This is one of those laws meant to harass landlords, which the citizenry approves of, but instead it's now turned around and bit the citizenry!
7
This isn't the rule of law, it's the rule of bureaucratic idiocy.
6
This article doesn't go far enough. Who stands to benefit from this unreasonable manner of enforcement, for instance? Who is calling in all these complaints about illegal sinks and washing machines in basements? It seems the only way to get out from under the enormity of these fines is to sell the property. Aha! In gentrifying neighborhoods, removing renters who are POC is easy. You just raise their rents. Removing the remaining homeowners is more complicated. But, as this article proves, not impossible.
7
As a native New Yorker and a retired legal services attorney, it is stories like this that make my blood boil.
The obvious purpose of the law at hand is to avoid accidents, either during construction or due to substandard work. But because enforcement numbers are a political hot potato, building department inspectors are "cracking down" where it is easiest to write lots of violations: clueless homeowners.
The fact that fines bear no relationship to the actual hazard presented (in many instances, none at all) and the building department provides no information to those cited regarding remediation's time limits, means those acting in good faith - and trying to comply - end up owing huge sums. The amounts seem to be scaled for developers and contractors, and when applied to individual homeowners, are arbitrary and capricious at best. They are clearly excessive, and their escalation through repeated citations smacks of harassment and abuse of legal process.
It is no surprise that the Building Department finds itself short of lawyers willing to support these policies. I salute Mr. Currie and every other attorney who has chosen to vote with his/her feet: the policies should be applied appropriately, not in ways that simply run up big numbers for press releases.
79
I don't know any reasonable person who is against reasonable regulations that actually serve to protect people, noting that does not mean just creating the appearance of protection. Unfortunately, this article beautifully illustrates the nature of bureaucracy, which often seems to serve only itself. The focus shifts over time from actually serving and protecting the public to eagerly seeking out the least violation and demonstrating the power of the government to insist on its way, regardless of actual need. Further, as we see especially in the federal government, the people who write these regulations are unelected, no legislative body actually approves these acts and abuse is dismissed with a shrug of indifference.
And yet people wonder why there is such an appeal to supporting people like Trump who rail against such abuses by technocrats and the Wilsonian "experts" whom we are told we should listen to in all matters.
40
@George S
Politicians create and enhance bureaucracies to implement their policies, and the bureaucracies create reporting systems to show they are implementing policies. The entire incentive structure of policy implementation is usually oriented towards producing reporting that demonstrates the bureaucracy is pursuing the politician's goals, regardless of whether the goals are really being met.
It's no different in business -- I see it at work all the time where people wind up "meeting the numbers" even though the actual work product is poor.
9
@George S
Every actor is acting in their own interest. The individual bureaucrats, the institutions themselves. No one but you and perhaps your mother has a primary interest in serving you.
@KBronson
Well, sorry, but the taxpayers have an deserved expectation that their government, politicians and employees WILL be working for us, the citizenry. Their “own interest” is, frankly, irrelevant.
6
Oftentimes work like this is done to create illegal apartments the owners can rent out for extra income. These apartments often are unsafe, without proper light and air or adequate fire exits.
When I renovated my apartment (legally), the builder found a lot of unsafe electrical wiring the previous owner had installed himself. It was unsafe for me and my hundreds of neighbors.
Maybe it’s a real nuisance for me to have my neighbors raise chickens on the roof, and what exactly is going on in that renovated garage with a bathroom? Is someone living there?
I’d also want to make sure my neighbors aren’t filling my yard with lead paint or asbestos dust during their construction projects.
The author of his piece can cherry-pick examples to make the offenders more sympathetic, but really, just get the proper permits. I’m glad these laws are being upheld.
75
@Amv
It was a pigeon coop, not a chicken coop. Of course both are domesticated birds, so you may have been confused. It is also possible that you are confused about other things as well.
9
@Amv...If you read the article, it's about how these laws are being upheld. That's the problem - but thanks for you're input. And cherry-pick this...
"Lawyers for the department also denounced its approach in an internal memo in July of last year, a copy of which was obtained by The Times. They wrote that the policies were being applied in “confiscatory” ways, focusing on minor offenses and diverting resources from more serious ones."
21
@Amv...If you read the article, it's about how these laws are being upheld. That's the problem - but thanks for you're input.
3
If you need an example to understand why middle income Americans do not trust government to liberal "do gooders" to address problems that they themselves would like to see solved, this story should provide a clear and convincing one in spades.
There is, in particular, the fully bloated, one size fits all, ridiculously simplistic solution to an important problem that unleashes the full force of legal, but blind, authority to insure compliance.
The bureaucrats who oversee such authority either are unaware of the consequences of such uniformity, or incapable of quickly producing an appropriate fix to their behavior so that only the principal sources of a problem are
targeted.
In the meantime, normal ordinary people are ground under
by the "process" and it takes an expose of this sort to help
instigate some correction.
15
Vivian Currie, ESQ & Petr Benimovich, ESQ. (former DOB attorneys)
Benimovich Currie LLP
Due to character limitation, we linked our full comment below.
https://bcbclaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/bcbclaw-Our-Thoughts-On-NY-Times-Article-entitled-The-Law-Was-Aimed-at-Deadly-Machinery.-It-Hit-Her-Washer-by-NY-Times-Investigative-Reporter-Grace-Ashford-1.pdf
How best to enforce got trampled by selective and moronic processes anchored by thoughtless data…
Deputy Commissioner Fisher who was mentioned in the article and her Assistant Commissioner, Mr. Wax, knew or should have known that this enforcement system that they helped create and were ultimately responsible for and regularly curated was unfairly affecting and having a disparate impact on communities of color, long term residents, and small business owners. But they continued to push their policies, shamelessly…
No one would realistically claim the solution is to not enforce the codes, to not inspect to see if there are hazardous conditions, to not require an un-permitted gas line to have a full inspection and seal of approval from both a licensed professional and the City. However, the answer cannot be to endlessly and continuously fine people who are stuck on the spiral of trying to deal with the bureaucracy of correcting a violation…
If the city is really concerned with safety and not their coffers, there are other mechanisms to take on repeating bad actors…Ms. Ashford’s article creates an opportunity for the DOB.
16
How are homeowners responsible for work done on their homes BEFORE they purchased?
Homes have to be inspected before they sold, so why didn't the illegal work come up then? That way, getting the permits or tearing out the work, would have been the responsibility of the person trying to sell the house, rather than the buyer years later.
This is a racket.
78
@Hope In my experience, if you hire a home inspection service to inspect a home before or after you sell it, the inspection doesn't legally protect the buyer or the seller. The inspection company is private, and generally doesn't have access to the permits that were filed on the property. The private inspection service can point out structural or safety issues but they aren't obligated to point out that a previous renovation was done without permits, and that seems to be the common thread with these absurdly expensive fines - lack of permits.
9
@Ed Every property's permits are clearly visible and obtainable on the DOB website.
4
This is what makes people hate government regulation. We need regulations -- for safe products, safe working conditions, etc. But we also need common sense. I am a progressive, politically, but this kind of stuff made my father into a conservative that remained disgusted with government interference until his death. I hope New York wakes up and corrects this mess.
23
I had owned a small apartment building in a landmark district. I rented a store to a barber who requested a hair washing sink installed. Thinking nothing of a small sink, I installed it myself on a Saturday morning. Sure enough someone complained to 311. Inspectors showed up and issued a "work without a permit" violation and a "legalize to the satisfaction of this department" violation. I promptly attempted to file for a permit, however, no permit could be authorized by the Department of Buildings before (a) a fine was paid for the "work without a permit hearing" and the Landmarks Preservation Commission issuied a "Certificate of No Effect," a lengthy process. As a result, it was impossible to meet the compliance date, which resulted in MORE TICKETS and MORE FINES and MORE ADMINSTRATIVE HEARINGS.
After several months of dealing with architects, expeditors, lawyers and plumbers, I finally legalized the barber's hair wash sink. The entire process took EIGHT MONTHS, and I had diligently tried to comply with all deadlines every step of the way.
The cost: $20,000 in fines and professional fees. Eight months of delayed store opening and lost rent. Incredibly frustrating process, which took a toll on my mental health and strained my finances.
This system does not serve the interest of anyone and is a discouragement to doing business in New York.
Coda: I sold the building.
349
@Ken NYC
You could have also removed the sink and restored everything back to the way it was. It would have taken but half a day.
4
@Ken NYC
On the other hand, the city protected the public from the danger posed by your sink.
15
@Ken NYC
You could've gotten a permit before hand.
3
It's yet another tax on the middle class. It's nothing short of disgusting. Thanks de Blasio, real hero of the working class.
11
These fines are way beyond what is adequate for enforcement and compliance. They are prima facie confiscatory. This is lining someone's pocket or serving someone's interest .
13
Ms. Harrow has a big payday in the form of a lawsuit against NYC.
Harassment of owners and piling-on for a minor infraction and illegal confiscation of personal property are all big-city motivated politics...DeBlasio should be ashamed.
11
Amazing!!! Issuing huge fines for creating value. Is New York a red state?
7
Is NYC gov't crazy? Mr. Mayor, unscrew this mess. Now!
12
One word: scary
9
Wow. And deBlasio thought he could be president? He sounds like a worse slumlord than Trump now.
12
Bill DeBlasio, champion of the common man, fighter for racial justice... and instigator of predatory ticketing.
Washing machine? Chicken coop?
Alexandra Fisher: "The agency was merely enforcing the laws as written. " Ever the response of the lazy and heartless bureaucrat.
18
Total corruption - totally unacceptable.
WE need legislated amnesty and a housecleaning at the bureaucracy responsible for this.
8
This fiasco cries out for a class action suit based on patent violations of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of both the United States Constitution and New York State Constitution. Litigation superstar David Boies can atone for his sins helping Weinstein by leading the charge on this.
11
I finally have found out from this article why all of a sudden my NYC LL is filing for work permits after so many years of hiring illegal plumbers & electricians ,painters & such.
4
For those of you who don’t know the unbelievable type of stuff building professionals deal with in NYC on a regular basis, please look up the case of the half-sized ‘Being John Malkovich’ Apartments recently busted in Manhattan.
The situation would be amusing- except for the fact that we are taking about poor recent immigrants living in a dangerous and inhumane situation, being taken advantage of by two unethical Landlords.
Stuff like this happens across the city on a shockingly regular basis, and this is why the DOB does what it does!
From the article on Gothamist:
“The Department of Buildings recently busted two landlords at 165 Henry Street for having subdivided their Lower East Side apartments into nine micro-apartments, apparently by bisecting each of their original units with a new (and illegal) floor. Those halves appear to have then been partitioned to create 18 tiny, unauthorized closet homes in a building that's supposed to have 27 units, total. In these apartments for ants, occupants likely had to scoot around on their knees, or constantly hunch to clear ceilings that, in some cases, would have been tall enough to accommodate a medium-sized child.“
6
@Schultzie Thanks for this. What people will not stoop to for money is so upsetting.
2
This is an excellent reporting by the New York Times. Thank you.
15
This type of corruption and bureaucracy is exactly why I left New York City after being raised in Queens. Corruption was rampant. Our family sold or gave away their real estate holdings for the same reason. An honest property owner couldn't make a living. I now reside happily in Texas where we have reasonable regulations and none of the complex hearing processes that cost huge amounts of time and money and always favor the wealthy or the city. Texans would laugh at rules such as alternate side of the street parking. I never regretted leaving and was right that things have not improved.
13
The city should alert all new homeowners of their responsibility regarding code violations when the real estate transfer occurs, and real estate agents should have to advise upon going to contract. Many of the codes make perfect sense because in a city, there is a community to consider.
11
Why not hold closing sales until the corrections are made?
1
I think the solution is, instead of racking up fines after the initial fine, we should have a Stop Use Order, similar to a Stop Work Order for construction sites that we have at present without adding new fines. The hazard will be contained, and if it's something that stop use won't solve (until the violation is fixed permanently), then a Vacate Order can be given without adding fines. These will be enough reasons for the owners to fix the problems in a reasonbly timely fashion (counting time for new design, time for new permit, time for hiring contractor, and time time for fixing the problem). If they still don't fix after all this time, then the owner can be hit with present method of escalating fines. I think this will be fair to all parties, the homeowners and the public as represented by the DOB.
7
If the purpose is to make reconstruction/repair jobs safe for the citizenry of Gotham - perhaps our politicians need to be putting (our tax) money into hiring people that could make permit applications less onerous and expediting them. When things are not overly complicated the average citizen is more apt to go through a reasonable process to redo a bathroom or update plumbing... This is revenue raising - and they do because they are "merely enforcing the laws as written." NYC is becoming untenable for people of moderate means.
19
Since the days of Giuliani, the Department of Buildings has been viewed as a cash cow. Enforcement was never a matter of a safer city. The Counsel and Mayor are busy patting their self-righteous backs “acting tough” without the slightest regard for the true implications the law and rule making bender they are on will have.
It’s all about the money. They don’t want to help.
