hi,
My wife and I live in an old building on the UWS. My wife has been the lease holder for 16 years. We just signed a new two year lease in April 2012. We are located on the first floor above the shops and all of our windows have bars on them. Our second means of exit (in case of fire) has been a door that leads out onto the roof of the 1-story building next door (also owned by the same landlord). The roof has been used as a terrace for 16+ years with no problems. There is a 3-foot high railing on the two exposed sides of the roof, and another building on the 4th side. In August, the landlord painted the fire escape and made some other external repairs. A few weeks later, he verbally notified us that his insurance company said the roof/terrace was not covered by the policy.
Yesterday, we received an official letter stating that we have to remove any plants etc from the roof terrace and that they will be hiring a contractor to remove the door and wall up the exit.
We'd love to find a way to keep our terrace. Obviously, we can't only have one exit from our apartment, that would be a fire code violation. But the landlord doesnt seem to realize that. Perhaps we could also sign a waiver releasing the landlord from any liability regarding the terrace?
Is there anything we can do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
A