Ask Sam: Should my landlord reimburse me if our elevator's always broken?

And unfortunately, if you're not protected by rent stabilization, there is a good chance your landlord will retaliate against you for complaints, even though that's illegal, notes Himmelstein's colleague Janet Kalson. Whether they do this via harassment, ending your lease when it's up for renewal, or enacting a steep rent hike, "The problem is that it’s very hard to prove retaliation and the remedy is just a one-year lease renewal," says Himmelstein.

First off, Kalson recommends researching your building's history of complains on the DoB website to get a sense of how long this problem has been going on. You should also start by reporting the problem to 311, which should send an inspector to assess the situation, and will issue violations to the landlord if necessary. (Calling 311 has the added upside of allowing you to remain anonymous.) You should also start keep a log of the dates and times when the elevator service cuts out, and how long it lasts.

As for compensation, if the problem is extreme enough, you'll likely have a good case to break your lease early, but the only way you're likely to get cash is if you negotiate a deal with the landlord or simply withhold rent, the latter of which could land you in court—and on the tenant blacklist.

If your calls to 311 and/or complaints to the landlord as a tenants' association don't fix the problem, the next step is to file an HP action seeking a court order for the landlord to repair the broken elevator.

And if you're a stabilized tenant, you can also file a reduction of services complaint, which will get rent in the building rolled back to whatever it was before the most recent rent hike, and frozen at that price until the problem is truly resolved.