Landlord wants to charge everyone $10/day for what one tenet is doing

[Erras]

I live in Ct and I just saw a paper posting on one of the side doors. These doors are not used a lot and the last time I used it was over a month ago as most people use the front or back door.
The posting says that someone is throwing bags of trash down the stairwell and unless this stops the landlord will charge everyone on my floor $10/day. I can't see how this would be legal as how can they fine everyone for something someone does (or they say someone is doing).

Attached is a photo of the posting.

 

[Ohiogal]

What does your lease state?

 

[Zigner]

Actually, the way that *I* read the note that that there will be a $10 charge per day for the 4th floor. If there are 10 of you on the 4th floor, that's $1 per day.

Your LL (or whoever prepared that note) needs to be more precise in their language.

 

[LdiJ]

Actually, the way that *I* read the note that that there will be a $10 charge per day for the 4th floor. If there are 10 of you on the 4th floor, that's $1 per day.

Your LL (or whoever prepared that note) needs to be more precise in their language.

While I agree with everything you just said, we both know that the landlord meant that they were going to charge EVERYONE on the 4th floor $10.00 a day. If the landlord is actually willing to follow through with something that potentially inappropriate, it could be a big mess. So, if anyone on the 4th floor knows who is actually doing it, it might be a good idea to rat them out.

 

[Ohiogal]

While I agree with everything you just said, we both know that the landlord meant that they were going to charge EVERYONE on the 4th floor $10.00 a day. If the landlord is actually willing to follow through with something that potentially inappropriate, it could be a big mess. So, if anyone on the 4th floor knows who is actually doing it, it might be a good idea to rat them out.

And yet ambiguity is charged against the drafter.. SO hence the lease needs examined. And you need to shut up.

 

[Erras]

What does your lease state?

There is nothing on the lease about this.

 

[FarmerJ]

Erras more specifically is there any wording in your lease that allows the landlord to change terms , create new rules , modify the current lease ? Rather than looking for a specific rule about garbage handling look for wording that lets the LL create new rules -terms. this might be one of those times where a landlord might appreciate tenant advice (from you) suggest to the LL they install a few web based cameras in the halls so they have a better chance of seeing who it is that's doing this and remind the LL to double check with their attorney for rules pertaining to video recording of common areas .

 

[cbg]

And yet ambiguity is charged against the drafter.. SO hence the lease needs examined. And you need to shut up.

Does Zigner need to shut up too? He's the one who raised the issue.

 

[quincy]

While I agree with everything you just said, we both know that the landlord meant that they were going to charge EVERYONE on the 4th floor $10.00 a day. If the landlord is actually willing to follow through with something that potentially inappropriate, it could be a big mess. So, if anyone on the 4th floor knows who is actually doing it, it might be a good idea to rat them out.

I personally don’t know what the landlord meant when he said that the whole 4th floor would be charged $10.

I think trying to get into the mind of the landlord is a trip best avoided. But whatever the landlord intended with his message, it would be foolhardy to fine everyone for the acts of one.

 

[bcr229]

Erras more specifically is there any wording in your lease that allows the landlord to change terms , create new rules , modify the current lease ? Rather than looking for a specific rule about garbage handling look for wording that lets the LL create new rules -terms. this might be one of those times where a landlord might appreciate tenant advice (from you) suggest to the LL they install a few web based cameras in the halls so they have a better chance of seeing who it is that's doing this and remind the LL to double check with their attorney for rules pertaining to video recording of common areas.

I'm going to second this idea. It may not even be a resident/tenant doing the dumping.

 

[FarmerJ]

OP decades ago (lol) I lived in a old building that had wood porches on the back of the building to service second and third floor , there were stairs back there too that went all the way to the parking behind the building , Anyway another tenant Patty resided in one of the two third floor apartments and I could see the evidence that some tenants were doing the bombs away method of dropping garbage bags into the cans below , there were a lot of times they missed or if the bag wasn't heavy enough or if it was real windy they would miss and a lot of the time I would clean it up. SO one thanksgiving I had taken my trash down the stairs to empty the whole trash can since it was rather wet garbage and Patty from third floor didn't see me down there and did a bombs away with her turkey skeleton and liquids from the pan , I yelled at her with a few choice words and the buildings owner later told her if she was caught again she would get notice to get out ( we were all month to month) so my point here is there really are a lot of tenants who don't give a rats butt and now with camera technology being as cheap as it is it may be worth it to suggest it to the LL.

 

[quincy]

If the landlord decides to install security/surveillance cameras in the common areas of the apartment building, the landlord needs to avoid security cameras that audio record. Instead, only security cameras that are limited to video should be used. In addition, any security/surveillance camera must be installed so that it does not capture the insides of any apartment. Only the common area can be video-recorded.

Just as all pedestrians on a street cannot be charged with littering simply because they walk on the same a littered street as a litterer, all residents of an apartment complex cannot be fined for littering the apartment building with garbage simply because they reside in the same building as someone who does.

As a note on a previous post: Ohiogal is correct that any vagueness or ambiguity in a writing is judged against the drafter and not the reader. The $1 a day per unit is as good an interpretation as $10 per day per unit, regardless of what the landlord/drafter intended.

 

[FlyingRon]

And yet ambiguity is charged against the drafter.. SO hence the lease needs examined. And you need to shut up.

Sorry, Contra Proferentem is NOT an absolute used to resolve US contract law ambiguity. In fact, it's usually the last resort if determining the intent of the contract is not resolved by other means. Of course, signs tacked on apartment hallways rarely rise to the level of an actionable contract.

 

[quincy]

Sorry, Contra Proferentem is NOT an absolute used to resolve US contract law ambiguity. In fact, it's usually the last resort if determining the intent of the contract is not resolved by other means. Of course, signs tacked on apartment hallways rarely rise to the level of an actionable contract.

First, I agree with your last sentence.

You can read Matter of City Stores Co., Bkrtcy. N.Y., 9 B.R. 717, 720, which stated that “contra preferentem” requires that a contract be construed against the person who prepared the contract.

You can read U.S. v. Seckinger, 397 US 203, 216, 90 S.Ct. 880, 25 L.Ed.2d 224, which stated that an ambiguous provision is construed most strongly against the person who selected the language.

 

[FlyingRon]

Did you even read Seckinger? It doesn't say what you claim. "More specifically, we agree with the Court of Appeals that a contractual provision should not be construed to permit an indemnitee to recover for his own negligence unless the court is firmly convinced that such an interpretation reflects the intention of the parties."