14
The problem with government bureaucracies is that they forget to examine the unintended consequences of regulations. This is an outrageous injustice. No wonder taxpayers are critical of local governments that fail to look at the impact on citizens.
18
@priscus
No, this is not "government bureaucracies", this is bad people, intentionally abusing small homeowners to make the enforcement figures look good. The bosses refuse to change the exploitive policy. The lawyer bureaucrats who do the work are disturbed at the policy. The inspectors who paste fake inspection notices to the door are crooks.
12
I am glad they don’t have such “laws” in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia if you don’t change the original purpose of the room then you don’t need a permit.
The OTHER thing is that Philadelphia doesn’t have ‘blueprints’ of every building in the city, so they have NO idea what rooms in its houses were originally designed to be used.
I am quite sure almost every kitchen in Philadelphia has had its kitchen and laundry rooms redesigned over the last 30 years and nobody knows what was performed and where it happened!!! Since the city owns the gas company, you call a plumber, he calls the gas company, does the job according to code, and the city & gas company approves the work!One less step!!!
14
Lest I forget, the author mostly talks about court fines. In addition to these, you have the "DOB civil penalties". Let me explain to you how these work. If you get a work without permit violation, for either building an entire house, demolishing it, or simply building a shed which is more than 10 by 10, and happen to be found guilty of a CL1, you will need to pay a work without permit civil penalty (min of $600 for 1-2 family homes and a minimum of $6000 for 3+/commercial/mixed use). You will then need to go to the plan examiner which can take months. In the meantime, the "enforcement" action continues. After 75-85 days you will receive a late filing fee of $1.5K, and likely get a failure to comply $2.5K before even having the permit issued. If you argue that in court you will be told that "administrative delays" are not a defense.
Contractor violations go from $1250 to $10K for first offenses. This is per violation; contractors receive violations in bunches ($80-100K totals are not unheard of). Many have been wiped out or left NYC. I would also be very wary about receiving any kind of relief in court as you might end up being extremely unlucky and will end up sending checks to the NYC Dept. of Finance (like the taxes). I represented immigrants who had family members live in rooms in the cellar. They were written up for close to $200K. While this is not an ideal setup, this is what they had and not everyone can afford $1-2K apartment. These lines only scratch the surface
15
Similar in Florida. The Building Department isn't there to help citizens have a safe home but to make money out of petty non-compliance.
For example: $200 per day for peeling paintwork on a single window, $300 per day to the LANDLORD if your TENANT has an untagged car on the driveway, or even on the public street, same for having a bees nest if you don't exterminate the bees promptly etc.
9
I believe the Supreme court recently ruled against a city in Florida (Glen Eden) for excessive and rediculous fines, so it should be easy for these people to win in court. These are the swamps of pathetic parasitic bureaucrats that need to be drained.
1
In 2009, my mother-in-law sold the house that she and her husband bought in Westchester County in 1952. There was a hold-up because the previous owner - the owner prior to 1952! - had illegally closed in a porch.
What a cluster. The porch posed no danger to anyone. The only harm done was to my mother in law's pocketbook.
I hate to be cynical, but ya know?
22
Wow, NYC at its finest. From what has been reported, Trump gets around fire code, a fire happens and a man dies, Trump is in the clear. Then all the vindictiveness of the inspectors are turned on the little guy for slight wrongs. Again, the 1% gets away with noncompliance, but the average Joe is slammed. Is this really making America great again?
Here in the heartland, we hear that NYC is more corrupt than a 3rd world country. This operation of a fining scheme that seems to perfectly fit the RICO statutes and no interest by Trump's DOJ. It really shows that really does matter who you either know or who you pay off.
17
@mjbr This is DE Blasio domain, not Trump's.
3
Washing machines and a pigeon coop? Seriously? People are being fined into bankruptcy for things like his? The whole thing is a bit Kafka-esque, a cach-22 where there's no way to satisfy the legal requirements and the fines keep piling up. Absurd. And the officious little bureaucrats who defend their overreach by hiding behind the facade of merely upholding the law should be dismissed.
28
Sounds a lot like the fines that accumulate on minor offense prisoners.
11
@AMS . Dismissed? Perhaps jail time is more suited.
2
Reminds me of health insurance.
1
In Queens, at least, any attempt to get information about addressioning violation by phone *as a landlord* goes unanswered. When I need information I have to call landlord-friendlier Staten Island.
7
This is the NYC version of Ferguson, MO. Soak the regular folks to keep agencies running, whose main mission is to soak the regular folks.
15
Every city has its special rackets. Chicago's is street parking. What's your town's favorite way of sticking it to the Little People Who Pay the Taxes there?
12
@Tournachonadar
Chicago is worse: they sold street parking to a private company for 40 years (if I remember) with no safeguards against extortionate parking fee raises. And guess what happened?
3
This is unsettling. Regarding household appliances, I saw a patent out there a few years ago for compressed air dishwashers. I think you could save a lot of water that way.
1
Why not do what the big real estate folks likely do. Have their building reps give the inspector an advance Christmas present.
10
@ez Some did that and ended up in jail as they should
4
I have been in this specific industry for a number of years at this point and deal with this agency on a daily basis. I personally know the lawyers named in the article.
Mr. Benimovich was a fair lawyer who understood what was going on from the start. Representing homeowners, contractors, property managers and developers I have had to deal with violations bearing six figures. While some violations are legitimate (25%) and are here to ensure that 1) slumlords and 2) bad contractors are punished, the majority of the violations issued are questionable.
Over the past three years, most fines have double and some have quadrupled. Failure to comply violations (class 1 and 2) are indeed the low hanging fruit, but so are a lot of others.
If you need to install a new hot water heater you need a permit (or incur a $2.5K fine). If an owner hires a contractor who has workers who do not have OSHA cards, the contractor and the OWNER will get $5K fines PER WORKER. If you run AIRBNB you will be likely be looking at daily penalties ($1K/day up to 45 in addition to the "minimum penalty" of $5K). If you have Seperate Room Occupancy of 3 or more units in your house you will be looking at $15K per room in addition to daily penalties. Oh, and if a squatter was doing that you are still responsible unless you can show "impossibility" (good luck). Did you forget your logbook for the jobsite? $5K. Also, one inspector could issue the same violation as a CL1 while another as a CL2 etc...
32
@Schultz I did not know that one needed a permit in NYC to install a household water heater. That seems beyond absurd. Most places have a licensing system that authorizes qualified, licensed companies and contractors to do it. No permit required. Assuming it's a gas heater, the licensee must have the qualification as a gas fitter and be able to seal and certify the installation.
17
We are trying to abide by the regulations of DOB. We are now in the 4th year of renovation of a home in Queens. I can see why others would avoid compliance since the cost and time has been astronomical and we are still not in the house. On the other hand I don’t want to live in a neighborhood where folks do their own electrical and plumbing work. We’ve seen what happens where a jury-rigged gas line explodes killing people. But where is the balance for a middle class family?
For many the expected cost leads a homeowner to hire an inexpensive contractor who promises a quick job. Sometimes permits are included, often not. The DOB is right to ask removal of unregulated construction. But why is the homeowner liable for a contractor’s deceit? Even a reputable contractor will fall foul of the law, but usually he or she has an expediter to handle the case. But even a reputable contractor will put his client on hold in order to finish another project.
To comply with the DOB giant book of regulations, the homeowner must hire at the behest of their architect, mechanical and structural engineers. All of them are worried about litigation and therefore over-build simple structures which the homeowner must pay for and live with for ever after. Although our house remains unoccupied the taxes go up, the gas and electric need to be paid. Where does it end?
21
The fine should hurt enough so that illegal building is not enticing, the procedures could be better defined, but I’m sure the fines would be forgiven if the homeowner promptly responded to the notice and removed the offense immediately. Chicken coop or gas dryer, get the permit or live dangerously, you get caught or go to sell, you gotta take it down.
1
@DJM
But what you're saying isn't true based on this article. Ms. Harrow did not install her gas dryer. it was there when she purchased the property, but she is being punished for it.
12
I read the violations Jean Harrow received. The inspectors flagged a gas line installed in the cellar to service the dryer. According to the violation, this gas line was installed without a permit.
Now read the article in today's NY Times about the tragic explosion in the East Village in 2015: "An Illegal Gas Line Killed 2 People. Should the Landlord Go to Prison?"
The comments on that article generally deplore the Landlord's greed, calling for prison and manslaughter charges.
The comments on this article are the complete opposite- the majority support Ms. Harrow's and others' right to modify their houses without the interference of the DOB.
How on earth are these situations different?
One caused the death of two people, the injury of 15 others, and the destruction of a row of historic buildings in the East Village.
The other hasn't caused any problems... yet.
But we would be wringing our hands in horror if the un-permitted gas line in Ms. Harrow's cellar caused an explosion that God forbid might injure herself, her tenants, neighbors, and their houses.
Both situations feature building owners wanting to cut corners and save money- thereby endangering their fellow New Yorkers.
And even through Ms. Harrow did not install the washer and dryer herself, you can bet she would have proudly featured it in her real estate listing along with her basement bathroom when the time comes to sell- pocketing the extra money and passing the buck to somebody else.
23
@Schultzie How can you be fined for something you didn't do originally? She bought the house that way, it is not her fault the previous owners did it wrong.
15
@Schultzie I do not think the problem is with the reason for the citation, but with the exorbitant consequences.. the way the fining system is constructed, it looks more like a shakedown than working to improve lives.
33
@Moira Rogow It's her responsibility as a buyer to figure that stuff out. If the previous owners misrepresented something to her, she is free to sue them.
Why should she accrue all the benefits of the system and none of the risks? As the poster above pointed out, she would have gotten the benefit of that illegal renovation in her rental or sale of the property.
6
On the must-read list for anyone with an interest in how cities work is Mike Royko's book Boss, an account of the original Mayor Daley of Chicago and the "machine" he perfected. Royko notes that Chicago had the strictest building codes in America. Concern for citizens' safety? Nah! More like opportunities to shake folks down for bribes.
And I guarantee you the department heads are well aware of what's going on at street-level. If they weren't, how would they know whether they're getting the proper amount of up-kick?
19
It’s an unusual choice, by the reporter or editor, put this statement in the first paragraph: “Yes, she had put a powder room in her basement without realizing she needed a permit...”. No one installs a bathroom believing that she does not need a permit. Of course it’s required. That makes her entire plight less sympathetic. As for the washer and dryer, the legality of that installation should have come up when she purchased the property. I understand that the city jerked her around after that, over escalating fees, but she did not begin the fight in solid moral ground. I wonder why the reporter led with her story.
It might be different now, but back in the 1980s and ‘90s San Francisco assigned planning department employees to roam the city looking for waste containers full of construction debris. That was how they busted people for non-permitted work. It was common for property owners to build a seemingly unplumbed room — a room that was actually fitted out to be a rental apartment but had the works sheetrocked over — get the build signed off by the city, then cut into the wall and finish the hookups. I was told that money often changed hands for these sign offs. I never witnessed that myself.
20
When a friend of mine complained to her super that her AC was throwing the 15A breaker, he simply came in and replaced the appropriate 15A breaker with a 20A one. Wow that really makes sense: overamping a circuit, now that's dangerous and the super did it.
The process as described is nuts, only exists to crank up city revenue AND it surely lacks due process. Not often that a New Yorker neglects to sue....
14
Don't you just love progressive's big government control? Just think what we have to look forward to with Medicare for All.
13
@Grace
Apparently the word "progessive" has four letters for you, and you don't know what it means.
4
The Administrative Enforcement Unit at the Dept. of Buildings IS GUILTY. They knew the ordinary people that their asinine policies were hurting every day yet they failed to stand up for the 'little guy'. They saw first hand how the system was failing yet they did nothing other than completely complicate the process.They argued in a "timely manner" was legally correct when we all know it can be nothing but opinion. The judges at ECB (Environmental Control Board) , the lawyers and the inspectors for the Department of Buildings, are also guilty for not questioning the system and how it went wrong day after day. Some form of financial retribution is in order - it's not enough to say they were wrong and will fix the problem. They need to reimburse the people hurt by their careless and unfair practices.
18
Speaking sarcastically, why not just let the fines "rack up" and donate the building to the city? Let them take care of the repairs, since the average landlord is burdened with an older building (with lots of maintenance issues), rent control, and now a spiraling debt of fines.
Whether they're guilty or not, it is almost as if it doesn't matter. They are being whacked with fines so fast, they're drowning in fines.
5
@Mark91345 Except you are talking about people's HOMES. No one is going to voluntarily allow their home to be "taken" by the City for unpaid building code fines. That's just insane ... as insane as this Building Dept! Maybe they could simply STOP .... cause if you look at the map, it sure smacks of some BIGGER hands at work. Someone wants those properties, and it's not the City.
5
@Mark91345 Ah, a representative from the Real Estate Board of New York is here!
Tell you what -- I'm sure the city would be happy to have all that property, since it's such a losing proposition. Real estate is, as we all know, a losing business in New York, which is why nobody ever gets into it.
5
De Blasio can kiss my vote goodbye. Anyone who treats normal people like this will not make a good president.
