Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

My apartment is in a cooperative building in New York City - I'm the owner/tenant. It's a quite large coop, with over 1,500 apartments.

For several years there has been a problem receiving hot water in my kitchen. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's tepid, sometimes even cold. Bathroom hot water is fine. Although I discussed this with the coop's maintenance personnel several times, different individuals always said it probably meant an illegal washing machine incorrectly hooked up somewhere in my line of apartments, and told me it's too hard to get access to check each and every apartment. Basically I put off doing anything formal seeing it would be a major effort and lots of time and energy. The water is fine otherwise, and other people in my line say they get normal hot water service in their kitchens, while at least one other person in my line suffers the same hot water problem in her kitchen.

I began submitting formal maintenance requests (by phone and email and then in writing using the coop's online complaint webform) starting in April of 2013. It is now August 2013. While efforts have been made by the coop's maintenance dept./coop plumber and the chief engineer of the coop's boiler room, a couple of times with temporary success, it always goes back to erratic service. The longest I've had consistently hot water is one week. No one seems to communicate with anyone else, and both depts. just point the finger to the other. I've been keeping a temperature log the past several months, which shows a range from 80 degrees to 130 degrees, no pattern to it except that it rarely gets as hot as 120 degrees, which is what the city code stipulates should be available.

I met with the assistant general manager a week ago to complain, but nothing has changed. There is no coordinated effort and apparently management still has not given the order to check every apartment in the line to see if the problem originates from illegal devices in the line (or other potential problems like faulty faucet valves or connections, etc). I have cited NYC code section 27-2031 and the Warrant of Habitability to no avail. The coop's management has formally been aware of my problem for four months now, and I keep submitting maintenance requests when the water isn't hot. (Another apartment in my line has had this problem for seven years, and management has known about her problem for several years now without fixing it. She keeps a temperature log and a file of complaints, and we met with management together.)

Would I be within my legal rights as a NYC tenant to set up an escrow account and begin putting my monthly maintenance payments into that instead of paying it to the coop until they've solved the problem and made hot water consistently available to my kitchen?

Should I establish an escrow account with my neighbor and anyone else I can find in the coop who is experiencing the same hot water issue? Are there city/state agencies I should be contacting? What would you suggest as a course of action that might get my coop management to take this seriously? Their foot dragging is a very effective tactic, because it takes time and energy (and lost work days) to deal with them.

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