The warrant of habitability is implied in every lease agreement. It requires your landlord to keep the premises in a safe, livable and sanitary condition. This may require your landlord to correct certain conditions in your apartment or may bring a proceeding against your landlord for a reduction in rent. Tenants may also file a rent reduction complaint with the Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR). The warrant of habitability also requires landlords to rid an apartment of insect infestations. Landlords are legally required to get rid of bed bugs in your apartment within 30 days. You landlord must also cover the cost of extermination.
Under the NYC Administrative Code, landlords are required to notify prospective tenants in writing of any bed bug infestations that have occurred in their building in the past year. The NYC Administrative Code §27-2018.1 provides:
ONE
Notice of bedbug infestation history: For housing accommodations subject to this code, an owner shall furnish to each tenant signing a vacancy lease, a notice in a form promulgated or approved by the state division of housing and community renewal that sets forth the property’s bedbug infestation history for the previous year regarding the premises rented by the tenant and the building in which the premises are located
TWO
Upon written complaint, in a form promulgated or approved by the division of housing and community renewal, by the tenant that he or she was not furnished with a copy of the notice required pursuant to subdivision a of this section, the division of housing and community renewal shall order the owner to furnish the notice
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