There is a 92 year old woman in my neighborhood who continuously calls the city on the rest of us. The guy who lives directly across the street from her had a six foot tall privacy fence installed across the front of his property so she can't see anything at his house. She called the city on me after telling me to remove my wisteria vine because she thought it looked too wild. I refused and she called the city. The inspector practically begged me to have it removed and I refused. Off to court we go. I won. We are planning a block party when that old bat dies.
24
Thanks to NYT for publicizing this outrage. A pie in the face of mayor deblazio would be appraise, for starters.
12
Just follow the money!!! that's what its all about. Safety comes second.
5
@life is good Did you notice on that map displayed just where the citations were issued? SOMEONE has much bigger plans in mind. They WANT those homes for their purposes ... big developers have something bad in mind for the owners and good in mind for themselves. I mean, our Thief-in-Office is a NY realtor. I'm SURE he has some knowledge of the behind the scenes shenanigans. NYC hasn't changed in 200 years ... whack the little guys and reward the big boys. Maybe LESS "big boys" .. in general. Maybe we need an American Mafia ... for the People!
4
There is no entity on this Earth that causes more misery than the governments of this World.
9
@Pierre La Pue
I'm sure you have no idea what the alternative is, but please find a place like Somalia or Yemen to try it out.
6
This is harassment.
8
I am somewhat sympathetic, but one issue a washing machine can create is a cross connection. If there is hot water coming from the cold water tap, the reason could be that a neighbor has an incorrectly installed washer. I once had this problem in my apartment. Some large appliances also need dedicated circuits so as not to overload existing wiring.
8
@Patrick So, instead of tearing everything out and fines, perhaps they should check to see if the stuff is properly connected and require repairs if not. I grew up in a place where everyone did there own plumbing and electric if they wanted to. It's not that hard.
8
All of this makes me believe we are fortunate that the Mayor was unsuccessful in his quest for the Presidency.
It sounds too much like Trump!
9
Me too. Has De Blasio dropped out of the race yet? Treating normal people like this just tells me he doesn't even know how to manage a city government effectively much less the entire country.
I am sick of having the government in the hands of incompetent people who just wing it and end up turning normal people into collateral damage.
3
This is a prime example of government run amok to generate revenue, which no doubt goes to all the 'Free Stuff' de Blasio promises.
Furthermore, if the so called illegal installation is inside the building; I'd tell the inspector to come back with a search warrant if they want access to my property.
As for the instructions being printed in English only; I applaud that as the government shouldn't have to cater to every person or group that refuses to learn English. Language is a unifying factor of any culture.
Why do lawyers need a union?
The bottom line is that even if you own your home; you don't really own it, the government does.
16
Why wouldn’t lawyers have a union? Look at the way this employer (The City of NY) treats people.
2
Seems the city found a new tax in the guise of safety. In all seriousness, though, they need to look at their measures of effectiveness. Citations issued are meaningless. Percentage of buildings in compliance matters. Perhaps with all these newly hired inspectors, they could instead take an educational approach vice a punitive one in which rather than non-compliance tickets to small holders, they see improvement and recommend further improvement. As to these follow-on taxing citations, doesn't this seem to violate due process?
11
Cities will squeeze money out of whoever can come up with it. Poor folks without access to high-priced legal representation are the easiest.
16
Poor folks who can't even afford a lawyer certainly can't afford these fines. I wonder if the city is confiscating people's homes if they simply don't pay the fines
4
@Daisy If you write enough tickets (low-to-zero cost) you will pull in money from desperate people. A proven tactic with mushrooming traffic fines, bank-account fees, etc.
2
Instead of ongoing multiple fines, hearings, lawyers, etc. in simple cases where something in a single home is amiss (i.e. an improperly installed bathroom, or a pigeon coop not up to code) wouldn't it be simpler for all parties if the city just hired contractors to bring these things up to code and put the bill on the homeowners property tax bill? The violation gets fixed in a "timely" fashion, all is now up to code, the homeowner foots a reasonable bill, and the city saves money spent on endless paperwork and legal expenses.
20
@Kent Moroz
I don’t know if the City does this anymore, but they used to give sidewalk contractors the right to issue violations if a sidewalk was not to their liking, then go ahead and replace it and send the homeowner the bill.
5
A contractor's lien would be effective. That way the city gets the work paid for when the house is sold.
1
I find it amusing so many of the critics on here don’t seem to grasp that when you buy a home, you own all its problems and liabilities from the day it was created. Of course, in today’s America, the solution is to point fingers at past owners and absolve yourself of any responsibility to perform due diligence before purchasing.
12
@LIChef
Homeowners would need numerous lawyers to understand regulations that those who formulated them did not fully comprehend.
The government is not your friend .....unless you are a huge company known to contribute millions to elected officials.
6
Sorry to discredit all the conspiracy theorists here as to this is just a scam to force people out of their homes. It is much simpler than than that and it applies to many city agencies than just the Department of Buildings. The scam is just another form of tax imposed upon the citizens of our fair city. The additional inspectors hired by the Department of Buildings, the Health Department and Fire Department are all self financed by the fines they levey. Used to be just the Police Department and parking tickets. Why let the PD have all the fun?
As they say, statistics don't lie, the burden has been put upon the small building and home owner to make payroll. Someone please tell me where is the value to the community in imposing these fines?
29
If you needed anymore reason to run from NYC. Liberal progressive policies at work. Whether you are a homeowner or car owner, expect to be taxed to death. The regulations require you to have a permit to change a light switch. But, before you can get it, an inspector has to do a home visit, make sure you're in compliance, issue fines for the previous 100 years of labor, order costly remodeling. Any home in NYC that's been around for decades will be discovered to have numerous DOB violations, because there are too many rules on the books. Its certainly a good idea to have safety regulations, but is it still a good idea if no resident will ever go thru that gauntlet of overregulation to comply with it?
28
It is important to have work permitted because unpermitted work is likely to create hazards. A washer installed on a floor that can not adequately support the weight or a dryer that is a fire waiting to happen are conditions that should be avoided. But, the government should remember that it serves the people, and provide access to information, clear instructions, and citizen advocacy.
24
Move to Anytown USA and I think you will find that municipal regulators (eg building inspectors) are the first who come to mind when people talk about government overreach, and that's both from the left and right. In my most recent experience, I have the misfortune of living in an "historical" neighborhood, so designated long after I moved in. Sounds good, right? But the rules become more byzantine every year. It's a tangled mess to try even the repair of things like windows, porches, even roofs! Yes, regulation is necessary and important, but carrying it out fairly and intelligently seems to escape the regulators way too much.
20
P.S. Most contracts of course are written for the contractor's benefit. And most say the owner is responsible for permits. But good contractors will include obtaining the permit in the specs and the price. Bad contractors don't care and leave it to the homeowner - so there the chance of what happened in this artilce or worse yet work is stopped mid progress for no permit. Think of having a room or second story addition halfway under roof when the job is halted because of no permit.
6
Bill Deblasio, Mayor for the Common New Yorker. NOT!
11
It's almost certain that a branch of the city government is in cahoots with big developers, and acting like a branch of organized crime. (The artificial restriction of taxi medallions, which resulted in bidding up their value to a multiple of the cost of a 4-year Ivy League bachelor's degree, is another example, as noted by Emily Badger before she moved to the NYT: see https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/06/20/taxi-medallions-have-been-the-best-investment-in-america-for-years-now-uber-may-be-changing-that)
Thank you, NYT, for casting a shining light on this sleaze. This is why I continue to support you.
18
Wow! This article makes Trump wink of buying land look like child’s play. Shame on De Blasio!
8
I wish the 2nd Amendment had been about bathrooms rather than guns.
13
@Jay Arthur I'm not so sure I'd want people on the other side of the country telling me I can only use my washroom at home and only with a low capacity flush. I'd probably also have to say goodbye to my assault-style doorknobs
4
This is something I would expect to see in Chicago, where both the governments of the City of Chicago and Cook County nickel and dime homeowners and small business owners to death with administrivia and ridiculous fees. Sorry to see such the good people of NYC are also being subjected to such harassment. SHAMEFUL!
14
You need a permit to install a washing machine in new York City?
I'm all for reasonable regulation, but this is just insane.
17
Maybe it was a gas machine, and so the gas connection needs to be checked by a plumber. Also, lots of DIY people out there tackling projects beyond their know-how. I know of a man who did serious remodeling at his daughter and son-in-law’s house and made a spectacular mess. He moved the washer and dryer from the basement to a large bathroom on the first floor and did all the new plumbing and electrical work himself even though he is not licensed to do either kind of work. I really do think homeowners have a responsibility to find out on their own what their jurisdiction requires.
12
@Ann There's no such thing as a gas washing machine.
3
“Gas machine” aka a gas dryer.
1
The article deals with individuals and excessive fines. How about the slumlords like Jared Kushner and other multi-building owners. Are they being fined hundreds of thousands with multiplying fines? Or are they more familiar with the plain envelope stuffed with cash and a nudge nudge wink wink? Where are the stories about the building owners dodging multiple fines and violations.
15
@markd I, for one, appreciate hearing about ordinary people. In NYC, we are "fined" to death and it's time people realize that it's happening to so many of us.
People like the Kushners know how to work the system. The rest of us are on our own, as this article so clearly shows.
17
@markd- They are found in the tragic stories of collapsing cranes and crumbling walls during construction.
1
lost in all of the extraneous verbiage here is the plain fact that fixing a violation or tending to other paperwork is just one item in the average person's life. Add to that ailing parents, a sick child, a hospitalization due to Accidental injury, or any of a myriad of unexpected life events and you see why often it's impossible to cover all your bases. You have to prioritize and statistically it's going to be more than likely that something along the way will get missed because you're not a professional, you're just try to live your life.
7
@Claudine-Poor comparison.
1
The way the whole issue is presented here is that its about people getting violations and how the city seemingly is out of control with its "failure to comply fines" which it does not let up with and this seems totally out of proportion to the subject at hand which is a violation due to lack of knowledge.
However this is not at all what the actual issue is, at least in regard to what the city is doing. The actual issue at hand is "immediately hazardous violation that poses a threat of imminent danger to public safety" in the language of the law, and that "whenever any person fails to submit certification of correction of such a violation" shall pay not less than one thousand five hundred dollars or more than five thousand dollars".
And so this is not about fines for misunderstandings. It is to protect people from hazards that pose the threat of imminent danger to public safety by ensuring that those threats are removed. That in itself is reason enough for the city to be so persistent.
However there is another equation at hand. And that is that in many cases correcting the hazard will be costly and so it is often allot cheaper to pay the fines. Therefore the only way to ensure the responsible party removes the threat is to make sure that they do not see incurring fines as being the more cost effective option. In addition there are people who are too stupid to figure out how to deal with the matter and the only way to get them to act is to inflict serious fines upon them.
6
Such is the nature of bureaucracy. It always loses it way and the single goal, becomes the self-perpetuation of the agency. Have no conscience, take no prisoners, twenty years and out. Retired on a pension paid by the taxes of the good people you crushed.
8
"Not left, not right, forward!" is one of the talking points of Andrew Yang (www.yang2020.com), a New York businessman running for President.
Although well-meaning, so-called "progressives" (fauxgressives?) have created much collateral damage with their ideological bombs that appeal only to their small circle of NIMBY friends.
This article is highly illustrative. Progressive abuses can also be found at the Department of Education and in policing.
Giuliani-styled Republicans, however, appeal to a past that closed doors to opportunities for people at the fringes.
That is why we need to find Yang-type New York City leaders who are fresh thinkers, compassionate, concerned about neighborhoods, and non-ideological.
4
If you scroll down a bit on the NY Times’ website you’ll see an article that clearly shows what can happen when Owners and Contractors cut corners:
“An Illegal Gas Line Killed 2 People. Should the Landlord Go to Prison?”
Here we have a case where the Landlord allegedly had a gas line bypass installed without a permit- resulting in the deaths of innocent people.
For all the commenters ridiculing the need to regulate the installation of a washer and dryer in a cellar, consider this:
A gas dryer needs to have a gas hookup, which must be installed correctly. The ventilation must be properly configured to prevent lint collecting and catching fire, and to vent carbon monoxide from the combustion. The sewer connection must also be properly done, to avoid your cellar being filled with your neighbors sewage after the connection possibly backs up.
And that’s “just” a washer and dryer!
Living in NYC is a completely different ballgame than the vast majority of residences in the USA- here a fire/collapse endangers many more people living below, above, or next to you- we’re not just taking about a detached house in the suburbs.
The fines in this article are punitive but with good reason- otherwise people willfully ignore building regulations and profit handsomely from endangering the safety of their Tenants, Neighbors, and future Owners.
16
@Schultzie
A much simpler procedure could work for small works such as installation of a washer and dryer.
- Owner pays $100 installation fee to the city and communicates washer/drier installation to DOB. Gives name and license of contractor. This can be done over the internet.
-Owner notifies to DOB that installation is completed and pays a $100 inspection fee, also over the internet.
- Inspector checks installation, contractor's license, etc. If something is wrong, then inspector demands remedial action.
13
@S.G.
