Is it legal for a business to tape its ads to my private building?

[casilda]

I live in Manhattan/NYC. I called the City's service # (311), but a Sanitation specialist there told me that Sanitation doesn't respond to complaints of ads being taped or stapled to private buildings (the rep didn't know whether that was because it was actually legal to do that, or because the dept. doesn't have the resources to investigate them). And, even if she did register a complaint for me, she said that, because I've already removed the sign, Sanitation wouldn't see it when they responded to the complaint and so would close the complaint w/o action. (So why bother.) But if I hadn't removed the sign, the super would have, or one of my tenants would have -- who wants litter attached to their building for several weeks, waiting for Sanitation to come and see it?

I also tried calling the business and asking them not to tape ads to my building, and the woman who answered SCREAMED at me, asking, "Who the F@%& do you think you are?" Nice.

I googled this subject but couldn't find anything. Help!

Thanks.

[Rylai]

Good question! I used to operate a small business (very small, just me at age 16) and my primary source of sales was taping flyers to doors of houses I wished to service. This is a CA law, but as I remember it (not word for word, but close) a business, person, or otherwise is allowed to tape/post flyers the size of legal paper or smaller (as in not a 2x3 poster) using non damaging methods (sliding in the frame, painter's tape, etc) for a maximum of 3 days. After 3 days it becomes litter (abandoned). I always picked up my flyers, but it's a small offense to leave them up...
However, if the house had a NO SOLICITING sign posted, it would have been illegal for me to put up a flyer, as the owner of the property has denied my ability to solicit my service to them.

I had a lot of people ask me about this, and I kept a copy of the law in my binder I carried with me (along with my business license and permits) and had no problems. A person yelling at you on the other end of the business line however... is bad.

My recommendation is to contact the BBB and file a complaint about the service, the BBB is a powerful tool for consumers to protect themselves, use it!