New AI tool guides NYC tenants who need landlords to make repairs

Can an AI chatbot help you get repairs done at your New York City apartment building?

That’s the goal of Roxanne, a chatbot from the NYC nonprofit Housing Court Answers (HCA). Roxanne, which officially launched on Tuesday, can answer questions about how to get your landlord to make repairs such as fixing your heat or a broken window.

“A lot of tenants in New York City don’t know what they have the right to,” said Jenny Laurie, executive director of HCA. “We’re hoping this will answer questions for those folks.”

Developed by HCA, the AI company Josef, and former housing attorney Sateesh Nori, the chatbot is intended to help answer simple questions from tenants, freeing up HCA’s hotline staffers for more complex issues. 

“It’s going to transform the way that low-income people get help and that's huge,” said Nori, who also serves as a clinical adjunct professor at New York University. “That’s why most of us are in this work,” Nori said. 

HCA routinely gets calls from NYC residents about housing issues, such as repairs, evictions, and how to navigate court itself, Laurie said. With Roxanne, Laurie hopes to help more tenants than HCA’s hotline—which she says gets 200 calls per day—can currently handle.

“We think it's going to be a source for really accurate information for folks who can't call our hotline between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or who want to do research on their own,” Laurie said.

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The chatbot includes a disclaimer stating its answers are for "informational purposes only," that it does not provide legal advice, and that users need to verify its answers as needed.

Credit

Brick Underground/Celia Young

How Roxanne works

Roxanne is Nori’s brainchild—or brainchatbot. 

Nori, the senior legal innovation strategist at the technology company JustTech, said he came up with the idea in the fall of 2023 and connected Josef’s pro-bono arm with HCA to get to work. (Nori also previously served as the executive director of the tenant advocacy nonprofit JustFix.)

The chatbot works by pulling information from HCA’s documents and advice, not the wider internet like other well-known chatbots such as ChatGPT. HCA, Josef, and Nori spent about six months testing the chatbot and checking its answers, said Sam Flynn, co-founder and chief operating officer of Josef. 

“We at Josef believe that the technology needs to be put in the hands of the experts in order to provide accurate responses,” Flynn said.

You can ask Roxanne questions about repairs in your NYC apartment. For example, if you ask the chatbot, “How do I get my landlord to fix my heat?” It will answer with a few basic steps: creating a record of the problem, telling your landlord, calling 311, contacting your other tenants, and then filing an HP Action in housing court if repairs still aren’t made. It also provides its HCA sources below the answer if you need more information.

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The chatbot was originally dubbed Rex (short for Repairosaurus Rex), but HCA's team went with Roxanne because of the name's association with light, Laurie said.

Credit

Brick Underground/Celia Young

Roxanne provided an accurate outline of what to do when your heat is out—Brick Underground provides similar advice. But for a more detailed explanation, you’ll want to read the sources, and be sure to check out our story on getting your landlord to fix your heat.

What you should *not* ask

Importantly, the chatbot cannot give specific or legal advice. If you have a more complicated issue or need more information, it’s best to contact HCA’s hotline (212-962-4795) or other tenant resources, such as the Met Council on Housing’s hotline (212-979-0611).

“This is a machine. It’s not a live lawyer, so you’re not getting legal advice that’s custom made for your situation,” Laurie said. “The answers are very general and apply to a broad swath of situations. It’s not individual advice and it’s not legal advice.”

Roxanne should only answer questions about repairs. Other housing issues are out of its purview, and usually, Roxanne itself will tell you what it can’t answer. For example, when Brick Underground asked the chatbot a question about whether a tenant has to pay a broker fee on a sublet, it said it didn’t have an answer. 

That’s good, Nori said, because it means the chatbot isn’t opining on matters it doesn’t have information on.

But occasionally, the chatbot will answer other, unrelated questions, according to Brick Underground’s own testing. Josef “will be monitoring the answers and ensuring that any issues are remedied quickly,” Flynn said. 

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Roxanne will answer questions on repairs and related topics, Flynn said.

Credit

Brick Underground/Celia Young

Where else to get help with repairs

HCA’s hotline can answer tenant questions between Monday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 212-962-4795. The Met Council on Housing also offers a hotline that can handle repairs, heat, eviction, and other housing-related questions from 1:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. You can reach them by calling 212-979-0611.

If your landlord fails to make a repair, you can report dangerous conditions in your apartment to 311 or make a report online. FYI: It helps to have other tenants complain as well if they’re experiencing the same problem.

Lastly, you can also contact a tenant attorney for legal help. Brick Underground also answers certain renter questions for our Realty Bites series. You can reach us via email at team@brickunderground.com.

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