Social media has boiled over after a tenant shared a text message exchange with a landlord who would not fix the heater in her "freezing" property.
The landlord, named Marie, told the renter, American writer Laura Bassett, that she would "make it up to you next year", after Bassett informed her it was "freezing in the apartment" and asked for an update on the heater situation.
The heater has been broken for eight months, Bassett explained in the post. "Are we supposed to use space heaters all winter?" she asked the landlord in the now public SMS. Winter in the US starts in December.
Bassett uploaded the text messages to X, formerly Twitter, and it went viral, attracting 98,000 likes and more than 1100 responses of sympathy, outrage and advice. Bassett, a writer and editor whose profile indicates she lives in Brooklyn, has 137,000 followers.
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Nine has reached out to Laura on X.
Under Australian tenancy laws, a living room must have a fixed heater – not a portable heater – in order to pass minimum standards.
In the US state of New York, landlords must ensure that when the temperature drops below a certain point outside, the mercury in the home is higher.
"Between the hours of 6am and 10pm, if the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees, the inside temperature is required to be at least 68 degrees Fahrenheit," the NYC Housing and Preservation and Development website explains.
Between 10pm and 6am, the temperature inside must be 62 degrees Fahrenheit.
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That converts in the Aussie scale to 16 degrees Celsius inside when it is 12 degrees outside, during the day, and 20 degrees inside overnight.
The average outdoor November temperature in Manhattan is 13 degrees Celsius during the day and 6 degrees at night.
Bassett also tweeted a follow-up photo of herself on the couch in a puffy jacket and a scarf. At the time of publication, the tweet had been viewed 1.7 million times.
Overwhelmingly, her followers encouraged her to report the landlord to the city housing department.
One follower advised Bassett the authority could intervene on rental payments.
"Most cities have a program, so you pay your rent to them and the landlord won't get it until the repairs are made."
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Another said: "As everyone said: call 311. New York City has strict heat rules".
One said that withholding heat was "abuse", which had been met with the same emotional response as missing a kids' soccer match.
Landlords also weighed in, remarking the landlord's reply was unacceptable and urging Bassett to file a complaint.
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