I think this is a great idea.
But as you must already know, so many of the buildings/houses in NYC were never designed for modern mechanical systems in the first place- so it can be pretty complicated to install things like a washer/dryer.
After all a washer/dryer requires cold/hot water supply, a sewer connection, electricity (240V), dedicated circuit/possible GFCI if electric dryer, gas line if gas dryer, proper ventilation ductwork, etc.
The work needs to be designed, drawn, reviewed and inspected, and if there are problems there needs to be an enforcement mechanism.
Unfortunately steep fines/penalties are the quickest ways to get people's attention, both to resolve an outstanding issue and to discourage work without a permit in the first place.
To its credit, the DOB's DOB NOW system is improving the process greatly, and gives the Owner more control/insight thru their online portal.
7
@Schultzie OR, fining them into losing said homes! I'd NEVER live in that city for this very resaon.
1
It's a problem.
An old one, and a big one. "Big" as in, "A threat to civilization." When well-intentioned legislation turns out to have bad consequences, we ought to have a readily available legislative tradition to declare "Oops. Ok, wipe that out, and start over."
Attempts to fix bad legislation almost always result in worse situations, hasty fixes now causing new traumas. Far better to wipe the law off the books, wipe the fines off the books, take a deep breath and look at the whole problem from scratch. Do NOT wipe the history, and the stories.
Meanwhile? The inspectors (who have my deep sympathy for the most part) should be authorized to issue "God will get you for this." tickets. Nice and formal. No fines; but a clear warning: “This installation is not safe, and is going to kill your children. And you. One of these days. No kidding. Signed: God, Physics, And The Universe.” And require this notice, in big red letters, to be kept posted on the refrigerator, until the problem is fixed.
Why not?
7
Inequality in NYC is increasing because NYC is chasing away it's middle class. Soon, this will be for the hopelessly poor and the insanely wealthy. I am middle class, middle age and though I have lived here most of my 39 years, am looking to the exists. I am paying insane amounts of money for just about nothing.
10
@B Middle class? We don't have a middle class anymore! We have a poor working class, for sure! We started losing our middle class in the mid-80s's with federally approval by Congressional legislators in cahoots with major corporations who sent our jobs overseas for cheaper labor costs. It just got worse with each successive Congress. They've not been "for the People" in 40 years! Time to wake up and make them do their jobs .... like how do we MAKE Pelosi do her job? Perhaps this is where our votes come in ... IF anyone still votes, vote for ANYONE that has not LIVED in DC for the last 10-20 years!
4
New Yorkers deserve all this because they keep electing the mayor/congressman/ senators from the same party.
DeBlasio wants these people to be homeless so that he can justify building more shelters.
6
This is a travesty. I am surprised at the responses which blame the home-owner. Especially for seniors, who grew up in a time when there wasn't anything close to the extreme permitting that is needed today... or a financial world where the sins of the few and the wealthy gets paid by those of ordinary means.
The ETHICAL next step would be for the city to take responsibility, and pay back those who have, in effect, been scammed by yet one more corrupt government office.
13
Who are the seniors you mention? I’m 75 and my husband and I insisted that all work done for us over the years be in compliance with our county’s codes and we made sure permits were obtained and inspections done. I know about all that in part because that’s what my father (born in 1921) did.
4
@Ann You're fortunate that you know how the system works and that your father was a good role model. Others don't have that knowledge and may not possess the skills required to figure it out. I would like a government that helps people navigate the system and doesn't impose fines that are completely out of proportion to the violation.
5
@Ann But you do not live in NYC! Different world, dear lady. If it were as easy as it is in VA, there'd not even be an article like this!
3
Something is wrong in this picture. Is the city so needy it has to exploit it's own neighbors, confused at best how to resolve an impasse? With no official help? Remember the famous cynical saying "I am from the IRS and here to help you'? Are the good old times gone, when officials (police, taxes, traffic infractions,etc) where there to assist us, 'poor naive ignorants', about the ways of the law in common sense domestic issues, easily resolved by being taught the right way? Besides, aren't we, with our taxes, paying them to fill society's needs, at least explain the totally impervious 'in small letters' instructions as to how to behave, or try to improve our living facilities? Just be careful for what you ask for, by charging us mounting debts impossible to pay, when we stop being reasonable in cooperating? We want to live in a welcoming community and make it our own. Just don't kill the hen for it's golden eggs.
3
The article reads like a primer on how abuse of government regulations on the middle class created--and continues to create--Trump voters.
5
Have other readers noticed how familiar Mr. Soldevere's and Ms. Fisher's remarks are? Alternately hysterical over purported 'threats to safety' and self-pitying jeremiad's over the necessity of "enforcing the law as written" - they sound just like the Trump administration trying to justify its human rights violations at the border. Then there's the 'people's tribune' Bill deBlasio who sanctimoniously demogogued on the terrible injustices done to ordinary Americans from a national debate stage all the while presiding over a department with the same business model as a payday lender. Actually worse - $1 million in fees, fines and interest for an illegal pigeon coop?
10
Mr. DeBlasio, “Broken windows” policing is for squeegee boys and jaywalkers, not homeowners and small-time landlords.
3
This article is a great example of too much government.
6
@Kohl The problem in my eyes is that the strictness it takes to get developers and so forth to act is too much for individuals and small developers--but the law has to pretend we can't tell the difference. The same thing happens whenever big business goes hiding behind small business.
Anytime I bought (only three times) I myself always looked at the tax record to see the permits. I caught an unpermitted roof. Made the seller pay the fine and get approval before closing the deal. AND yes retroactivley getting permits and approval can be expensive. Happend to a friend in Calif. The previous owner did some unpermitted work.
2
@Reader In Wash, DC
Where I live, the attorney's title examination as a general rule specifically excludes any certification as to permits. Buyers should definitely check out any zoning or permit issues because it falls on them if the seller messed this up.
Buildings might be the most corrupt agency in NYC govt. And poorly run. Under a no-show mayor who couldn't manage a bodega on Amsterdam Ave.
9
Just one more way for NYC to tax it’s already grossly overtaxed citizens. New Yorkers, get out while you still can!
5
Considering the general idiocies of politics in general it's rather fascinating how thoroughly how the stupidities ave penetrated down to the lowest levels.
3
From experience, these fines feel very predatory. Get into a spat with a neighbor/contractor and they can easily report a false complaint on your property and get the inspectors through the door. Once through the door, these inspectors often cite you for violations you had no idea existed in a building code.
Something definitely needs to be done. It's ridiculous.
11
By far the most horrifying article that I’ve read in the past five years.
7
This is exactly the kind of thing that has made millions of people into cynics who don't believe in 'big' government. Paper-pushers ignore the spirit of laws and regs, and follow the path of least resistance to creating more paperwork. Real problems fester, while people who can't afford an attorney get the shaft.
And naturally, no one is ever held to account.
7
You may have missed a key component: bakshish. Bribery. Gotta pay the inspector, the one that got paid to OK the prior inspection that permitted the purchase from the prior owner who got away with the illicit installation.
11
The problem begins with people who really don't have the money or knowledge of home ownership buying houses or apartments,
Most people only have the ability, time and money to rent, I say this not being racist as I know a decent amount of career professionals who can't handle a home or apartment ownership either
Being an owner requires a lot of knowledge beforehand of the condition of the place you are buying being careful about inspections and plumbing and electric even if you make no changes afterwards.
You can't just add a bathroom or some such room without proper permits and inspections of the work afterwards.
If the new owner had an issue that was not addressed by a previous owner that should have come up on the inspection.
So I wonder about the inspection process in these boroughs.
But the fines should not be so large for small homeowners.
However they should make sure they read the notice and appear by the date they should be able to speak/read english if they are buying a house as how did they sign home ownership documents in the first place.
Even in apartment buildings you have to see from the inside an outside what might be deemed your responsibility.
I think the suburbs it appears much more clear.
But that is no excuse in NYC and the boroughs, I think most people think they will be ignored because the city is too big to catch everyone, but apparently this department is on top of it.
5
It's all about the money.
The City could care less whether people follow safety precautions or not.
10
How can one not know a permit is needed to alter one’s home? I’m not sympathetic.
6
@Rust Belt City I live in a state that has NO building code! We now have a fire code but that's even new! Plus, there are millions of new homeowners that don't know diddly about permits needed to add on to their homes, even if its just a checken coop without gas, water or electric! Too much govt is as bad as no govt!
3
It's beyond me why anyone would want to live, own property or own a business in NYC. Fines given to homeowners should not be as excessive as the article reports. It's a catch 22 situation that's not equitable unless the violation is so severe that it significantly and immediately endangers public safety. Rather than immediately assess a fine, people should first have a reasonable opportunity to remediate the problem. NYC is just interested in making as much money as possible to finance their liberal social welfare programs.
16
“We promised New Yorkers that we’d take aggressive action against those who put themselves and others at risk, and that is exactly what we’re doing,” said a department spokesman, Joseph Soldevere.
THANK YOU!
We also need laws to upgrade electrical wiring and plumbing in older buildings. The public depends on you guys and if a few cheap home owners can't find time for safety, let them pay the fine and put the money toward public safety.
5
When I see all of these negative comments criticizing the city for doing its job and fining homeowners for building violations, it reminds me of the attitudes in our gated community. My neighbors are strict believers in following the rules . . . as long as they are only applied to someone else.
11
Is there no recourse for people like Ms. Harrow -- can she sue the former owners for their unpermitted work? It seems very unfair that the present owners should be penalized for things they were not responsible for.
9
@Seabiscute
When I was looking for homes decades ago in CA with an agent, the agent would eyeball a room of a house we were touring and ask the selling agent if there were permits for additions and other work. Isn't a role of a good agent to look out for the interests of a client?
5
You do not have to buy the house. You can also get estimates to correct the illegal installations and settle that at the closing.
How can Bill De Blasio be running for President when he has been a gross failure as mayor of New York City? I left in late 2018 because the city had become unliveable. The traffic was horrendous, the homeless problem was growing, and we can clearly see from this article that he does not care about ordinary people or understand how their lives work. I didn't vote for De Blasio and I knew all along that he would be no good because unlike average voters I observed his non-accomplishments as Public Advocate. You have to find out who someone is before voting for them.
18
@Anne Same, I left in 2018 after almost 20 years there and have not looked back. I only miss my friends. I do not miss the city.
5
Your article stated, "Another result, some agency lawyers said, is that the unit spends less time on construction companies, as the law intended."
Often crowed inside by DOB supervisors: "We are the only city agency which pays for itself."
DOB inspection of large projects require appointment and permission from builders to inspect. Stop work orders are infrequent and easily rescinded. Fines are either over-ruled, modest, postponed payment, or just ignored. OATH hearings on violations are seldom stringent.
Build Safe Live Safe, DOB motto, obscures more than it protects.
DOB was crippled by Mayor Koch with Directive 2/1975. which eliminated most of plan reviews, then further harmed by Mayor Bloomberg with digital reviews in 2012 by inexperienced examiners. Most submitted drawings of complex projects (new buildings and major alterations) are rubber-stamped digitally without review.
The new Buildings Commissioner has a great challenge to correct deliberate faults in codes and procedures which favor few major developments over manifold small projects.
6
@John Young I have to disagree; OATH hearings are serious judicial proceedings and a defendant had better be well represented by competent lawyers; the fines are large and I speak from experience.
1
The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, also prohibits excessive fines.
A $500,000 fine for renovating a garage and bathroom without a permit in a home worth about $500,000, is not excessive?
64
@TD Totally agree with your legal analysis. However, our courts -- those sworn to uphold the Constitution -- are the very reason the Constitution is not being enforced. All these ridiculous fines would stop cold if the courts did their jobs. The Catch 22 of a permit not being issued until a fine has been paid is simply a money-extraction process designed to enrich the City.
13
@TD-
One might suppose that it were so. But with the federal courts now packed with so many conservative hacks it could rule any way.
2
Owning a home is not cheap and as a contractor I've seen plenty of cheap owners cut corners with some horrendous results and have asked me to cut more corners, which I won't do because then I'm liable. I've "lost" many jobs because working within a building code is considered too expensive by the homeowner.
That said, the city's "get the little guy" attitude is similarly egregious.
33
The plumber I will refer to as ‘Mr. Satan’ told me a homeowner did not want the hot water heater on the first floor of the home. Instead, the plumber told me he, the homeowner, wanted him to install it in the sump pit of the basement. Mr. Satan then explained that he would do whatever the homeowner wanted. I could not believe what Mr. Satan was telling me. The sump area is where, if the basement floods, water drains into. What he was describing having done could have electrocuted anyone stepping into a water buildup in the basement. I just listened to what he told me, paid him for the unsafe installation he had done in my home and called another licensed plumber the next day. And my town building department. You, as the homeowner, must be on ‘high alert’ when work is being done in your home. Especially because Mr. Satan might be in your Rolodex. And his previous work may have been a non-life threatening fix and you thought you would call him again as the need arose.
This isn't about safety. It's about the city maximizing their coffers, the union keeping a strangle-hold on the city, and the landlords getting rid of residents to build expensive housing and then getting tax abatement for keeping a couple below market prices. Corruption at it's best.
