Nyc Landlord Refused To Handle Biohazard Cleanup After Fil Passed Away. We Paid, Can We Recover It?

Location: Brooklyn, NYC

My father-in-law recently passed away in his apartment in Brooklyn, NYC. He was found relatively quickly but we were not allowed back in for several days while we waited for permission from the police. By the time we were given access, fluids had been sitting for several days that needed to be properly cleaned by professional biohazard/remediation cleaners. We knew this from photos the police shared.

For some context, the apartment was in the basement of a house which after looking into, appears that it may have been an illegal apartment.

Once we had permission from the police, we had been attempting to contact the landlord. We finally got them on the phone and asked them when they would be able to do a proper biohazard cleaning before we came into the apartment so that it wasn't a safety hazard to us.

The landlord screamed at us and insisted that because it was our family, it was our responsibility to clean up the mess. After the call the landlord did text us giving permission to allow a company that we coordinate in.

We were coming from out of town and were going to be in town for about 48 hours so we needed it cleaned ASAP so that we could get into the apartment. We found a company and were able to get them to do the remediation the next morning.

It ended up costing us a little over $3,300. The company told us they would typically charge around $6,000 for this type of job, but because we were paying cash out of pocket instead of the landlord or an insurance company paying, they cut us a deal.

They ended up having to remove some of the subfloor to trace the contamination down and remove everything that had been affected. The tenants upstairs had also apparently been complaining about the smell, which was gone after the remediation was completed.

After doing more research, it seems like this may have actually been the landlord's responsibility rather than ours.

We've since texted the landlord asking them to file a claim with their insurance and told them we would provide whatever information was needed. We followed up again several days later, but they will not responded. We've kept everything polite and in writing because we don't want another phone call like the first one.

We're trying to figure out whether we have any ability to recover the $3,300 we paid and, if so, how we should go about it. We have the invoice and receipt, photos, our texts with the landlord, and their written permission for the remediation company to access the property.

There was also a significant amount of mold in the apartment. From what we've heard, my father-in-law had previously asked the landlord to address it and they wouldn't, although we don't have documentation of those conversations. We do have photos of the mold. I'm not sure if that or the fact that this appears to have been an illegal basement apartment is relevant.

Is this type of biohazard remediation generally the landlord/property owner's responsibility in NYC? If so, what would be the best way to try to recover the $3,300? We also don't know where the landlord lives and only have their name, phone number, and the property information, so we're not sure how we would pursue them if we needed to take them to small claims court.

Any advice on what our next steps should be, if any, would be greatly appreciated.