We live in a small coop, with 10 apartments. We have 2 lobby areas, the first is where the apartment buzzers are located, and the second has the mailboxes. So there is an outer door, which gets you to the buzzers, and then an inner door which provides access to the building. There are no apartment buzzers located on the outside of the building, only in the first lobby. It has long been the custom... [more]
We live in a small coop, with 10 apartments. We have 2 lobby areas, the first is where the apartment buzzers are located, and the second has the mailboxes. So there is an outer door, which gets you to the buzzers, and then an inner door which provides access to the building. There are no apartment buzzers located on the outside of the building, only in the first lobby. It has long been the custom to lock the outer lobby door at 9 PM for security reasons. But that means that any food deliveries, or much more importantly, emergency service like ambulance or firefighters have no way to buzz an apartment after 9 PM. The buzzers are inside a locked outer door. We experienced this problem once when we had to call an ambulance at 11 PM and in the moment forgot that the ambulance guys had no way to buzz us since the outer door was locked. Someone told me this situation is actually illegal, that there has to be a way to buzz the apartments for the sake of emergency services access. Does anyone know if this is true and if so, where to find the applicable law? We would like to change the policy here to leave the outer door open all the time, but we need to know if we have legal backing or not.
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Response by fieldschester
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 3525
Member since: Jul 2013
What neighborhood is this in?
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Response by Flutistic
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 516
Member since: Apr 2007
LJR, I was researching AirBnB stuff and I learned that yes, the situation you describe is illegal. I wish I could remember where I read this, though....I do think it is Multiple Dwelling Law. But I might have read this in a judge's discussion in a case. You can access the MDL for free on the web. Even if it were legal, it's just not a good idea, as you realize I know.
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Response by ljr
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 23
Member since: Nov 2009
Thanks for the info, I did not know where to begin researching this. Would like to find the law before approaching the rest of the owners to request a change in policy. We were going to research putting in an outer buzzer system, where you would need to know the code in order to buzz yourself in--but that would be costly and also does not solve the problem.
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Response by apt55
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 127
Member since: May 2012
I use to live in a building with the same lobby set-up. We needed it to mostly keep out homeless, especially in winter from sleeping in between the doors. On the outter door we installed a combination type lock. It required you to push a 3 button combo to enter. That number could be given to friends, visitors to enter. The back side of the lock (inside the door) had a small lever the could easily be flipped to lock/unlock. It worked out well. Due to its ease of use with just a lever to engage the lock... it comes in handy if you feel unsafe (someone following you) as soon as you enter the first door, you could flip the lever, so you the door behind you is locked and you can then safely go through the second door. Vistiors would then still be buzzed up after entering the first door, so giving out the combo did not pose a risk. It was also very easy to change the combo which we did periodically.
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Response by apt55
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 127
Member since: May 2012
BTW... the lock cost $40 and the super was able to install. Very easy.
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Response by ljr
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 23
Member since: Nov 2009
Thank you apt 55! That sounds like a good solution tho you would have to remember to give the code to ambulance/firefighters if called. And glad to hear that you found a cheap way because the building near me that did this installed a costly buzzer system.
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Response by apt55
almost 11 years ago
Posts: 127
Member since: May 2012
As I said the lock has a lever on the inside that can be easily flipped. If you call emergency services someone (call a neighbor, someone else in unit) can just run down at release it. In our building, since we were small as well, (18 units) whoever came entered around 11:00 would flip it to locked and whoever left first in the morning would unlock. So it was just the late night hours that we kept it locked. Lived there for 20 years and we neve had access issues.
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What neighborhood is this in?
LJR, I was researching AirBnB stuff and I learned that yes, the situation you describe is illegal. I wish I could remember where I read this, though....I do think it is Multiple Dwelling Law. But I might have read this in a judge's discussion in a case. You can access the MDL for free on the web. Even if it were legal, it's just not a good idea, as you realize I know.
Thanks for the info, I did not know where to begin researching this. Would like to find the law before approaching the rest of the owners to request a change in policy. We were going to research putting in an outer buzzer system, where you would need to know the code in order to buzz yourself in--but that would be costly and also does not solve the problem.
I use to live in a building with the same lobby set-up. We needed it to mostly keep out homeless, especially in winter from sleeping in between the doors. On the outter door we installed a combination type lock. It required you to push a 3 button combo to enter. That number could be given to friends, visitors to enter. The back side of the lock (inside the door) had a small lever the could easily be flipped to lock/unlock. It worked out well. Due to its ease of use with just a lever to engage the lock... it comes in handy if you feel unsafe (someone following you) as soon as you enter the first door, you could flip the lever, so you the door behind you is locked and you can then safely go through the second door. Vistiors would then still be buzzed up after entering the first door, so giving out the combo did not pose a risk. It was also very easy to change the combo which we did periodically.
BTW... the lock cost $40 and the super was able to install. Very easy.
Thank you apt 55! That sounds like a good solution tho you would have to remember to give the code to ambulance/firefighters if called. And glad to hear that you found a cheap way because the building near me that did this installed a costly buzzer system.
As I said the lock has a lever on the inside that can be easily flipped. If you call emergency services someone (call a neighbor, someone else in unit) can just run down at release it. In our building, since we were small as well, (18 units) whoever came entered around 11:00 would flip it to locked and whoever left first in the morning would unlock. So it was just the late night hours that we kept it locked. Lived there for 20 years and we neve had access issues.