Garbage

[THansonNYC]

Is there a limit to the amount of garbage a tenant is allowed to produce? We take out about 3 or 4 garbage bags a week and follow all of the specified procedures. Our landlady says that we allowed to create only one bag per week...furthermore that we eat at home too often and that "normal" people eat out more often than they cook at home.

[Cranky Tenant]

All I can imagine is that there are more people living in the house than it's zoned for, and your LL is concerned the extra garbage will give officials a clue.

[TenantNet]

A slight clarification ... zoning does not determine occupancy of apartments. Zoning may determine if a building may be used as residential, or commercial or manufacturing. Occupancy (i.e., so many people per so many square feet) is covered in a number of areas: Multiple Dwelling Law, Housing Maintenance Code, Buidling Code, etc. In public places, there is a stated occupancy limit from the Certificate of Occupancy. On the residential side, it's usually so many per square foot. Can't give chapter and verse as it's been a while since I looked at it, but those are the sources. As for the landlady, tell her to shove it. Actually Me Again is correct on business usage and what is called "waste." But another term often used is "nuisance." Is your garbage creating a nuisance? Not if properly put out. Does the LL have enough trash cans? Some tenants can create nuisance, i.e., Collier Brothers situation. But that does not sound like that's the case - just a nosy landlady.

[Cranky Tenant]

Sorry I was speaking off the tip of my tongue and probably wasn't as accurate as possible.

My thought was, the apartment may not be legal , so the LL may be concerned about having more garbage than the normal amount one might expect from this building.

Years ago when we lived in an illegal loft, we were instructed to leave our garbage in front of one of the residential buildings because the LL didn't want anyone to know we were living there.