23
@Ma
What union are you blaming here?
1
also published in the NYT today: illegal gas line that was improperly added by greedy landlord and her corrupt contractors killed 2 people and injured 13 others in 2015.
without fines (which are admittedly massive), how do we incentivize contractors and landlords to do safe, legal work in their homes/buildings? while this may also include regular homeowners in this effort (perhaps fairly, perhaps not), everyone is accountable for work that is ultimately safe and habitable, and within the scope of the law.
10
"Construction professionals are also more likely to hire lawyers ..."
You let fines grow to almost half a million dollars?
This is what lawyers are FOR, people! They are the people whose job it is to fight City Hall on your behalf.
Call your local Bar Association and get a referral.
9
@Observor
Please read the article again. The catch-22 is that while the poor people are trying to scrap together the money for the initial fines and permits and costs to fix the problem, they get slammed every 60 days with new fines.
How are they supposed to pay the lawyers on top of this?
8
yes, and who has the money to pay for the lawyers, too?
Yet another group looting the small person's pocket.
4
Who us? Just following orders. The least a bureaucrat should do is exercise some judgment, if they can't inform people. Here's a concept: pay attention when administrative attorneys run amok, and rescind the so-called "law".
17
I used to live in NYC. Any time you needed a permit, you also needed an "expediter" to get it through the building department. Of course, that added to the cost. In many cases, permit requirements have little to do with safety but to allow increased assessments for real estate taxes. In addition, there are many small jobs that can properly be taken care of by a handyman at far less expense than using a licensed contractor.
The cases described in this article are terrifying....this is NYC???
42
This article leaves unstated the obvious question: Isn't this really more an intentional process to generate more revenue for the City, than simply bureaucracy run amok?
36
Hassle for sure, but some (if not most) are also just busted for knowingly ignore and/or break the law, whether blatant or trying to be cheap and cut corners.
I don't buy all are innocent or just misunderstanding.
6
A few years ago, my husband and I were notified by our co-op management that we had a violation for a bent support beam on our window AC unit, which we had no way of knowing because we can't see it from our apt or the street. An anonymous neighbor had noticed it and reported it to the city. With no notice, an inspector had barged into our building and coerced the super to let him into our apartment while we weren't home. The fine was $1,500 and we had to remediate it before the court date which was about 30 days later. The co-op had to hire and attorney to facilitate (to avoid subsequent fines) which cost about $2,000 and the managing agent decided to have their contractor fix the bent beam which cost $2,000. Then we had to go to court to prove it had been remediated with photos and invoices. All-in it cost us over $5,000 to fix a bent support arm. Meanwhile, I'm pushing my baby stroller through construction zones on every single sideway every day with concrete pouring over our heads, dumpsters smashing metal a few feet away and dodging cars running red lights. There's definitely a better way to ensure NYC is safe place to live and work.
93
@Nicole You say that "There's definitely a better way to ensure NYC is safe place to live and work" in regard to keeping the public safe from air conditioners falling on their heads, but you don't bother to propose how, other than to imply that it should be the city that should be responsible to go around ensuring every air conditioner in the city is secure because you are not capable of being responsible for the hazards you create.
3
@Nicole
Wasn't there a story about a 2-year-old child killed by a falling brick — not sure if that comes under the point of this article — just mentioning since falling objects from great heights can ruin one's day.
3
A few years ago, my husband and I were notified by our co-op management that we had a violation for a bent support beam on our window AC unit, which we had no way of knowing because we can't see it from our apt or the street. An anonymous neighbor had noticed it and reported it to the city. With no notice, an inspector had barged into our building and coerced the super to let him into our apartment while we weren't home. The fine was $1,500 and we had to remediate it before the court date which was about 30 days later. The co-op had to hire and attorney to facilitate (to avoid subsequent fines) which cost about $2,000 and the managing agent decided to have their contractor fix the bent beam which cost $2,000. Then we had to go to court to prove it had been remediated with photos and invoices. All-in it cost us over $5,000 to fix a bent support arm. Meanwhile, I'm pushing my baby stroller through construction zones on every single sideway every day with concrete pouring over our heads, dumpsters smashing metal a few feet away and dodging cars running red lights. There's definitely a better way to ensure NYC is safe place to live and work.
2
@Nicole
Just wondering why a neighbor would report this to the city rather than to you and/or the Co-Op Board. Bad blood? Does the neighbor work for the city. Strange.
2
Bureaucracies often begin with the intention of providing a service or important function. However, as time goes by and they grow in size, they eventually exist for their own sake, and the people they serve are merely a source of money to fund and justify the bureaucracy. Hence, hefty fines with ambiguous deadlines by the NYC Buildings Department.
13
This started under Bloomberg, if not before. Increase fees and fines and the media rarely notices. A publicly acknowledged tax increase would draw howls and scrutiny. Meanwhile, Hudson Yards drew tax advantages that were meant for low income communities.
19
If you think that's bad, try doing business in the U.S. semiconductor industry. There you're treated as if everything you say will aide Osama Bin Laden, and every invention you make is a matter of national security. At least the people of New York City have a written building code to fall back on. In the case of national security, everything is based on vague statements made by a shadow government, that seem to change on a daily basis.
6
The usual proliferation of permits and fines, all designed to generate revenue for a bloated and dysfunctional NYC department of housing and government administration. Seriously, a washing machine as hazardous equipment endangering the citizens of NYC?! And the statements from those at the NYC building/housing department who are issuing the citations and fines simply underscores what braindead paper pushers they are.
23
The root of most of these problems is not the building department, but someone who decided to avoid the time and money expense of permitting and inspections (and the increase in taxation due to upgrades, greed rules even at the bottom of the pecking order).
A surprising number of people know they have violations-- that finished basement not on the tax rolls, extra half bath, laundry installation, ...-- but are perfectly happy with the status quo until either the building department discovers them, or they go to sell and the sale is blocked due to CO (certificate of occupancy) problems. Fix the violation now, it is only going to get more expensive to resolve later as the laws become more strict and the building codes change. Be proactive and get that permit now, get inspected, resolve code problems, get the CO. It will probably cost more than doing it right to start with. In most areas the building inspection department is happy to get the mess cleaned up and are quite helpful.
12
I'm surprised no one picked up on the root of the problem,
The issue is that small, non-structural renovations or additions on private, owner-occupied homes should not require a permit.
That is the issue. Most owners who want to add a sink or washing machine plumbing, want to do it themselves or with informal "handy man" help.
Requiring permits for that is the root of the problem. It is unnecessary intrusion on private property rights.
52
@Baron95
It's not unnecessary where I share walls with my neighbors. Maybe in Westport your decisions that may cause floods/fires/gas leaks only effect you and yours, but not in most of NYC.
15
Remember when Arnold ran for governor of California on the platform of dealing with the "special interests", which everyone assumed meant "the special interests", which turned out to be hard-working people and their defenders (unions), as opposed to the REAL SPECIAL INTERESTS who were and still are undermining the lives of honest hardworking people?
This is THAT.
12
These kinds of actions and fines are just going to hurt a lot of middle class people for a clumsy bureaucracy of red tape that doesn't allow enough time for a response much less an action.
These fines should be immediately forgiven or lowered to something in the $100 range unless they are doing something more dangerous than a washer in the basement...where else can you put it in this stupid city anyway.
28
It's all about the almighty dollar...
I am as progressive as they come but I am so weary of NYC democrats who are hopelessly beholden to big money and real estate developers.
24
What's the going rate to buy the so-called "inspectors" back from the megadevelopers and landlords?
9
Deblasio is part of a comprehensive plan to make NYC a space for the the rich n powerful w just enough color for their enjoyment. Working class people of color bought homes in the city decades ago n won't move. These petty fines escalate to force the to sell or lose ALL of their life work whdn the city pushes them into foreclose. This isn't the only trick the city is using on small homeowners. Also, thus is in concert w the Deblasio admin slumlord actions against public housing residents. Rats n mold n no heat or hot water were not always the norm in public housing . It's a slumlord tactic to force people to move.
22
@Ymoore-
My opinion of Mayor De Blasio, not high to begin with, is now below zero.
3
Well, I guess the NYT is beginning to realize what problems can befall citizens living under a seriously socialist regime. While applauding "going after" the wealthy who, in the rarefied air of the NY left, are considered to be evil by default (except of course, themselves or their close friends), socialism's worst evils tend to befall those who are the most financially modest members of the "owner" class.
While expressing shock that the de Blasio government might harm the least among a group known among the left as the petit bourgeoisie, they ignore the fact that this group is the first and most harmed target of such regimes.
First, make it almost impossible to be a small employer of low skill labor, allowing legal employment only of high skilled workers by large companies. Then work against the small remaining group on middle class home owners, making sure that ownership is limited to the wealthiest and that everyone else remains among the lumpen proletariat as tenants.
14
What does this have to do with socialism? The DOB system needs to be fixed. Privatization would not help. In NYC we do try to have safety nets for children and the poor, if that’s what you mean by socialism. This is not related at all to the DOB.
6
@Bob
NYC isn't a "seriously socialist regime". It's not even a lightheartedly socialist regime. There is nothing socialist about NYC.
3
@Bob
I don't live in NYC any more. Now I live in an area where someone's 'handy man' wiring caused a fire that burned thousands of people's homes. There are very valid reasons to have building codes and require adherence to them.
5
Woody Allen may love it in Manhattan, but nothing I read in the NYT entices me to move there. Nothing!
13
This is the sort of corrupt and absurd government overreach that creates Republicans. Cut it out. Mayor needs to let everyone caught in this stupid wringer to start fresh at step one, with plenty of proper explanation and time. And refunds are in order. I don't like to give the right a single talking point, but this (and nannying run amok elsewhere) is what they're talking about. Punch up, Dems. And take care of your constituents properly.
34
@confetti
Republican-held municipalities are just as likely to fill their coffers through fines and fees. The issue is that they can't get the money they need in the sensible way - through taxing the rich.
6
@Uly
I own two homes in two different counties in North Carolina. My regular home is run by Democrats. It has re=evaluations every few years which raises the taxes we pay. It also raises taxes regularly and increases fees. It even charges us when we don't use enough water and for using the land our house sits on by the square foot.
My other home is in a county and town run by Republicans. It's been years since a re-evaluation has been done and there hasn't been a tax increase in over 10 years.
Yet we just put up a new municipal building, bought new holiday decorations to hang on the lamp poles, installed 3 miles of Jogging/bicycle path. The money came from funds the city had saved. We didn't borrow a dime for any of it. The residents of the town are 75% Republican and primarily consists of Marine Corps retirees. The camp is not in our county so no federal funds.
Our only debt is bonds we sell to finance beach sand re-nourishment.
3
@NYHUGUENOT
I own two homes in Republican areas, and the public schools are terrible, public transportation is almost nonexistent, and things are generally a mess. But I notice that the politicians are doing very well.
5
When a penalty is not commensurate with the particular deviation from the law, then something else is going on: greed for easy money on the part of the government being primary--and it is always easier to go after the ones who can't afford a lawyer, and ignore the ones who lawyer up. Perhaps, as one letter writer wrote, there are also advantages accrued by the real estate community when many small people are forced out of their properties. It is an outrage, and it is one of the reasons why the Republican screaming point of over-regulation resonates with the general public.
29
"Emilene Petrus violated city orders to stop renovating and vacate her home in Queens Village." How many people have the resources vacate their home for an indeterminate period, only the owners of the Mega buildings.
Of course, the mega buildings also have mega lawyers to get the tickets waived and fines reduced.
19
I have always thought that city building departments were a sort of mafia, and this article proves that.
People should not have to pay large fees to do work on their own home -- in fact they should not have to pay any fees. It should be their own prerogative to work on their home and the city should be thanking them for doing that instead of punishing them.
It's very clear that the NYC building dept has gone rogue. This has happened in other cities and yes, you can fight city hall and win -- in Oakland California, the practices of that city's building department were the subject of a grand jury investigation, which found the cites' practices appalling and ordered changes made.
ttps://www.mercurynews.com/2011/07/13/oakland-building-services-department-subject-of-scathing-alameda-grand-jury-report/
In particular, that city had no appeals process, and it appears that NYC is similar.
NYC seems very concerned about tenants and the homeless, but its approach to small property owners is so fanatically harsh, merciless and draconian, really Orwellian: it's as if the underlying desire of the city is to eradicate all small property owners and push more into homelessness.
28
@George This works when your home is on your own quarter acre...like the ranch house I grew up in. In NYC, you are most likely either sharing a wall with another owner (apartment-semi-detached house) or within ten feet of another owner (think the opening of 'All In the Family'.) So yeah, the numb-nut on the fourth floor who decides to rig up a washer-dryer in to her (owned) unit is absolutely causing chaos for the three (owners) who live below her. We signed on to these rules when we bought our places. We expect all owners to responsibly follow them, and find licensed workers, file permits, and have insurance in case a problem occurs.
