim some more or are you just paid by Dermot to be an asshat?

The clanking you hear is a nice accumulation of air that suddenly shoots through the pipes and creates an unholy banging at odd hours of the night. Typically a problem for leaky/unsealed steam systems or poor installs. I'll let you pick which is the more likely issue.

@sacrabos: Still? I don't think he has it *now* :p

@Woofer00: That sounds...dangerous. I don't know, I don't like the words "boiler" and "leaky/unsealed" to appear anywhere near each other. *shudder*

People are just too soft these days. Way back when I was growing up we never had hot water or heat and my family lived in a cold climate. We didn't complain when our dinner was cold just 30 seconds after coming off the stove. We didn't complain when we had to walk 5 miles to school, through snowdrifts on ground covered in broken glass -- in our bare feet no less!! No we didn't complain. We didn't play the victim. We suffered and we liked it. It built character.

Congratulations Dan! Woofer00 is probably right about the trapped air. The system probably wasn't bled properly after the install. The clanking is trapped air bubbles moving through the pipes.

Man, this is one of the reasons why I don't live in Manhattan. Overpriced rent with #$@$ service.

Um, shouldn't you wait until Dermot ACTUALLY DOES price you out or declines lease renewal before accusing them of doing it?

@hypnotik_jello: Part of the problem is that the NYC housing market is soooooooo big -- there are a near-infinite number of landlords/rental companies, so the chances that the place you're eyeing will be controlled by a person/company that someone else (besides the other residents, who are probably your single best resource for landlord info anyway) is familiar with is pretty slim. IMHO, anyway. Your mileage may vary.

Your apartment search will likely revolve around three factors: location, price, and apartment quality. Decent landlord is, for better or worse, not something that usually makes the list.

@BugMeNot2: Well, it's NYC, so moving apartments is something of a local hobby. Most of my relatively-fresh-out-of-college friends here have moved at least twice in the last three years. So yeah, it's pretty common. Moving sucks, but it's largely a fact of life unless you own a place.

I agree that if it's that bad, I'd be all about moving. But if it's a really good place (see the three factors listed above -- a cheap price, especially, can forgive a lot) I can understand the desire to stay.

*Clink/clank/whang!* Hmm, air in the lines from being unused for so long. Odds are they forgot to bleed the pipes fully before they lit it off, the lazy bums. The radiators ought to have air bleed valves on them to bleed it off. If not, poke the landlord agian.