City Beekeepers: The Dos and Don’ts of Maintaining an Urban Hive
It’s perfectly legal to keep registered honeybee hives in the city, but they can’t become a nuisance to the neighbors.
Q: We live in a building on the Upper West Side. Bees from an unregistered bee hive at a neighboring building are getting through our window screens and into the apartments. I’m all for urban rooftop beekeeping, but the location of this hive — on a relatively low roof surrounded by much taller buildings — is problematic. I called 311 last summer, which referred me to the city’s Department of Health. It came out for an inspection in November, but the hives are now active again and the situation persists. What action we can take?
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If all else fails, your building can file a private nuisance lawsuit against the beekeeper in State Supreme Court. The lawsuit should demand that the beekeeper legalize the hives and comply with city code, and cease operations until that happens, said Adam Leitman Bailey, a real estate lawyer in Manhattan.