3
Maybe this is a plea by the building department for a GOP mayor. Democrats need to be extremely careful about this kind of stuff, and they aren't. When the streets are taken over by hooligans, GOP leadership results. As liberal as I am, I'm dying for GOP takeover of our city council to push back against all the types of civil disfunction that the liberal current officeholders tolerate in the name of...something. Look, governments, you are here to serve us, maintain civil spaces and public safety, operate economically efficiently, etc. Not too hard.
19
Which city?
1
It's about money. It's always about money. It's not about common sense and for the betterment of the people.
If it were about the betterment and safety for the common person then the rules would be in place that actually help them not hinder and destroy.
How effective are these rules in actually preventing the worst being the worst? Has it worked on them? Or do they keep on doing what they've always done and those who didn't know better get swallowed up and drowned without remorse?
Where's the rules and system to educate the general populace other than learning the hard way?
If such a drastic system is to be implemented then it should also be forced to have to educate the populace before its implementation that doesn't require having to hire lawyers to understand the system.
There are too many media outlets, even for the elderly who do not embrace modern technology, to be able to educate people in a common man's methodology.
Doing so would not reap fleecing and drowning it's citizens.
7
How can this be!!??
I recently moved out (forced out) of a rent stabilized building where the new owner did just about everything without a permit and incurred countless number of violations including lead dust and he BARELY GOT A SLAP ON THE WRIST.
How is that possible?
26
You really have to ask?
7
@Theresa Uh, his cousin works for the NYC Buildings Dept.?
This sort of soul-wasting, dumb bureaucracy whether for apartments, taxes, or alternate-side-of-the-street parking, is exactly why I left NYC.
14
Simply disgusting and turns my stomach. The corruption, incompetence and lack of common sense in state and federal government astounding.
18
This is insanity.
12
New York is inundated with ridiculous and unnecessary laws and regulations. There is an exodus of the wealthy from New York as a result. No one ever ‘retires’ to New York. This story is just yet another example of the endless stories you hear about how a NY law or regulation is used out of context and hurts the very people it was meant to help.
15
@Mike L
There's an exodus of the wealthy from New York? Really?
5
How do citizens fight when their own government is trying to ruin them?
15
“You have to use your mortgage money to pay them; you have to use your light-bill money, your gas money,” said Ms. Harrow, 72, a retired bank clerk. “It’s like they want you to be homeless.”
BINGO!
That’s exactly what they want.
This is not by accident. This is how municipalities, local government all work with greedy real estate developers to push the old out and move the new in. It’s called gentrification. It’s also called a land or property grab. It’s been happening forever it just changes its cloak. Once upon a time, raiders or the aristocracy could just come in and kill you and take your property, then they invented mortgages and when you missed one payment they tossed out,now they do it by lobbying politicians and policy to make you go into foreclosure with fines and high property taxes so you may afford your mortgage at all.
It’s a complicated process and it’s hit Queens like a sledge hammer.
29
Sometimes I daydream and romanticize about going "off grid." This type of Orwellian nightmare is exactly why.
8
@dc
I live in a rural area, and daydream about moving to NYC. The pluses of peace and quiet are often outweighed by lack of public sewage, lack of public transportation, lack of professional fire departments, lack of diversity in restaurants and community, lack of arts and music, and being surrounded by gun-loving white supremacists. Other than that, it's pleasant - my dog loves his big yard and woods, I can have a garden, and I sit on my porch swing and watch the hummingbirds. Shopping online means I can buy almost anything I want - but for brick and mortar stores, Lowe's, Walmart, and Target are the main choices. Oh, and I always use licensed contractors for construction work. Because it is not unusual for someone to burn to death due to wiring problems. Volunteer fire departments often save the foundation.
4
I wonder how long that the New York Times and the local politicians who must have received lots of complaints about this government scam just ignored the complaints. The answer is probably years. The politicians who ignored the legitimate complaints should be terminated from employment immediately as a lesson to other corrupt politicians.
2
Another case of bureaucracy gone mad.
7
This is the same idiotic "city logic" practiced by the traffic enforcement of NYPD - the goal is many, easy tickets and collecting fines, never mind that many, much more serious violations aren't pursued because that would be more work (and reduce the overall number of tickets). I witness examples of this almost daily on my way: a traffic cop writes parking ticket after ticket, but won't radio in a car or truck running a red light, even though pedestrians are trying to cross that street with the "Walk" sign on (Vision Zero? - Zero effort, I guess). And, many times, it's not even the cop's or building inspector's fault: if the City's senior administrators would make it clear that they want quality (find and pursue severe, really dangerous violations) more than quantity (many, easy to write tickets), I believe that things would improve. Of course, citing a building site owned by an influential real estate company and worked on by a well-connected builder is more work and politically more precarious than fining the lady out in Queens for her unauthorized washer and dryer in her basement. Lastly, if those would have really been an acute safety hazard, why didn't the City just remove them and send her the bill? I guess it's because it wasn't a hazard.
18
How in the world would someone know what someone else is having installed in their basement?
13
Another disaster for city government. DeBlamio won't fix this and he likely won't even acknowledge this is happening.
12
This is an important article.
It is surprising that the Times reported it, as it is at odds with the Times’ usual philosophy, which strongly supports government regulation, even when excessive.
The issues described here, at NYC’s building department, are all too typical of government bureaucracies. By reputation, NYC’s regulations are worse than most; and, under the current “progressive” governments at both the city and state level, they are getting worse. The new bureaucracy Mayor De Blasio imposed to enforce energy efficiency, the Climate Mobilization Act, will almost certainly be yet another disaster for city residents.
Good luck for the survival of the Stand bookstore, recently designated a historic landmark.
Bureaucracies behave similarly at the Federal level. They are often less visible to the common man, since they typically apply to businesses, but their effects are the same. Though often well-intended, too often they impose unreasonable and disproportionate burdens on the costs of living and doing business, and do more harm than good. This frequently includes agencies such as the EPA and EEOC.
As this article notes, “some of the toughest punishments have had less to do with property owners’ flouting safety rules than with their confusion over how to respond.”
Finally, Mayor De Blasio should spend less time running for President, and more time taming the regulatory monsters he has created.
20
Nobody accidentally adds a powder room to their house -- even in the basement -- without realizing they need a permit. Just as a matter of interest -- is she expecting guests to go down to the basement to use the powder room? Presumably not. So she either has a fully finished basement in which she entertains people on a regular basis, or somebody is sleeping down there.
15
@JerseyGirl
Or she has a TV room down there and would like a bathroom close by because her friends are all older and have small bladders.
2
@Uly Her old friends with small bladders walk down into the basement to watch TV? Not very likely. And, as someone else pointed out, she has an illegally installed gas line running to the dryer. The NY Times loves exposes, but it can never figure out whether it's shocked that the law is being enforced or whether it's shocked that it isn't.
This is like those towns with the speed traps. We desperately need more local coverage of issues like this.
De Blasio is a disgrace.
23
City bureaucracy run amok! Fines on regular homeowners ballooning to over the value of the home is ludicrous.
21
Power corrupts! Government is the negation of liberty. Put your trust in progressive government keeping you safe from all harm, and eventually it will [they will] enslave you. Regulators cannot help themselves because they are addicted to and by OPM, and can never get enough of yours (OPM: sounds like opium is equally addicting, stands for Other People's Money--forcibly extorted.]
2
This is what Socialism looks like. Protecting you as your freedom evaporates.
7
@Tony Francis- Horseradish. This has nothing to do with socialism. This is just a government bureaucracy run amok. This thing about we have no discretion is the last bastion of power hungry "public servants" that just plain enjoy making people's lives miserable. The folks that put them in power need to be removed.
6
@Bob, you obviously have no understanding of what a socialist society entails. Not only does socialism mean the public ownership of the major elements of an economy and the massive regulation of those elements that remain privately owned, like barber shops or restaurants, etc., but a huge bureaucracy established to run and manage the economy, a bureaucracy much like that in NYC's housing authority, one totally self-serving and totally divorced from the real lives of the people it "manages." Read up on the Soviet Union, the place that Bernie Sanders so admired that he honeymooned there.
A lot of times I dislike living in a small town, but as long as we keep our yards mowed, they really don't care what we do. If I wanted a pigeon coop in my back yard, the city wouldn't say a thing. In another small town I lived in, I built a greenhouse in the backyard. A city employee came by to make sure I hadn't covered up the water meter. Other than that, they didn't care. Some small towns are just happy you don't move away.
18
The permitting process for any home renovations is a cash cow for local governments. Here in White Plains, I had to obtain 3 separate permits and be subjected to 3 construction inspections for a 10 x 10 gazebo that I built myself. Cost: $500. My kitchen expansion of 100 square feet involved 7 separate permits, $2500 in fees, and at least half a dozen inspections by the city building department, many of which required work to be halted to accommodate the availability of the inspector. Good luck to those fighting city hall, but you will lose in the end. The government bureaucracy always wins in the end, and the homeowner always pays.
16
Recently I have been shocked to learn how much the Department of Buildings acts like mafia henchmen, literally ruining lives of small homeowners with little or no regard for scale. This summer, the DOB hit two different neighbors with thousands of dollars of fines and signs plastered all over their doors that the house was "perilous for life", an obvious lie, in order to shut down their ONE modest airbnb within their own house. Laws that were meant to target large building owners converting rental apartments are being used with impunity (and with no public awareness) against small homeowners who are simply trying to pay the mortgage. The goal of the DOB seems very off, when they use their undue power in such a politically transparent way (you have to wonder how much the hotel lobby is paying the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement, for whom the DOB provides the terrifying muscle). Truly dubious that the DOB has become one of the reasons middle or lower income owners of the city's aging housing stock have to leave the city--but there seem to be plenty of millionaires (who can withstand the fees I guess) waiting to snap up there houses and continue to turn the outer boroughs into Manhattan style wealth zones.
21
This is just a microcosm of the effects of the over the top regulations on all levels of government, which don't contribute in any meaningful way to the environment or people's welfare. Hundreds of thousands of regulations many misconstrued over the years by the dictatorial power of the regulatory state, removing one freedom after another from the citizens of the USA. It really needs to end for the survival of our economy.
5
Sorry folks, either you want health and safety regulations enforced or your don't.
10
@James That's a rather ridiculous comment in light of this article. Fax your resume to the Trump Administration, they're looking for people like you (and yes, they still have a fax machine).
18
@patentcad
Regulations such as these are supposed to be applied to all, not just the sterotypical evil landlord.
3
@James-
It’s regulatory overkill. And those most affected are also those who can least afford it. They will lose everything, be bankrupted, rendered homeless.
1
The process needs to be fixed asap. It's an impersonal bureaucratic nightmare in it's present form. Correcting a plumbing problem, for example, ( tearing it out, or getting it retro permitted and inspected) should not lead to these excessive fines.
16
If you try to look closely at the images scrolling by for Ms. Harrow, almost all of them have different handwriting. Building Departments are supposed to work with homeowners to explain violations, help explain how to fix it and allow for reasonable amount of time and honest effort.
In the town where I live outside of Manhattan, the DOB does find violations but really wants the homeowners to do it correctly and by-the-book and avoids egregious fining. Otherwise, people do shoddy work themselves and hide it for decades. Being complaint with building code should not be onerous.
It's pretty clear that the NYC DOB is just looking to harass and justify their existence and budget. I went into DeBlasio's first term with high hopes and optimism, but he continues to fail at every turn and show his gross incompetence and misunderstanding of the law of consequences and inability to oversee decisions he has helped put in place. Hopefully he will give up his pointless national ambitions and get back to helping the great working residents of NYC.
37
Some of this does fall on the homeowner and the responsibility of them to follow-up if they were confused about the policy. If I received a second notice with a larger fine, it would be an immediate red flag. To have the issue feaster for months and months while the bills kept increasing seems like an abdication of responsibility on the homeowner's part. Surely, there is a phone number and city department they could have called to clarify what 'timely' meant.
8
@JeffB
I would guess that the bureaucracy might be easier to work through in Plano Texas.
In NYC it takes many, many months just to get through one small violation. Granted, some of these may be warranted as home owners do work without a permit or maybe it’s a preexisting condition, but to get a violation cleared you first need to:
hire a professional, draw up documents, get an asbestos report, submit endless paperwork and drawings to the DOB, wait for DOB feedback, get approval, pay fees, hire a licensed contractor, get permit, complete the work, submit sign off documents, and possibly get an audited before the application can be signed off. All of this to clear one violation. In the meantime the inspectors could slap on additional fines.
18
@JeffB. Obviously you do not understand how it works here. Never able to reach most government agency by phone. Seem system is set up to bleed the middle class who cannot afford expensive lawyers.
15
@JeffB
The article was clear about how the Department actually promotes confusion and has not expended any resources to help educate the public about the process and consequences. Besides, the ordinary citizenry is full of people who have mental or physical ailments that make it difficult to deal with this kind of issue.
3
This is the kind of Kafka-esque nightmare that republics use to argue against regulation and government incompetence.
In this case they are right. If the building department cannot prioritize a massive crane differently from an errant washing machine in a basement, imposes draconian penalties whether ordinary homeowners are attempting to comply or not, with complete disparity between the penalty and the danger to the public it may pose, something is severely wrong and needs to be fixed.
