Regulating our gargabe?

[bluehatbarbie]

I just got a letter from my landlord stating that for every week we do not put out garbage and recyclables, we'll be fined $5. I do not use the city trash pick up service and dispose of my garbage in a different (and legal) manner. Do they have any right to charge us this fine?

[lofter1]

Always some new and questionable scheme from LLs ...

How does your LL propose to monitor / regulate your garbage dumping?

[bluehatbarbie]

They live next door. If they don't see the garbage out, they'll fine me.

I personally don't think this could possibly be legal. Landlords can't demand you use a particular utility company, right? I assume this would be the same. As long as I am getting rid of my garbage, I should be able to use whatever means I deem appropriate (as long as it's legal, of course--can't just dump stuff in the backyard, obviously).

[cestmoi123]

Out of curiosity, why does your landlord care? And what are you doing with the trash? Sounds like there's something else going on here...

[bluehatbarbie]

My landlords are neat freaks...BIG time. They are pissed off because lately they've been poking around people's apartments (playing with the heat and such) and the apartments (all rented to VERY BUSY graduate students) are not as clean as they would like. They gave us the whole "we put a lot of time and money into these apartments so we want them kept clean" spiel. The garbage thing is a pet peeve of theirs that has bothered them since I moved in a year and a half ago!

BTW, I use my sister's dumpster for my trash. She lives two blocks over. It's just more convenient that way (and I don't have to pay extra for the "special" trash bags you have to purchase for city pick up). Then again, my landlords have never asked what I do with my trash...

[Aubergine]

Do you have a lease?

[bluehatbarbie]

Yes. Went through one year of it and renewed. It's good until next June.

[Aubergine]

OK, so does your lease include a provision in which you agree to pay a $5 "fine" for not putting your garbage and recyclables out on the premises?

If not, I have to ask what would make you think that your landlord has the right to impose "fines" on his lessees as and when he pleases. Sheer awe of the majestic authority the Lord wields over his sundry lands and tenements, and those whom he suffers to dwell upon and within them? Are you living in the 21st century, or the 14th? It's your choice -- you can be the Lord's wretched villeins, living in terror of his whims, caprices, and flights of despotic fancy, or you can regard yourself and him as free and equal contracting parties, bound only by the law you set down for yourselves.

[cestmoi123]

OK, I get it. LL is worried you're letting garbage pile up in the apartment, and is trying to force you to throw it out regularly. Unless there's something in the lease about these fines, I can't see how they could be enforceable. That being said, it couldn't hurt to tell your LL what you do with your garbage, so he doesn't think you've got trash bags stacked to the ceiling in your living room...

[TenantNet]

I would absolutely not tell the LL more than he needs to know. You're referring to a Collier's Disease situation, where garbage in one's apartment -- along with stacks of newspapers and other possessions -- are so great that only narrow pathways exist in the unit. Of course this is a health issue for the tenant and other tenants, as well as a fire safety issue. In such cases, usually other tenants are complaining.

That's not what you have here. LL seems to be operating on the lack of garbage, which is not a violation of any codes or the lease. Can he maintain a court proceeding for not putting out garbage?