Appliances a bare minimum for renters

New residential renters face a long list of potential problems. They might find that their upstairs neighbors enjoy clog dancing or that a family of mice likes the apartment just as much as they do. But walking into a home with no appliances — and water that operates at different times on different days — is a nightmare scenario few could envision. But such was the situation for one caller on Brian Lehrer’s WNYC show. A renter in a new building didn’t have basic kitchen equipment and the building didn’t have a certificate of occupancy. Legal? Not according to Department of Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri, a guest on the Lehrer show, who set the record straight. When you move into a unit, he said, “you should be walking into an apartment with water, hot water, appliances, heat. There might be construction going on in other parts of the building but those apartments that are being rented must have a temporary certificate of occupancy.”