One of Stephanie Brown`s most unpleasant experiences as a renter involved an argument with an elderly neighbor over a lamp.
”She insisted that I take it down the freight elevator because the rules said all furniture was supposed to go down that way,” Brown recalls. ”But I thought, hey, it`s just a standing lamp.
”Now I`m laughing, but at the time I wanted to take the lamp and brain her.”
Make no mistake, Brown, a public relations associate, is a perfectly reasonable individual. But, like many renters, she thinks some building rules are rather medieval.
Some buildings have tons of them, all of which must be followed to the T. Others have almost none.
According to management professionals, newly built buildings, and those that fear a large vacancy rate, tend to have fewer rules, hoping the additional flexibility will attract more people.
Rules tend to proliferate in buildings that are nearly 100 percent leased or allow pets or in condominiums that allow renters. And, these buildings can be extremely tough about compliance.
”Certainly we have rules,” says Janice Greenberg, executive vice president of IRMCO, a property management company. ”That`s the way our tenants like it.”
From posters to pests
That isn`t to say, however, that there aren`t other buildings that go to extremes with rules.
One North Lake Shore Drive building, for example, offers these tantalizing tidbits: Renters may not put boots, shoes, umbrellas, decorative articles or posters in the hallways; residents may not reserve the sundeck for private parties or take large groups to the sundeck that would prevent the use of the deck area by other residents; and, residents are obliged to report the sighting of any pests-roaches, ants, mice-to the managing agent immediately.
And if this weren`t enough, renters are not allowed to remove the lint from clothes dryers.
This, according to the manual, is the responsibility of the building engineers.
The building also requires a security deposit on a parking space-only one car per space, of course-and also requires renters to arrange specific moving dates. Failure to do so will result in a $250 fine.
Are all of these rules really necessary?
Probably not. And renters, according to the management, don`t question their necessity all that often. But without them, most building managers believe, chaos would reign supreme.
An interview with Rover
These days, pets take priority in the rule books. A good set of pet rules, one manager said, could run for several pages.
Why, you might wonder. Isn`t it just a matter of whether you can or can`t have one?
Not these days. ”Today it`s common to have a pet interview. Building managers like to meet the pets and often they weigh them if there is a weight restriction,” says Melissa Lavender, president of CitiSearch, a relocation and apartment-finding service.
Indeed, rules regarding pet weights have become common.
The average weight limit in city buildings is around 25 pounds for cats or dogs, Lavender says. Generally, cats must also be neutered and declawed.
Terrie Whittaker, leasing manager of the New York apartment building, 3660 N. Lake Shore Drive, says that she and the manager try to meet all of the pets. But though the official building limit is 30 pounds, Whittaker says that last time she checked, her own pooch weighed in at 31.2 pounds.
”It`s not really how heavy the dog is, but how far off the ground it gets,” she explains. ”I mean, a basset hound could weigh 40 pounds, but it isn`t going to scare anybody.”
Notes Robert Meers, president of Broadacre Management Co.: ”I remember once, we had a building where a tenant who was also a policeman had a Doberman. That dog terrified everyone else in the building and it got to the point where people were waiting for the next (elevator) rather than getting in with the Doberman.
”The policeman was a good tenant, and he paid the rent, but eventually we got rid of him.”
People problems
But pets are truly just the tip of the rules iceberg; most rules are designed for people.
Many of the buildings Lavender works with are very concerned, in these days of technological marvels, about keeping the noise level somewhere below that of a jet plane, she says.
”These are basic things, but tenants simply can`t disturb the rest of the building with music. And smaller landlords might actually live in the same building, so they are even more concerned,” she says.
Thomas Clusman, general manager of the New York, says his building had to write some new rules pertaining to its rooftop party room and live music.
”What sometimes happens with our Paris party room is that the vibration, not the sound, would travel down through the superstructure of the building, and the tenants all the way through the building could sense it. The drywall vibrates like a speaker,” he explains.
At first, he admits, the building was stumped. Now they require sound isolators, which are placed between the floor and the equipment.
Waterbed alert
Jeffrey Kolodny, chief executive officer of Hallmark and Johnson Property Management Co., says sometimes rules are made to cope with a current fad.
Take waterbeds, for example. ”Ten, 15 years ago, all anybody wanted to know was if the building would let you have a waterbed,” he says with a laugh.
So rules were written requiring the renter to provide proof of waterbed insurance, and all sorts of other things. Today, Kolodny says, standard leases prohibit them, although they are really no longer an issue.
”Rules,” he notes, ”change with the seasons.”
Some don`t, however. The Belden Stratford, a luxury apartment building built in the 1920s, still maintains a dress code for those residents who wish to sit and enjoy the lobby.
”Why, yes,” says Greenberg, whose company manages the building, ”we require that those individuals who wish to sit there be well-shod. I mean, we wouldn`t let anyone sit there who was shoeless, or who was wearing shorts.”
The lobby has been beautifully restored to its vintage glory. Highly polished brass fixtures and railings accent marble walls and deep woods. Two restaurants, Un Grand Cafe and Ambria, share the lobby.
”We hold brunches several times a year for our tenants in the lobby, and we ask that they be dressed appropriately,” Greenberg says. ”But, we have a very high class of people, and this is what they want.”
Apparently so. According to Greenberg, the Belden Stratford is currently 100 percent leased.
”Buildings that are in demand can afford to be pickier about their rules and regulations than buildings that are half- or three-quarters vacant,” says Lavender.
Still, some rules seem made to be broken.
Betsy Edgerton, a senior copy editor for Electronic Media magazine, says her building prohibits barbecuing on the back porch, but some people do it anyway.
The New York also prohibits barbecuing on its balconies, principally because the management feels it could be dangerous to pedestrians below.
”Some people do barbecue, and we don`t really mind except that once a Weber (grill) fell over and the coals fell out and the wind picked them up and one landed on the garage roof,” Clusman says. ”It burned a hole in the roof, which we weren`t all that happy about.”
He said the building maintenance team has also discovered, on occasion, half-cooked hot dogs on the garage roof. They once found a bottle of worcestershire sauce up there, too.
”I don`t know,” says Allison Beatty, a tenant at the New York. ”It seems to be the only reason to have a balcony is to barbecue on it.” c8
