Turning up the heat - City enforcing ordinance; over 1,400 complaints for lack of warmth

by Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter Staff Writer

The apartment or office is an icebox, and the landlord is not doing anything about it.

Jersey City has the answer ? enforcement of the city?s heat ordinance.

The ordinance stipulates that in dwellings of two families or more, or a place of employment, heat must be provided as follows (unless stated in a contract):

? Heat no less than 70 degrees has to be supplied from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

? Heat no less than 65 degrees from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

The ordinance is effect from Oct. 1 to Apr. 30 and from May 1 to Sept. 30 when the temperature dips below 55 degrees.

And this unusually cold weather has made the public more apt to get the ordinance enforced.
_____________

From October 1 to last Wednesday, Jan. 13, the city addressed 1,466 complaints for a lack of heat.
________

City spokesperson Jennifer Morrill said from Oct. 1 to last Wednesday, Jan. 13, the city addressed 1,466 complaints for a lack of heat for both residences and offices. That comes to 14 complaints a day.

Morrill said heat complaints are addressed by the city?s Housing Code Enforcement division, which has 11 employees handling them.

The division has a "heat hotline? at (201) 547-4825 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and (201) 547-4821 after 4 p.m. where tenants can leave complaints overnight and weekends. The hotline is monitored 24/7 and is responded to accordingly.

Getting the heat back on

Once a complaint is received, an inspector is dispatched to the building to conduct a heat inspection. In addition, Housing Code Enforcement staff contacts the owner and/or property manager, and informs them that a complaint was received and a case has commenced.

?We give them 24 hours to rectify any problems with the heating facilities and we advise them further that they must provide an approved alternative means of temporary heat to their tenants,? Morrill said. ?Immediately, we will conduct a daily inspection until the heat is restored.?

Morrill also pointed out that Housing Code Enforcement utilizes digital chart recorders, a device installed in an apartment or office to monitor and record room temperature and humidity history. That enables inspectors to enforce the heat ordinance when there?s a complaint about a landlord shutting off the heat during hours when no inspectors are on duty.

Those owners of buildings in violation of the heat ordinance would receive a summons is issued by our office to appear in Municipal Court. The owner may face a fine of up to $1,250 per day for each apartment or office found to be in violation of the ordinance.

Cold and hot

The employees of a computer firm (who did not want to be named), based in a 10-story office building on Exchange Place in downtown Jersey City, showed the Jersey City Reporter on Jan. 4 how they dealt with a frigid office.

For the 20 or so staff members, it meant space heaters of various sizes providing warmth, along with bundling up in coats and scarves. One showed a digital thermometer reading 54 degrees, even with a space heater near his desk.

Several staff members said the office had been without heat for the large part of the past two months.

One of them said they reached out to the owner of the building several times to rectify the situation but did not get a response.

Another employee said earlier in the day, he decided to call City Hall. He was then referred to the Housing Code Enforcement office.

The next day, the same employee informed the Jersey City Reporter that an inspector had come to his office and within 24 hours, the heat was on.

David Kushner, a managing partner of the company that owns the building, said last week that the loss of the heat on Jan. 4 was not part of an ongoing situation, and he was not aware of any past heating problems. Kushner said the problem was that a tube in the building?s heating system was not working, and the entire system had to be shut down that day in order for the tube to be fixed. He said the building is always in compliance with the city?s heat ordinance to avoid any fines, none of which he says was levied in this case.

Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.