Ask Real Estate is a weekly column that answers questions from across the New York region. Submit yours to realestateqa@nytimes.com.  Living Near a Rats’ Nest  My wife and I live in the ground-floor apartment of a small co-op building that has lot-line windows abutting a neighbor’s backyard. Rats have built a nest in a pile of decomposing wood, vines and dirt on the neighbor’s property — directly outside our window. The rats have built tunnels in the dirt and around tree stumps. A vine covering the pile has grown up our building’s wall to the third floor, providing the rats with a bridge to commute to the second- and third-floor windowsills. We are concerned about the health hazard this creates and also worried that the climbing vine and tunneling rats could damage the building. How can we resolve a rat and foliage problem caused by conditions on a neighboring property?  You have good reason for concern. Rats carry diseases that can make you sick — bubonic plague comes to mind. Researchers from Columbia University recently sampled the health of rats in Manhattan and discovered that they carried a grab bag of pathogens including E. coli and salmonella. Some even carried Seoul hantavirus, a disease that can cause hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure — and had never been found before in New York.  The rats can also damage your building. Brown rats have been blamed for causing fires by chewing through electrical wiring. It’s no wonder so many New Yorkers think rats are creepy, even if there are only a mere 2 million of them in the city, as a young statistician recently calculated.  Your neighbor needs to clean the yard and clear out the vermin. Call 311 and report the hazardous condition to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. You could also file a rat complaint online at nyc.gov. If inspectors find evidence of rat activity, they could instruct the property owner to clean up the area or face violations.  Since this is an issue that really should be handled by the co-op, reach out to your building’s managing agent and report the problem. The managing agent should intervene before the situation worsens.  The managing agent “should approach the owner of the neighboring property, advise them of the seriousness of the problem, and try to work out a solution,” said Lorraine Nadel, a real estate lawyer.  If the problem continues, take up the matter with the co-op board. The board is obligated to maintain the property and keep it free of rodents. Ultimately the board could sue the neighbor for creating a private nuisance. But first, someone needs to try to persuade the neighbor to act.  Submit your questions, share your stories and tell us what topics interest you most. Post a comment or email us at realestateqa@nytimes.com.  My 91-year-old mother is ill and will be moving in with me into my rent-stabilized loft. I want to get a higher-seat toilet and grab bars in the bath for her. Is my landlord required to install these or can I pursue them on my own? Needless to say, with a 91-year-old mother, I’m getting up there myself.  Your landlord is required to provide reasonable accommodations for disabled residents, so long as the work is feasible. Grab bars should certainly meet the criteria. The Fair Housing Act, a federal law, and the New York City Human Rights Law address this point.  “Under the city’s human rights law, not only would the landlord be required to install these things, he would also be required to pay for them,” said Kelly McAnnany, a director of the Disability Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.  The landlord should permit accommodations for your mother because, as a rent-stabilized tenant, you are allowed to have a family member or roommate live with you, according to Peter A. Schwartz, a lawyer who specializes in rent-stabilization and rent control.  Write to your landlord. Explain that your mother, who lives with you, has a disability and request that he install grab bars and provide a raised toilet seat. (A raised toilet seat, a low-cost item that goes over the existing toilet, generally does not require professional installation.) You might need to include a note from your mother’s health care provider, although you do not need to supply any medical records. If the landlord rebuffs your requests and refuses to allow you to make modifications to the apartment, you could file a complaint with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. “A lot of times landlords don’t know what their responsibilities are or don’t like them,” Ms. McAnnany said.  Grab bars are a minor modification, so I cannot imagine your landlord would refuse your request. He might, however, argue that he is not required to pay for the work and may require you to restore the bath to its original condition when you vacate. You could file a complaint with the human rights commission to compel him to pay, or you could hire a handyman if you do not wish to spar with him over the issue.  The Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty operates Project Metropair, a citywide program that offers free handyman services for elderly residents who demonstrate a financial need. You can contact the Met Council at (212) 453-9542 or send an email to homeservices@metcouncil.org.  A River Runs Through It  The town graded a drainage ditch on my side of the dirt road I live on and put a turn in the ditch toward my property, which effectively dumps all of the water running down this drainage ditch onto my property. I do not believe that it is legal to do this. The town highway department has ignored my requests to change how the drainage ditch flows. What can I do?  Your town is allowed to install drainage systems and road culverts to channel water. But those efforts should not create a condition where water is funneled onto an adjacent property and damages it. The town could potentially be liable for damages, particularly if the problem was caused by negligent design or maintenance.  If you hope to collect monetary damages, you will have to act fast. You have 90 days from the time the condition was created to file a notice of claim with the town. This notice gives the municipality a chance to investigate your claim and correct the problem. If you do not do this, you could potentially lose your right to collect any monetary damages, according to Judson K. Siebert, a lawyer in White Plains, N.Y., who specializes in land use and municipal law.  “You need to move quickly to protect your rights,” Mr. Siebert said.  If the damage is continuous and ongoing, you may still get a court to order the town to correct the problem. Sometimes, just starting the legal process can be enough to get the town to act.  “The most potent means of getting the town’s attention would be to file the notice of claim,” Mr. Siebert said.  Submit your question as a comment or email to realestateqa@nytimes.com.  For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.  A version of this article appears in print on November 30, 2014, on page RE5 of the New York edition with the headline: When Vermin Come to Visit. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
This week’s topics include a threatening rats’ nest; a landlord’s responsibility to accommodate a disabled tenant; and a public drainage directed to private property.