I do not know where to go from here or who to contact but basically I am looking for a way to file a complaint against the Buildings Dept./Building Inspectors for the “Town of Hempstead Buildings Dept” in Long Island, NY.
To try to make a VERY LONG STORY as short as possible here is a summary: NINE MONTHS AGO I called and made a complaint to the buildings dept. about an illegal basement apartment which was GREATLY AFFECTING MY LIFE (I lived on another supposedly LEGAL floor of this house, the landlord was a SLUMLORD and had this illegal basement apartment he was renting to HIGHLY UNDESIRABLE PEOPLE, I was paying almost $2000 a month rent to live on a supposedly LEGAL FIRST FLOOR (unaware of the illegal basement when I moved in) and this illegal basement rental caused MANY PROBLEMS in my life (they had their electric and gas illegally hooked up to my meters-which was investigated by LIPA and Keyspan and finally resolved after a few months), there were NUMEROUS plumbing problems due to TOO MANY bathrooms and people hooked up to the same plumbing (when they used their plumbing sometimes water would come out of my shower or faucet, their dryer exhaust would blow into my clean clothes in my dryer-EVERYTHING WAS RIGGED UP AND HOOKED UP ILLEGALLY), I had NO ACCESS TO MY ELECTRIC PANEL and would HAVE MANY ELECTRIC PROBLEMS-even have them mess with my hot water heater settings and electric panel and I would not be able to correct the situation due to no access to their illegal basement rental.
Since the landlord was a COMPLETE SLUMLORD and my life was miserable due to this illegal rental, I had no choice but to report it to the buildings inspector, hoping they would force him to shut down this illegal rental. Over the course of the next several months, I followed up SEVERAL TIMES asking on the progress of this report and when they were coming to RESOLVE THIS ISSUE and give the landlord a citation/violation and it took FOUR MONTHS from my original complant before the building inspector even came out to the house. When she did, of course the basement tenants did not answer the door so she left a violation notice on the door saying she needed access to the basement but she ASSURED ME THIS WAS AN ILLEGAL RENTAL and she knew that people lived down there (there was a mailbox for APARTMENT THREE right at their side door-which she said should have been MY SIDE DOOR for my first floor apartment) and now they had their own electric and gas meters (three meters on a supposedly two family house). Anyway, a few more months passed and I kept following up and then finally she came out again and posted a VIOLATION NOTICE ON THE DOOR. Long story short is that I wound up going to court with my landlord when I stopped paying rent after so many months of living in misery, thinking I WOULD WIN, but in the long run, I ENDED UP HAVING TO MOVE OUT because the whole place was most liklely illegal (according to the lawyers in court) and the landlord refused to remedy the situation, THE ILLEGAL RENTERS STILL LIVE THERE and during a recent argument with the landlord when moving out and my saying that he will PAY EVENTUALLY FOR BEING A SLUMLORD AND HAVING AN ILLEGAL APARTMENT, he said “I have a CO (certificate of occupancy) for the basement and the building inspectors are “in my pocket”-whatever that means-he obviously has FRIENDS in the buildings department, BUT HE DOES NOT HAVE A CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY, I researched it and it is only a legal two family if the owner occupies the home (mother/daughter) which he DOES NOT. I lost TONS OF MONEY living in this place, I had paid a realtors fee when I moved in, I spent thousands on rent and lived in misery the whole time, now I recently moved and it bothers me GREATLY that the basment tenants still live there, the landlord does not seem to have had to comply or pay any fines or make this place LEGAL and every time I call the buildings dept. I basically get the run around-NINE MONTHS since my original complaint and I want to now file a complant against the buildings dept for NOT DOING THEIR JOB, this is ridiculous and I want actions to be taken against the landlord and the friends he has in the buildings dept. Who do I file a complaint with? I also have TONS OF PAPERWORK regarding all my complaints, phone calls, letters from LIPA, KEYSPAN, buildings Dept. court documents, etc. to prove all of this, it is unfair that he will not rent out my first floor apartment to someone else who is unsuspecting and they will pick up where I left off, living in MISERY and being conned by this SLUMLORD. This needs to be put to an end, WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE? I refuse to give up after all I have went through and I want actions taken IMMEDIATELY, I feel like calling my local news channel-human interest story because this IS OUTRAGEOUS.