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I live in a 10-unit coop in Jackson Heights in the historic district. It's a landmarked building which was built as a coop in the early 1920s, and thus has some antiquated customs and rules. The one I am concerned about has to do with access to the building. There are two doors to get into the building--an outer door which brings to you into an outer lobby where the doorbells/buzzers and intercom are found, and another door that takes you into a small inner lobby where the mailboxes are located, along with and elevator and stairs up to all apartments. There has been a custom in the building, dating back decades, that the outer lobby door should be locked at 9 PM every night. However, there are no buzzers to the apartments on the outside of the building. If you are locked out, or if you are an ambulance worker or a fireman, there is no way to buzz any of the apartments and thus get into the building. This was a problem a few years ago, when we had to call an ambulance, and they could not get into the building. We forgot about the locked outer door as we were dealing with an emergency. The ambulance workers were ultimately let in by a neighbor who noticed the flashing lights, but there was a delay because of the locked door. We have been in the coop for five years now. When we brought up the problem of emergency access to the building, longtime owners said it has been a house rule (locking the outer door at 9 PM) for a long time, and was created because in the past, homeless people would come into the outer lobby to sleep at night on occasion. They were not inclined to change the rule. The homeless person in the lobby problem may have happened once, but I don't think that's a good reason to have this dangerous rule about locking the outer door. Someone told me that it is illegal in NYC for firemen and other emergency personnel not to have a way to access an apartment building. I'd like to find that law, if it exists, to help me persuade the board to drop the locking-the-door-at 9 PM custom. If someone forgets their keys, there is no way to buzz a neighbor, and ambulance workers or firemen cannot get into the building. I really think it's dangerous, and that should supersede any concerns about a homeless person coming into the lobby. We could move the buzzers to the outside of the building, but 1, it would be costly and 2, it would require approval from the Landmarks people, and who knows if we could get that? I want some legal backup to help me persuade my neighbors to agree to abolishing the house rule to lock the outer door. In the meantime, I confess that whenever I find the door locked, I simply unlock it. Civil disobedience. I just think it's dangerous. People do have emergencies and the buzzers should be accessible to the public. Can anyone point me towards this law? I did find something related on this site, but it specified dwellings built after 1960-something have to abide by these rules. We were built in 1921-22. Any thoughts on this?
Join the Conversation Comments (2)NYC DOB regulations require access to the door bell/intercom 24/7. See if this is what you need - http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/bldgs_code/bc27s6.pdf see page 11 of 22. Are you able to exit through the outer door without using a key when it is locked? That would be a building violation if you can't.
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That's quite a dilemma; on one-hand, I appreciate that the door is locked to prevent unwanted people from access to the building for security purposes (which has undoubtedly increased since the 20's) and on the other hand, emergency personnel require access to the building, promptly.
According to the New York Fire code, Section FC 506 "Where access to or within a structure or an area is restricted because of secured openings or where immediate access is necessary for life-saving or firefighting purposes,
the commissioner may require a key box operable by a fire department standard key or other approved key to be installed in an approved location..."
I believe the key is a standard industry key carried by both fire and ambulance but you would have to confirm this.
You can review the Fire Code here:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/fdny/pdf/firecode/2009/fire_code_ll26_2008_amended_ll37_41_64_2009_final_complete.pdf
Also, here is a very good article on what buildings should do to prepare for emergency services; it may help you position the requirement for change.
http://cooperator.com/article/what-to-do-before-the-emergency/full
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