Friends,
I've been navigating an intensely stressful situation with my home — and my ability to remain in it — created and prolonged by my landlord. Despite my consistent good faith and due diligence to bring resolution, I’ve been met only with obstruction and bad faith. The problem began over a decade ago. Now, post-pandemic, I can see the drastic toll it has taken — on my ability to work and earn a living, on my career, on my health, and even on my reputation.
For years, I’ve been forced to live in a state of constant damage control just to stay in my home. The burden has been flipped onto me, and the pressure — unresolved and unrelenting — has snowballed to behemoth proportions in terms of its impact on my life. It’s from this place — not of failure, but as they say, “the only way out is through” — that I ask for support from my community.
the etiology: In 2013 a giant industrial exhaust fan was placed on the roof directly above my home where I've lived & worked for 30 years.
I live and work here. This fan is a documented nuisance with multiple noise violations from the DEP, and finally a Dept of Buildings violation confirming structurally the unit is improperly installed. Not only the noise, but the vibrations, and when I say it was banging on my ceiling, I mean BANGING ON MY CEILING. 24 hrs a day. What I had to do to get that violation was: go to the Dept of Buildings and buy the permit plans the thing was installed under. Despite the numerous noise violations from the DEP the landlord rented the space to the next tenant with zero improvements.
This was an emergency as when this new restaurant was operating this equipment,
I had to leave my home as I was having some kind of seizures or panic attacks. So daily when the restaurant was open and machine was on, I had to go out of my home.
As it affects me only, this makes it more difficult to be taken seriously, by agencies and elected officials, as these things go with landlords and tenants. and when I say there is no real paradigm for this, and no appropriate enforcement, a unique rabbit hole for which I know I'm not the only one facing such an issue. Much of the problem, aside from the uncooperative Landlord, is the lack of enforcement and code. HRC calls noise "de minimis". There is no vibration code in the DOB. There's no noise code for HPD. The Cease and Desist process from the DEP took three years. Neck and neck with the first business's closure. The machine was so loud sometimes that I had to listen to movies on headphones. Currently the machine is off. However there is nothing preventing my landlord from renting to the next tenant. There is an outstanding violation and despite me being in court, my cases against the landlord, most of the ongoing conferences are spent indulging whatever red herring the landlord's attorney decides to throw into the conversation, distracting the judge and making it difficult for me to say my bit in the court. I am pro se and it's really not a fair fight. THERE ARE NO FREE LAWYERS. There is legal advice, and, it takes great effort to find this and arrange this. I need an attorney. I need to come up with back rent. I need to move. I need to fight. I have a harassment case against my landlord. If I lose I'll have to pay their legal fees. Endless skulduggery from landlord. I need to go forward . The best I know how. Having an attorney would be a big help. I need protection from these morally bereft landlord who when you say "please fix this it's hurting me" ignores me. They even brought a frivolous court case against me. basically "oh, you don't like the machine banging on our ceiling, well we're going to forcibly show you the door". I'm in a position to "settle", that does not really give me much peace of mind going forward, that this landlord will not continue with their harmful actions. It's very complicated
My career has suffered from this and so has my health.
I really need support beyond what I can myself manifest at this point so i can go forward and retain an attorney or be in a better position to negotiate. It really comes down to having the funds.
basically endless "frustration of purpose".
thank you
please see updates for images
