I am seeking legal advice - please let me know your thoughts or if you think there is a path forward. This is the concise version that I emailed to 4 local lawyers for consultation - but I'm happy to elaborate on any of the points below in a more colloquial fashion.

I am a tenant in a market rate apartment in Queens. My building manager is refusing to allow me an additional FOB for my front door. I have requested this second key in order to ensure my senior dog can be cared for while I'm at work (on site travel 4-6 times per month) by a trusted friend, family member, or dog care service. Management is claiming my reason for needing a key is "unreasonable" and that I'm trying to "circumvent a legal document" by changing my reason every time they deny me. I have not changed my reason - I have only changed the recipient of the key. When they denied my mother I changed it to friend and when they denied my friend I said I'll hire a company in an attempt to find an agreeable situation that management is comfortable with and finds reasonable.

To complicate things - to my knowledge they have given a key to a single male occupant (my neighbor) for the same reason (for his mother to care for his dog). When I brought up that this was possibly discriminatory and to please reconsider my request management attempted to recall the keys they previously approved to other tenants. They cited "it was in error - the keys were only loaned out temporarily - and they need them back". Management cited a policy I've never seen or signed. Some of these spare keys have been in possession of the tenant for upwards of 3 months before the attempted recall. This recall also includes a female tenant who was forced to reveal private medical information in order to get a spare key approved for medical welfare checks.

Here is what is written in the lease:

Section 35

Tenant assumes liability for any person kets are entrusted to. The name, address and telephone number of any person with an additional set of keys to the apartment are required to be furnished to the owner or its managing agent. Only Owner may make such additional sets of keys upon a tenant’s written request with the above mentioned information. Owner will not refuse any such reasonable request. All extra sets of keys must be returned to the owner no later than one (1) day prior to move unless agreed to by the owner.

The only "solution" I've been offered is to add an additional person to my lease - that they would then allow me a second key. The problem with adding my mother or friend to my lease is that neither of them would live with me - pay rent - or are considered my legal dependents. This doesn't seem right nor reasonable.

In any other building with a normal metal key I would have gone to a hardware store and made a copy - but with this FOB system there is an unfair level of control that is making it difficult for me to leave home and make a living. I could risk losing my job if I cannot travel to a client site because I don't have a friend who on short notice can come walk my senior dog - the dog that is written into my lease and that management collects additional rent on. I pay my rent on time and in full and I don't want my livelihood threatened because I'm unable to. I also have no complaints against me by other tenants. For all intents and purposes I am a model tenant.

tl;dr: Apartment has a FOB entry system - management will only give 1 key even though lease says I may request an additional one. All requests are refused with the only answer being "we deem it unreasonable" - "we still deem is unreasonable" - etc etc. I have all the receipts as I refuse to speak to him over the phone and insist on written communication only.