This agency needs to itself be fined in proportion to the distress it is causing decent people.
I will be avoiding purchasing property within the city while this situation continues to exist. Too scary.
Thank you NYT for the “heads up”.
48
@Ben K - You are absolutely correct. And this kind of regulation gives all regulations a bad name and justifies the kind of burn down the house approach that the Kochs et al advocate for.
6
The agency says the aggressive action is against small homeowners 'who put themselves and others at risk'. Given the difference in enforcement practice between 2013 and 2019 - a significant number of these risks must have been manifest, ie. death or injury due to improperly installed washer or toi!et. Can we see these numbers?
27
Another example of regulations deteriorating to the logical extreme. However, government is meant to serve the people, not the reverse.
7
I am struck by the co-mingling of Building Department citations and a court-style hearing. In a hearing, the defendant is presumed innocent, until proven guilty by some prosecution on some allegation. However, in a departmental citation, there is no judge/jury to determine what the relevant facts surrounding the violation even are, let alone a punishment if such violation is real. It seems in NYC the homeowner is guilty at the moment an inspector issues citation, there is no further need for a court-style hearing to determine what the facts are. The hearing is central to the confusion and dysfunction of the system. This arrangement denies homeowners reasonable chance to understand the violation and arrange to have it fixed - a process of finding/vetting/hiring contractors can take even diligent homeowners months! And yet, because of the department's high fines, the owners can't afford both the fines and the fix, so the "dangerous" problems persist. Homeowner, City, and neighbors all lose.
47
This is completely sick.
And don't bother DeBlasio, he's busy campaigning.
62
For public safety, the DOB has to enforce renovations without permits. The issue is, the manner in which they are enforcing it.
Building without permits is not even a criminal offense.
The objective is have a safe built environment. Issue the citation and allow the offender time to rectify. Have a limit to the fine. Let it be based on the cost of enforcement. This sounds like a cash grab and nothing else.
Crazy!
37
@Mriado Of course it is a cash grab from who? People who are not developers with millions of dollars!
7
Apparently beating constituents into submission and bankruptcy is the way DeBlasio expects to be elected president. I’ll say California has its own oppressive bureaucracy these days (DMV anyone?, Riverside county tax assessor who simply ignores CA state law -prop 13) but in matters of washing machine permits at least we get fixit ticket warnings before subjecting us to homelessness. Really this just boggles one’s mind until we remember who government is now meant to serve - the bureaucrats and the 1 percent. Time for yellow vests in the USA.
27
NYC is incompetent and/or corrupt in dealing with violations and the individual homeowner suffers more because they have to cure things themselves-- and the process is indeed confusing and onerous, by design. How about issuing the first notice to cure a non-hazardous violation without a $$ fine? Give 90 days to correct, otherwise a fine is issued.
27
@David R
The Buildings Department allows certain non-hazardous violations to be "cured." If the respondent corrects the violation and submits a certificate of correction that is acceptable to DOB within the applicable time period , DOB deems the violation to be cured, no penalty is imposed, and the respondent need not come in for a hearing. The procedure is set forth on the back of the DOB summons.
5
Fine, Fine, Fine without the full facts. A few years ago NYC imposed a huge penalty on us for unpaid city taxes on a property in Brooklyn that doesn't exist. We had moved from a property in Brooklyn to one in CT. Someone in the bureaucracy of NYC had entered the street address of our new address in CT without deleting the rest of the address...Brooklyn and zip code.
There is no corresponding address in Brooklyn but that didn't stop them 14 years later ( it apparently took them this long ) from issuing retroactive taxes and fines. The fines had mounted over that period but we had never been notified...never.
Our accountant ( $2500 ) wrote a letter and then followed up with all the necessary documentation.
The City's response? " Never mind, our mistake."
Our response. " We just lost $2500 to send you a letter to rectify your insane mistake."
Government at its very worst!
79
"The Law Was Aimed at Deadly Machinery. It Hit Her Washer."
What purpose is served by utterly incomprehensible headlines?
11
@polymath
I understood it immediately.
10
Yes, but everyone is not a genius. It is still an odd title
Grew up in New York, moved 3000 miles away and never looked back.
8
Proof once again that power corrupts. The NYC DOB is a criminal enterprise.
16
This is outrageous. Is this how the DiBlasio administration plans to make up a budget deficit? Or throw around big numbers about safety and enforcement? Everything that man touches turns rotten.
5
This is why people hate government. And when people hate government, they hate democrats most of all.
20
“Government” covers a lot of ground. I like good government. I also like to know that bureaucracies can be fixed. I think we can have a better balance without sounding like Steve Bannon and Donald Trump who just want to smash everything.
11
These people who complain about these oppressive fines and regulations voted for the Democrat politicians responsible for enacting and enforcing these laws.
People get the government they voted for.
10
@puma
How do you know who these people voted for? In my experience, most people who cut corners to avoid government regulations are Republicans.
1
Absentee mayor.
4
Moved away from NYC as soon as I could because it is a sink of corruption and iniquity. I took a bite of that rotten apple, chewed it up and spit it out.
12
A pigeon coop? A pigeon coop? What could be dangerous about a pigeon coop?
I get it. It's on the roof. A pigeon might fall off the roof and hurt him/her self. Protect the pigeons! But pigeons can fly. That does not take into consideration crippled pigeons, who, on one wing can only fly in circles and into buildings.
Is this comment ridiculous? Yes! But so is a system that results in what is described in the column. And I was once a lawyer who helped enforce building codes in a major U.S. City.
31
@Dirtlawyer
I would think that this has less to do with the safety of the pigeons than with the safety of neighboring property and people -- how well is the coop constructed, how well secured, etc.
But it sounds like a crazy system. When I think of what we went through to make sure we had proper permits for our renovations, and then see what other people put up in the neighborhood! It's important to do things by the book, but the books should be comprehensible and penalties should be reasonably and equitably distributed.
5
If NYC actually wanted to create more affordable housing stock, they should realize this type of government punishment kills the supply. The type of people fined are the exact people who create affordable housing by renovating property. Thus, developers have incentives to only create luxury developments. This game is rigged.
27
@Rom
We don't need a supply of shoddy construction.
1
"Building departments" every where have always been a "money machines" for city/towns administrations, doing their business in the most unscrupulous ways, grafts included.
May a 'Class-action' suite bring this madness to a halt?
5
@Jak Take off your tinfoil hat. Codes and enforcements are not "money machines." In fact, how much do they collect from these fines?
Would you prefer unsafe buildings? Remember the Mexico City earthquake in the 70's? Many of the fallen buildings, it turns out, were not built to spec in regards concrete and amount of steel.
Bribes.
Or, more locally, more recently, the chemical explosion in West, Texas. Texas has laws that actually prevent first responders from knowing what hazards are on the property of potential hazards. One more reason why I am ashamed to live in Texas, and there are plenty of others.
8
I would ask Mayor DiBlasio why the DOB is so focused on the little folks?
I’m sure someone on his staff will respond with some deflection.
As for large properties and developers getting priority, that’s not the reality.
Getting the DOB approval to start repairs is slow and complicated.
That is why NYC is now Scaffold City!
10
@Toby Finn - I can answer that, they have the least resources with which to fight back.
4
This bureaucratic harassment and money extortion for minor permit violations should become a major platform in the next mayoral election in NEW YORK CITY.
11
This is an unacceptable situation that the city has to rectify.
10
I wonder how closely the Department focuses on the Kushner family properties or the Trump family properties?
35
@magicisnotreal— right, because everybody knows that Mayor Bill de Blasio and his Democrat administration responsible for this article is a huge fan of Trump. Please.
1
@puma
So am I to believe by your post that you are another of the people who incorrectly think the chief executive of a public entity is personally (magically) in control of all parts of the machine they are chief of?
Please.
3
Just one more classic money grab by the City. Big time developers have big time lawyers and plenty of official pockets to grease. Go after small property owners and shake them down. Life in New York isn't worth it.
10
With all the people leaving NY these days, the city and state need another means of income. Seriously, is this not a perfect example of over zealous enactment of controlling laws...
7
@G G
Over the past ten years, NYC's population has mostly grown. It did decline slightly in the past two years... by about 1%.
I heartily applaud the city for issuing fines to homeowners who perform home improvements without required certification or permits.
In the suburban region where I live, it is common for homeowners to make such renovations without reporting them to the authorities. They know very well that if they get the necessary government approvals, their properties could be taxed at much higher rates. Plus, our local governments never seem to police these violations or issue fines. So the honest citizens like me, who report our renovations, are made to look like fools because we obtain all our permits and and are then taxed at a much higher rate than the negligent homeowners. It is a simple case of being penalized for following the law.
Take a look at almost any real estate ad touting extra baths or bedrooms, an extended deck, etc. and then look up the tax records for the home. You’ll likely find that all of these extras have not been reported nor do they have the necessary certificates of occupancy.
In most cases, I do not buy the excuse that a homeowner was unaware permits would be needed. In the New York area, this kind of tax evasion is so widespread that it has become a sport.
13
@LIChef — Why are people's taxes based on the value of their property in the first place? Do people who live in more expensive homes use disproportionately more government services than those who live in less expensive homes?
11
@LIChef This is a money grab that is disguised as a public safety concern. The initial fine is acceptable, but to continually fine someone for the same issue is a violation of the 8th Amendment. Most tickets/fines applied by municipalities and local governments have long since become money first, if it makes people safer, great, second. The Law is Blind, but sadly not cheap enough for average citizens.
16
@puma So, you suggest what? A flat tax of $X amount no matter a shack or a Trump tower?
It costs money to run a civilized society, see the quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Also, that great economist and bank robber, Willie Sutton. You go where the money is.
4
Yet another article detailing the insanity of living in NYC. It is bad enough living in (relatively) regulation free Texas with home owners associations (HOAs) arbitrarily enforcing policies to "preserve property values." In most cases, that means not allowing you to make improvements that would actually increase the value of your property. Of course, NYC has to take it one further by imposing onerous fines that are likely to make it even less likely for a homeowner to be able to fix the problem. If the city really cared about safety, they would take a collaborative approach--perhaps offer free help to homeowners to navigate the permitting process and see that things are done right. That would take money from the city, but NYC, like SF and other big cities. are filled with wealthy people and companies who can afford to pay taxes to make the cities better places to live. Personally, I would not hold out for sane approaches like this. I'm planning to move to a place without an HOA and with as minimal restrictions as possible.
12
Thanks for a Monday morning eye-opener of a story. So much unfairness; collapsing cranes v. washing machines- bureaucrats gone wild.
Other things come to mind, like a class action lawsuit, law suits against pre-sale private building inspectors, title companies, real estate firms- plumbers, etc. And how is it a property owner didn’t get a timely notice - I’m guessing they had his address for tax purposes.
The city needs to take a deep breath, forgive all these fines, start over and do it right. Incredible.
38
There has to be a better way to make the city's housing stock safer without punishing responsible homeowners. We own a 100+ year old legal 2-family in Brooklyn. We are responsible landlords and we've made numerous safety upgrades (like to the electric system) despite not being wealthy people. This said, we live in fear that a city inspector would see our cellar, which is full of illegal modifications (like creating a full bathroom) done by the previous owner. One visit and we'd be buried in tickets and repair mandates we couldn't afford.
28
What a fine example of why people are so disaffected with Government (including NY State in this case). Mr. De Blasio should answer for why he is campaigning for the GOP.
14
@KEF
The moneyed have no party. They use whomever is willing to do their dirty deeds for them.
That said I have no doubt there is a republican at the heart of the drive to use the law in this way. It is a mirror image of the way they use private industry against common people.
8
How does a buyer purchase a home without knowing it contains “illegal” additions? I thought these deficiencies were revealed in the home inspection process and the written word of the seller/agent. I don’t know how anyone thinks a bathroom or powder room can be renovated without a permit. Are the circumstances mentioned in the article ignorance or fraud? Hard to know. Nevertheless, the city should give homeowners more time to correct the problems before increasing the fines.
11
@Lynn in DC A real estate agent is not going to risk losing his or her commission by admitting that the bathroom in the basement is illegal or that the plumbing system hasn't been upgraded in 100 years. Furthermore, he or she may not know. The potential owner may not know to ask because he or she is a first-time homeowner and is too caught up in the thrill of owning his or her own house that they can't really think about the negatives. The inspector may not be very good at his or her job, and/or may be willing to fudge on the facts for the sake of the seller or buyer who may be a friend or just plain gullible. There are lots of reasons.
7
I read the story and I read the comments. A number of the comments refer to improper taking of property, or of inappropriate enforcement, or refer to the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.
On paper remedies under these theories may exist. But, you have to bring the matter before the appropriate forum and we all know how backlogged the courts are. Meanwhile the clock is running and the citations (and fines) are mounting up.
Most people are not well versed in the law, and even if they know the law they are not plugged into the system administering the law. You may have [your choice of Supreme Being] on your side, you may have the facts on your side, you may even have the law on your side, but fat lot of good any of this will do you if you cannot gain access to the proper venue. You have to hire an advocate.
