Used a screwdriver to enter my apartment for 9 months (NYC)

I moved into a new apartment in August 2022 because I was finally ready to live alone. Before move in I receive two keys: one for the building and another for my apartment deadbolt.

Upon move in, I see there is literally a hole where the doorknob should be (giving a view straight into the apartment). Landlord tells me each tenant needs to purchase and install their own doorknob. Okay cool, I purchase my own doorknob. When I try to install it, I quickly realize the door is so old that nothing can be screwed into it - the wood just crumbled into nothing as soon as I tried. I cover the hole with a piece of cardboard and text my landlord about the problem immediately.

After a few weeks pass with no action I just figure replacing a door takes a lot of planning/$$ and I still had a deadbolt with a key, so technically no one could just walk in.

Fast forward to Oct 2022, I left my entire purse in an Uber during Halloweekend and never got it back. I had to call a locksmith to drill into the deadbolt so I could enter my apartment, and after that, the apartment key didn't work anymore. After some experimenting, I figured out I could twist the deadbolt with a flathead screwdriver to enter.

I truly thought that I would be using the screwdriver for a few more weeks MAX. I pressed the issue with my landlord over the course of months. I regret not being more urgent or bringing up laws, but I didn't want the landlord to dislike me because the business I lived above, the business across the street, and the man I was seeing at the time were all interconnected (they were all family).

Everyone in my life was completely baffled I put up with this for so long. From August 2022 to May 2023 I used a screwdriver to enter my apartment... I carried it around like a key. I finally got it fixed after the man I was seeing raised a ruckus with his family. Even though we aren't together, I do appreciate him for that!