I leave in a two family house on the second floor and the landlord is on a very cozy basement apartment in the same house, well he doesn't work and now he is demanding me and the tenants on the first floor to take the garbage container out every Tuesday and Sunday evening out to the street, i ask him why he is making that change and guess what he told me, that he is very organized with his garbage and he not supposed to take others trash out so i confront him two days later and told him very calmly that i cant do what he is asking, so he got pretty angry and we got into a little argument, well my question is? Does that landlord in a private house have to make their tenants take out the garbage containers out to the street or thats his job as landlord and owner of the building/house to so?
There may be a problem with cats, racoons or possums in the area getting into outdoor cans, so the landlord has chosen this solution.
@ObservantOne Also, he may have grown weary of having people pick through outside cans looking for deposit bottles. They rarely put the lids back on correctly, it rains, and the cans fill up with water. Some tenants also plop their bags in and don't put the lids on correctly. Voice of experience...
6
I live in Chicago and the New York garbage situation confounds me. I know that there are no alleys. Talk to the neighbors. This might be the most acceptable place given the layout of the building and where you can put the cans.
However, if the cans smell, they are not being cleaned regularly. Is it possible to have a heavier garbage bag liner to collect all the weekly trash bags so that any leaks would be contained? Hint: if the roll of heavier trash bags in the bottom of the can when the full bag goes, there is the next trash bag to put in its place. Also, baking soda.
1
Oh just talk to the landlord. It is most common that trash and recycling pails are placed at the front of the building. The pails may be old and they don't close tight. calling 311 or the fire department is the wrong course of action. The pails cannot be in the building as they would obstruct in case of a fire.
Just have a friendly helpful conversation with your landlord. I personally believe you have a brown composting pail and that is the source of the foul odor. Composting should not include meat products. Good luck, the summer will pass in a few weeks and the smell will be gone.
2
And yes I’m assuming janitorial services are being provided.. where is the super ?
1
Is there a super? Who takes out the trash? Is the recycling and garbage separated? Are there rodents? There are a few ways to potentially address this by calling 311 anonymously. It appears as is often the case tenants have put up with years.
2
What about the basement? Growing up, as we had critters everywhere, we kept the bins in the mud room.
Only one comment (from Athens) so far has suggested talking to the landlord. Perhaps you could start there and ask if there might be a solution found before calling NYFD and 311. Given the fact that you state that when coming into the building you are “greeted with the smell of trash” then why did you move there in the first place? Or at least bring up your concerns before signing a lease.
10
I own a building on a major avenue.
There is no space on the street for a trash can, not one.
The trash sits under the stairs in the building which is off market and has no stabilized/rent controlled units. I have received 0 complaints in more than 10 years of ownership.
Not every landlord is in it to ruin your life, contrary to what most renters in NYC think. Some of us are good people trying to earn a living and don't have a billion dollar investment fund to slush around like most of my competitors.
8
@Stergios but you clearly don’t have to live there and smell it daily
The new management at my previous apartment thought it was s good idea to have us leave our garbage in cans out in the hallway for this start up garbage service to collect nightly which creates all kinds of unnecessary foul odors in order to save a few bucks
4
A few years ago this month, I moved into a small building in a college town in Wisconsin. The landlord had clearly done nothing about the trash in the back for a long time.
One day, I was so fed up with it that I cleaned out the entirety of the trash, took pictures, and sent them to him with a note saying, "If I am in charge of trash and recycling for the entire building, then I want a rent discount."
All he did was remind the other residents that they need to take out their trash. I wanted him to impose fines, but at least he did something.
This is all to say - speaking about the problem may get you somewhere.
6
It is likely that the bins are a Fire Department violation because the bins limit egress and access if there is a fire.
The tenants might get a speedier result if they contact the Fire Department to inspect the building and a violation is issued.
27
Could it be considered an obstacle in case of fire? If it would slow down or impede exiting the building in an emergency maybe the fire department could do something.
21
Does this building have rent-controlled units? Perhaps the landlord is trying to remove such tenants with biological warfare.
15
@Drew sounds about right to me. Exactly what my management company is doing in our rent stabilized building.
5
@Drew
It is the rare brownstone that has enough units to qualify for rent stabilization. The building must have a minimum of 6 units, as well as meeting all of the other criteria (date of construction, rental history, etc.).
10
@Drew That's the only rational explanation I can think of. Otherwise, the landlord is banking on market-rate tenants not simply picking up and leaving due to the disgusting conditions. Just how egregious can landlords be in NYC and still have paying customers?
3
The building, being a brownstone, likely still has its stoop. I store my trash bins under the stoop. My stoop has a dogleg and does have a vent at the front.
10
1027.4.6 Rubbish
Household rubbish, including trash cans, shall not be stored in building hallway corridors. All such items shall be stored in compactor rooms or other lawful storage areas.
66
You are incorrect in your interpretation of the code
@Maxwell Stainback
Huh? Looks like the 2014 NYC fire code to me, in Section 1027, Maintenance of the Means of Egress. Please explain more.
5
Our building recently replaced the outdoor garbage, paper, and metal/glass recycling bins with ones that are strongly sealed, so that smells don't escape, and vermin can't get in. The brown organic recycling bins are already sealed in this way.
Suggest these solutions to your landlord.
23
Communication and being neighborly is always the best remedy for these situations. Get to know your neighbors in the building. There could very well be a reason for the garbage cans to be inside. Maybe you have neighbors who are elderly or disabled and it would be difficult for them to access outside garbage recepticles. Also, it is better to propose a reasonable solution after collecting the facts before approaching new neighbors and your landlord. Don't start by saying "hi I'm new here and I have some complaints" Look into prices for outdoor garbage cans and ask if you can buy them yourself (yes you should pay for them). Or maybe better cans for the current location that would mitigate the smell. Also, this could be a problem that only occurs infrequently during summer heat waves. Whatever the solution is unless you're a Jedi don't use force.
11
@Maxwell Stainback Explain why the tenant should pay for them.
40
@Maxwell Stainback There's still the issue of the location of the bins.
19
@Roger ok maybe they shouldn't buy it themselves at first. If there is pushback then yes they should offer to pay. But either way everything else I recommend should be considered before going to the extreme and calling the fire marshall or posturing for some sort of legal action.
5
What puzzles me is why there is no mention by the letter-writer of having politely spoken to the landlord about the issue to try to understand the reason for the unusual placement of the trash bins.
32
The last four apartment buildings I've lived in had plastic trash cans stored in stairwells, without lids. I asked the supers to use lids to seal the cans from pests but they don't. NYC is run by dirty people and one more reason to leave.
6
This is unacceptable. It's unsafe and definitely going to attract vermin and bugs. I know what those row houses look like, the trash needs to be outside. Good luck!
23
Don't speak with the landlord. Call 311. Don't risk ending up in a problem tenant database.
30
NYC regulations forbid the blocking of hallways with various objects including doormats, baby carriages, etc. I would think garbage cans would be in this list.
52
@David -
Nothing in the letter suggests that the entryway is blocked. For all we know, it might be sufficiently large to hold the cans and still leave plenty of room to get by.
5
@JoanP I'd be surprised if the cans weren't blocking the entryway as brownstones are narrow, space is taken up by the staircase and the letter writer references the entryway.
19
The LW does refer to the location of the garbage recepticles as the "entryway" not the hallway. And she did not mention that means of egress is impeded. So let's assume that there is enough space.
5
This is a fire hazard. A fire inspector could threaten a find if he/she was aware of this situation.
44