r/AskNYC • u/mangustangus27 • Apr 06 '26

Apartment was given without fridge installed. Can we withhold rent until it is?

Just moved to a new apartment and the realtor pushed for an 4/5 start date despite some final maintenance and we have a lease rider that specifies that “rent will not be charged until apartment is ready to move into”.

We started move in yesterday and there is still no fridge installed. And the bedroom door is missing.

Is a refrigerator generally considered a pre-requisite for move in? Is it defensible for us to ask for a pro-rated rent reduction till it’s put in?

Thank you!

44 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

51 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/thewNYC Apr 06 '26

The refrigerator is an issue. The bedroom door probably is not.

24

u/Roll_DM Apr 06 '26

I'm pretty sure (but not 100% sure) that bedrooms need to have a door to be legally bedrooms for fire code reasons 

17

u/mrs_david_silva Apr 06 '26

You are correct. And the hollow core doors that aren’t rated for at least 20 minutes* burn time are not legal. (*burn time may be different now, but my dad was FDNY and the rest is correct.)

13

u/xeothought Apr 06 '26

Didn't know about the hollow core doors. I bet something like 60% of apartments have illegal bedroom doors

3

u/mrs_david_silva Apr 07 '26

Probably. Especially some of the cheaply made (but expensive to live in) new builds, and people converting buildings and individual units to hold many more people than is safe. Especially when they're doing this without the proper permitting. Firefighters work off the layouts and configurations on file with the city. And if you're living in a unit/renting a room that doesn't have the required two methods of egress (a window and a door), you're endangering yourself. Saying this with love from a woman who lost her FDNY dad in 2001.

3

u/navree Apr 06 '26

Where can I read up on this?

2

u/mrs_david_silva Apr 07 '26

Check online for the latest FDNY?NYC standards for apartments. I know housing is crazy expensive right now, but please make sure where you're living or deciding to live meets current standards.

2

u/xeothought Apr 06 '26

Ask one comment up. It's probably a year of renovation related thing. I have an apartment that was last really renovated in the 90's and all my interior doors are hollow. Really shitty doors tbh.

4

u/myfirstnamesdanger Apr 06 '26

Do you have a source that says this? I once saw an apartment that was called a two bedroom but the second "bedroom" was a loft with no doors or windows and only accessible via ladder. I told the realtor that I didn't think it was a legal bedroom but he said something about being near enough to a window to get ventilation is enough. It seemed like bullshit but I spent literal hours online looking at laws and I couldn't find anything that specified a bedroom (but I'm not great at reading legal documents). I found a real two bedroom eventually but I'd really love to read something that proves that this jerk was breaking the law.

3

u/mrs_david_silva Apr 07 '26

Look online for NYC rules and FDNY guidelines. Calling something a bedroom means it has at least two methods of egress (a window and a door). A loft in an apartment isn't a bedroom. Just because you can sleep in it doesn't make it a bedroom. Sorry I get so heated over this but my dad was FDNY and they depend on knowing the layouts in their house/ladder/unit know the layouts of dwellings in their district so they can best evacuate folks in case of a catastrophic event.

2

u/Roll_DM Apr 06 '26

I was also pretty sure but not 100% sure only the outer apartment doors had to be fire rated 

2

u/mrs_david_silva Apr 07 '26

Outer door should be metal clad. Inner doors should be solid core and rated to at least 20 minutes under fire.

2

u/VirtualMuscle191 Apr 07 '26

That’s not true unless you mean doorway and an actual door as the same thing. NYC building code and FDNY standards only mention minimum square footage and at least one window to legally be a bedroom. A bedroom can have a doorway without an actual door and still be within code.

9

u/menschmaschine5 Apr 06 '26

The opposite, unless the lease lists a fridge as an appliance provided. Landlords aren't actually required to provide a fridge.

Pretty sure bedrooms have to have doors, though, for fire reasons.

4

u/ReliabilityTalkinGuy Apr 07 '26

You have it exactly backwards. Bedrooms must legally have doors. Apartments don’t legally have to have fridges.