Why can&#39;t any tenant in a subdivided New York CIty apartment get a better one for free?
<p>Please correct me if I misunderstand (since in fact that is the essence of my question) but I understand that in NYC (for example), a tenant is entitled to an apartment that is up-to-code, regardless of what is written on the lease.</p>
<p>Many apartments in NYC have been subdivided, so that the tenant is renting some little cubbyhole carved out of the apartment, even though this is against zoning regulations.</p>
<p>Can't the tenant go to the  municipality, or even sue, to require the landlord to bring it up to code? And since that is impossible, the landlord would have to provide another apartment in the same neighborhood for the same price.</p>
<p>More generally, can't a tenant negotiate to rent a  dump and then get it upgraded for (nearly) free in this manner?</p>
<p>What element in this is incorrect?</p>

<h3>Lease agreements are written to prevent the workarounds you propose.</h3>
<p>A condemned unit or virtually any other breach by the landlord results in cancellation of the lease.  So the tenant can complain, but the likely result is having to move out.  Certainly there is nothing in the lease agreement that would force a landlord to provide accomodations to a tenant other than the named property.  Declaring a sub-let illegal would result in the tenant being evicted.</p>
<p>Expect in general that real estate developers and property owners are the primary drivers of local ordinances and state laws regarding rentals.</p>

rental-property real-estate