I have a hypothetical question prompted by a real-world situation. I and a roommate are renting a full apartment on the second floor of a house. The homeowner, who I’ll call the landlord, lives on the ground floor. My roommate is friends and coworkers with the landlord (and we’re getting a good deal on rent, so my roommate doesn’t want us to rock the boat). There’s one more separate unit that is currently unoccupied. That makes a total of three units in the home. Each has its own bath and kitchen, although plumbing/septic is a shared system between them all. It’s my understanding that most NY tenant law is written to accommodate dwellings with four or more units, so those laws generally don’t apply to living situations like ours.
So, the situation: our septic tank backed up on Saturday night and started spewing some truly heinous gases (no liquids, thankfully) over the weekend. We were able to isolate the area and, with creative use of fans and windows, get it all to start blowing outside. Therefore, because it wasn’t an immediate health hazard, the landlord decided to wait for repairs until today. I know it’s really expensive to have the septic guy come out on a weekend. But we could not put any water down the drain–no showers, no washing dishes, no laundry, no flushing (eww).
As I understand it, problems like these render the dwelling uninhabitable. It’s only been a couple days and we’ve been able to work around it–peeing without flushing, using public bathrooms as much as possible, showering at the beach/gym instead of at home. But hypothetically, if the septic had fucked up and we weren’t friends with our landlord and he refused to remedy an emergency plumbing situation for 36 hours, would we be entitled to move into a hotel and bill him until he fixed it?
The implied warranty of habitability applies to all residential structures, and it can’t be waived. That is to say it always always always applies. Google New York State Tenants Rights Guide. You may have additional rights under city law but that’s the baseline.
Also you can get some free info on landlord tenant matters at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service website. College towns often have a tenants union of some sort. The Cornell Legal Aid Clinic serves residents of Tompkins county - not just students. 255-7448.
I think it very unlikely you can charge the landlord for a hotel, but I’m not experienced in such matters. You can sue for a rent reduction/rent refund though.
Thanks for the phone number! I downloaded the rights guide, as well. Very helpful.
No plans to sue the guy. That’s only a route I’d pursue if the place was miserably uninhabitable for so long that I was forced to move out. I like the break we’re getting on rent. But it’s nice to know I have the option if things ever end up that far south. I wonder, if a place is certifiably unable to be inhabited, why wouldn’t the landlord be required to pay for temporary relocation to somewhere that’s actually habitable?
Maybe, but New York greatly disfavors “self-help” in landlord tenant matters - you’re supposed to go to court and work things out. Not just bill the landlord all willynilly for whatever you think is right. Likewise, if your landlord tried to evict you by locking you out for nonpayment, he’d be in a world of hurt despite your nonpayment.
The idea of refunding your rent is that it compensates you for the time you couldn’t live there. The landlord really shouldn’t have to pay twice, unless something unusual is happening. If you were to be entitled to have the landlord not only receive no rent but ALSO pay your hotel, it would take a judge to say so.
Note that the warranty of habitability can be waived where the tenant causes the problem. Make sure you all didn’t inadvertently flush a washcloth or a children’s toy. 
Horrific as the experience may have been, it doesn’t sound like the kind of thing worth getting your landlord pissed off at you about.
Turns out the pump to the leach field wasn’t working. He had to buy a new pump and all is well!
Which is why the question was hypothetical. I’m not friends with the guy, but I appreciate a good rent break as much as the next cheapskate. Plus he did get it fixed in under 48 hours, which isn’t a horrible turnaround. I mean, he had to live with it too. One of the perks of having a live-in landlord is that the really big problems impact them, too. Not just us.