[ri, Usa] Commercial Building Has Multiple Floors Under Different Ownership, The Floor With Roof Access Won’t Let Us Onto Roof So We Can’t Fix Our Hvac And Have No Heat At All. Can They Legally Refuse To Let Us Access Our Hvac System On The Roof?

Location: Providence, Rhode Island , USA

I am an employee working at a restaurant on the first floor of a building with 6 floors. My employers own the first floor of the building and there are other tenants that own other floors.

Our HVAC system is on the roof. Starting last month, our heat stopped working. We need to go on the roof in order to fix our heat / hvac.

The problem we are having is that the people who own the fourth floor will not allow us to have roof access at all. There is no way to get to the roof otherwise. There are no ladders/fire escapes on the side of the building that lead to the roof and it is only accessible through the 4th floor.

We have asked politely many times, we have asked the building manager to ask and was told that the 4th floor is refusing to let us have roof access.

They have not given us any reason why except that there is some kind of condo association (?) fee that the owner of the restaurant I work at needs to pay the 4th floor. (Not sure why it’s a condo association fee because it’s a commercial building without anyone living there residentially)

Is it legal for the 4th floor to block roof access for a building that they do not own entirely?

We have been losing business due to it being so cold that customers walk out right after after coming in. This week it has been below 20 degrees Fahrenheit on some days and where I work it is less than 50 degrees INSIDE the building during the daytime.