Wow. So, there are procedures for paying for certain repairs and taking it out of the rent you owe. If you follow those procedures, you can’t be faulted under the law. That might get your toilet working but after reading all the details, I am deeply concerned that most of these repairs are whole house, and go beyond the scope of what a tenant could pull off. I hate to say it, but I think you have to call LCI.

After that, maybe they can help you decipher which repairs you can make out of rent and which are too big. For instance, can you repair the hole in the closet floor or is there a floor joist cracked underneath, rendering that a finger in the dike sort of thing?

Btw, I’m surprised you mentioned septic. New haven is on city sewer, not septic. They either have clogged pipes, or cracked pipe or roots clogging their pipes- they need to get their plumber in.

Those companies owned by Greer are a big mess right now. You may not be able to resolve this without LCI. I don’t know why city hasn’t moved to have the court receive rental payments for their properties already, to be honest.

I wouldn’t delay calling LCI either. You need to get it going

Little more background on Greer property obstacles. They may not respond to the usual saber rattling which is another reason for LCI. The family is in a financial crisis due to both legal bills from criminal defense for the Greer patriarch, and the huge civil settlement his victim, a former student, won in court. He himself went to jail. They have been trying to shield certain LLCs from providing for part of the legal settlement, apparently so they can live on it, maybe pay their legal bills with it, etc. All their income from their Yeshiva is gone. All his grown children left town. His ability to work and earn any income is gone. They will be leaning on these properties very hard as a source of income to stay afloat.

If the repairs needed exceed the combined rents of the building, the court should be made the receiver and manage the building.