Tenants at a New Rochelle apartment building say new rules and regulations are preventing them from going about their daily lives.

Residents at the Parkside Apartments at 570 Fifth Ave. in New Rochelle say a new rule restricts loitering in a common outdoor space by the building. They say the rule is racially motivated.

The building's management company denies the claims and says that the rule is about safety and quality of life.

"This is America. Come outside when we want and go in when we want," says resident Ada Canty. "Nobody should tell us when to come in and when to come out, that's not right."

The low-income housing complex has about 200 tenants. They say that about two weeks ago, some of them received warnings that they were in violation of their lease, attached with photos from surveillance cameras. Tenants say police were even called for loitering.

Charlie DePasquale, vice president of the NDR Group, says the restrictions are in response to a 2013 shooting incident and are in place to protect tenants.

DePasquale says most tenants have filed quality-of-life complaints, and he denies it has anything to do with race. He says the police were recently called because of illegal activity.