Help approaching landlord.

jillianna

It seems that a lot of people on here know a lot about rules and regulations regarding rental apartments, so I figured maybe someone can help me.
My apartment, not my building, was renovated before I moved in. According to my neighbor in the building, all the "crap" from my apartment was discarded into the backyard and now it remains there. While I'm not certain if I have access to the backyard (there is a door on the main floor to it but its sorta blocked off by the landlord's dog gate), I AM certain I have access to the view of the backyard. As a matter of fact, that's the only view I have and not only is it disgusting to look at, I am pretty certain it's a lovely breeding ground for who knows what, especially once it gets warmer.
Can I ask my landlord to clean up the backyard? Do I have any rights in this situation? (sidenote: Truthfully if he did I would totally plant things and make it beautiful!)
Any and all opinions welcomed!
Thanks,
Jill

armchair_warrior

I think if its not in your lease, you don't have access rights. best just to ask him if you could use the back yard. and if he can clean it.

veets

I agree that unless you have a lease that allows you use of the backyard you have no rights to use it. Sure if you wanted to be nasty as all get out you could call the NYc Environmental Board and put in a rat complaint. They would have to investigate whether it be true or not! But.. Your best approach is to offer your help in cleaning and planting if the Landloard would give you acess. definitely a case to try being nice.

idlewild

I don't think the City has any power to enforce a clean up unless it's extremely hazardous. There's an on going case like this in either Queens or The Bronx. A home owner uses his front yard as a garbage dump. The neighborhood has complained to city officials but the City says it's powerless to enforce anything since it's on private property.

As far as access rights, if he says no then no it is. You only have access in case of fire.

boygabriel

I don't have any great legal insight but I would say this all depends on your landlord. What is your landlord like and what is your relationship is like? Is s/he reasonable? If you're going to plant pretty things you should mention that to him. Also make it very clear you're willing to set guidelines and boundaries for usage back there. i.e. s/he may not want you to have full 24/7 access. however many landlords are willing to let tenants use the back yard on a case-by-case basis. (ie notifying them beforehand.)

One thing to keep in mind is that trash hauling is unfortunately very expensive so that's probably a big factor. Our landlord just got rid of a huge pile of construction debris in our back yard and it took a four man crew two days and cost $1000's.

But it's all about amount of trash, and the type of trash, and the resources of your landlord. For example, does s/he have a source for affordable workmen? Does s/he have access to their own truck to haul trash away or would s/he have to rent a dumpster?

The landlord may hate the trash pile as much as you do so maybe s/he just needs some encouragement and incentive to get rid of it.