And that takes money, money most people just don't have. Since these things are drawn out, legal representation, if you can find it (and good luck) will be expensive. And, given the way the DOB statutes are written even if no actual inspection (i.e., the inspector gundecked the citation) occurred, you will very probably lose.
So your choices devolve to: knuckle under, pay and be ruined, or fight, lose, pay, and be even more ruined.
Such is justice in the Land of the Free.
34
"The Law Was Aimed at Deadly Machinery . It Hit Her Washer."
A washer can be deadly machinery.
I know this because I was present there when my mother received the distraught call from her friend, informing my mother that the woman's pregnant daughter-in-law and two small children had been killed by the explosion of the washer/dryer in the basement of the son and daughter-in-law's home, which was in Queens, New York.
Anyone who is considering buying a home should hire an engineer to inspect the property prior to purchase . The engineer whom I hired to inspect a townhouse issued multipage report in which he detailed everything from the condensation on the living room windows which would have resulted from improperly installed windows, to "Washer/ Dryer improperly vented into home." The improperly installed windows could not have harmed me. The improperly installed Washer/Dryer could have harmed myself &/ or others.
The same is true of improper wiring, and all sorts of work that is done without appropriate permits.
14
Did your engineer check to see if permits were pulled for the washer and dryer?
2
@Robert Bufano You don't need a permit to buy and install a washer or dryer if the electrical outlets or perhaps gas lines are already in place.
1
@DJS
Good catch! The headline is misleading; the danger was probably a gas-fueled dryer - a potential explosion hazard. An electrically heated dryer would not carry that risk.
4
If DiBlasio is serious about the housing crisis, this is something he needs to fix.
The permitting process is complex, obtuse and extremely expensive. The DOB is willing to fine middle class home owners hundreds of thousands of dollars for infractions.
This makes it far less attractive for middle class people to own their own home. The only people able to bear the risks of homeownership will be corporations and the very wealthy.
23
Life is so much easier in Indiana despite the rotten, blood-red politics. I miss my Jackson Heights, but not that much. I would place a hefty bet on that those behind these fines (in Queens) work for a sneaky city officials with ties to corporate landlords and the legacy staff Joe Crowley’s personal Tammany Hall.
14
@Isaac Did you ever think that life is so much easier in Indiana due to the blood-red politics. Let it change to blue and see how much you like living there after a few years of blue in charge.
1
May it be noted that NYC Public housing's director forged federal EPA documents about lead and thousands of kids are still being poisoned and maimed by the city as a result of it and DeBlasio's inaction.
Where did that city official end up??? Jail, like you or I would be? Nope! She teaches at NYU.
27
Mindless, grafty, and big-govermnent-max. Bears all the hallmarks of BDB’s leadership style.
5
Yeah, I'm sure that there is zero connection between the buildings inspector who dumps a million dollars of fines on a little old lady in Queens and the shady house flippers patrolling her neighborhood, hassling people to sell.
Totally unrelated. No connection. How could you even think such a thing, in a nice city with such nice real estate people?
68
Outrageous! Outrageous on many levels! And that map tells you where the fines are “accidentamally” accruing: NYC's poorest neighborhoods. Shame on NYC for targeting small homeowners and poor people for stupid stuff. How much harm is that pigeon coop doing? Maybe our Mayor would like to come home from Iowa and do something?
24
Don’t these people know that when a DOB Inspector shows up that they expect a “gift”? Sheeesh! This is what happens if you don’t pony up. There are always some violations somewhere in all that code that the DOB Inspector just gotta enforce.
Hey DOB! How about just being human beings who communicate by phone and in person as soon as a problem arises?
17
Happy resident of Westchester.
1
Any chance that stories like these [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/04/nyregion/east-village-gas-explosion-reveals-problems-in-citys-inspection-system.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article] contribute to this kind of over-reaction by the governing?
4
@Tim Murphy
NOPE.
This abuse of authority is intentional and meant to put an end to attempts to try to make the inspection system run properly and it's employees take action fairly.
The city started to Foreclose in my home on some fines for illegal patio my late father build for him self dating back 6 years ago
I spend thousands of hours trying to fight this
No one to talk to
I’m loosing my house
The city lawyer named Joel
Vago
Threatened me to take away my house if I don’t pay this
This is a shame for NYC
51
Simple solution to this problem: make the fines and penalties a percentage of the property value.
6
The mayor dances around the country stroking his political ego as the city burns.
14
So apparently due process is not a consideration? Yes, there is a court date scheduled, but the penalties keep coming before a hearing is held.
24
@Anita
but that would be fair and we all know life isn't fair. Right?
1
While this article tells of all sorts of hardships that were incurred by people because of the new law that requires immediate correction of "an immediately hazardous violation
that poses a threat of imminent danger to public safety" such as "illegal work could be dangerous, even fatal, for owners, tenants and neighbors" it fails to articulate what precisely the focus of its criticism is.
Should there be an exception for buildings that have only 1-4 apartmentments. Or because "hundreds of languages are spoken in New York" but "the instructions appear only in English" that the law should only apply to English speakers. Or is the issue that many of the violations are not sufficiently hazardous, and so should not be deemed to pose a threat of imminent danger to public safety.
Because the fact is that the next time some structure collapses or there is a building explosion that results in fatalities that was due to an "immediately hazardous violation that posed a threat of imminent danger to public safety" one can just imagine how the NYT will publish a lengthy investigative piece documenting how inspectors visited the building on 6 different occasions and saw how the owner refused to correct the hazardous violation and did nothing. About how this was not an exception but the rule and go on to cite how its the same story with thousands of such violations.
And when the owner is sued in court the jury will not excuse them because of the excuses they offer here.
8
@Michael Stavsen How about instead of bureaucrats beating up on small owners, the inspectors instead be required to guide the owners as to how to make needed repairs, allow them time and charge much smaller fines. Sounds to me like an out of control organization that is incentivized to collect money, not to help achieve compliance and safety.
I wonder whether there are objectives or incentives tied to how much is collected in fines?
21
And yet we smirk and shake our collective heads at those crooked 'third world countries' where every simple interaction with a government representative has the potential to eat up piles of money and time, with no promise of a solution.
It is beyond time to streamline and shorten these kafkaesque laws.
One has to wonder if there is a monetary opportunity perceived in these outlandish charges and fees.
24
City should be ashamed of this practice. Government at its worst.
10
What they did to Ms. Harrow is unconscionable, which is exactly why you led and closed with her story. But the idea that the city would force an elderly woman to remove her washer and dryer? The idea that she has to pay a massive fine fifty dollars at a time? I'm furious.
31
She can renovate to put the washer and dryer upstairs.
Thanks for this article about the DOB. I, too, have been caught in this unfair system. A washer and dryer were in the basement when I acquired the three family house in which my daughter lives with her disabled husband and her two children. A summons was issued last July, after a complaint from a neighbor that proved unfounded. The summons was left at the house, but, for some reason, I never received it, and a copy was never mailed by DOB. By the time I did receive it and appeared, I was already in the soup. The hearing officer asked if I had a lawyer. (Why would I need one. I felt I had done nothing wrong.). I was fined $1500.
I hired a licensed electrician who removed the electric line to the dryer, then re-installed it after getting a permit. (Another $2500). But I had to file my own application for compliance, because the DOB staff at the Bronx office stated that electricians are not required to file—only plumbers. The application was rejected—but not before more fines (1650). (The summons was written for the washer AND dryer, so the work was still incomplete since the plumbing component was not done yet).
Getting a plumber for the washer proved difficult. Three licensed plumbers refused to do the work. One said he does not do violation removal work any more because of the new inspection process. To wrap up, the work has been complete for 9 months, but a certif oc completion has not been issues, and the cost to date is over $20,000, for a washer and dryer!
112
This is Kafkaesque. Where all power rests with faceless bureaucrats who have the power to ruin and destroy. How can someone just come up with half a million dollars to pay these petty fines? It's ridiculous and needs to be changed.
31
I had hoped that DiBlasio would help lower income and middle class citizens in NYC and level the playing field with big developers. But this article points to yet another way the NYC bureaucracy is set up to fleece people on the lower end of the income spectrum.
42
"The city does not have discretion." Translation: no one is above the law. Owners of 1-4 unit buildings don't get better treatment than those with 5+ units, just because the NYT (in pandering to readers) declares 1-4 unit owners 'ordinary' people and everyone else mega-landlords. The laws exist for very good reason. Everyone cheers when they are enforced with the big, bad landlords (who gets to be the arbiter?) but then decry rising housing costs (where exactly did they think fine money was coming from?).
Property owners (small, large and in between) deserve equal treatment under the law. For a city obsessed with equity, it's the equitable thing to do. Larger landlords stay clear of this meat grinder because they know the rules and correct violations (perhaps some credit where it's due NYT?). The willful ignorance and non-compliance of the small-time owners depicted here is a weak defense. The NYT regularly excoriates everyone/anyone for non-compliance of the law, yet is giving these owners a free pass in a moment of pandering. Also the city lawyers are spilling the beans out of their own self interest, not that of property owners.
2
@Andy Deckman
The system does not treat small owners equally.
Since they cannot afford the fines, they don’t obtain the permits, and the “dangerous conditions” (of which I am skeptical) persist.
This process is about revenue, not compliance, and prolongs the alleged danger rather than alleviating it.
As a former native New Yorker, I know first hand about how the city’s laws and courts favor landlords. Don’t talk to me about equal application of the laws.
25
@Jerry Engelbach
Laws and courts favor landlords in NYC? You are misinformed. And laws, fines and permits exist for good reason.
It's scams like these that convince me that I would NEVER want to live is the compressed, dirty, noisy, anonymous confines of a city. Unaccountable bureaucrats are the bane of everyone's life, but in a city, it's magnified a hundred-fold because there are so many faceless inhabitants, and bureaucrats preying on them. Never, no chance...
8
Everything is corrupt now.
12
Meanwhile, landlords like Jared Kushner can harass tenants by not fixing apartments or making noise at off times.
54
The fines are excessive. Yet the truth is that these owners were bypassing the permit process to save a few dollars and in the end it cost more than the improvement would ever bring. Reality television isn't real yet owners just drink the kool-aid. And, the city is acting like a bully. Code enforcement is critical to everyone's safety. Property owners are required to disclose material defects and "unpermitted" additions when they are selling. An inspector and real estate broker will also document the finding. And, insurers will refuse claims when the work was not permitted. Hard to overcome stupid...
5
Predators are in power.
6
De Blasio, always working hard for the working and middle class['s money, opportunity, and quality of life, which he is out to ruin any way he can]. But hey, now New Yorkers are protected from...an elderly person doing laundry in her own home. Phew!
10
And next month the Times will do a major story about an explosion or fire caused by a homeowner hiring someone they picked up in the parking lot at Home Depot and demand what those terrible, awful bureaucrats are doing to keep the public safe.
I despise the occupant of the White House, but there is a reason his poinson falls on willing ears, and some of that is the fault of stories like this.
7
You shouldn't have to pay a 1600 dollar fine to get a permit to fix the problem. The law was confixitory to begin with and now is a revenue stream. Fix the law and work out the fines in a reasonable manor.
22
New York City Government could teach the Sopranos a few tricks.
7
I guess the realtors and renters that this is really meant for are great sources of campaign contributions and in order to address the inequity in the law would take a lot of time and attention and this is meant to be an automated series of regulations. I guess it sounds good on paper and in theory but as we have read, it is rife with all sorts of problems. Once again the little guy gets the shaft.
6
"We promised New Yorkers that we’d take aggressive action against those who put themselves and others at risk, and that is exactly what we’re doing,”
Where is the lie? How is a washer and dryer in the basement of a home dangerous?
This is the sort of corrupt use of government the republicans used to point to to justify themselves and the destruction of the regulatory rules that prevented them from doing similar abusive things in the private sector.
Once again moneyed interests have corrupted the rule of law to benefit the wealthy. This is a slow moving illicit taking of property by falsely using our government against us.
6
@magicisnotreal
> Where is the lie? How is a washer and dryer in the basement of a home dangerous?
Read some other comments. Poorly installed dryers can explode.
1
I would like to know about the violations at places like the Kushner properties. This is a classic go after the little guy while ignoring the slum lords and developers.
20
Many incompetent inspectors hide behind the poor written laws to perform their jobs without the necessary skills to do. I have worked in government and observed that my inexperienced and poorly trained colleagues find violations where violations do not exist, and the incompetent management look the other way. Recipients of the fines are a bit to blame also, because they do not respond in a timely manner.
3
IMMEDIATE procedural correction needed.
Mayor ought to terminate the top officials to clarify that this type of game is simply unacceptable.
An amoral mendacious federal government is enough trouble we don’t need local bad behavior too...
11
That’s NYC soaking it’s tax base again. All in the name of “safety.” Remember the Staten Island house remediations after Hurricane Sandy? A $200k house costs $1M to build when the city is in the mix. Let’s not forget public housing’s $1k light bulbs.
Construction is hard enough in NYC, and the DOB makes it all the harder with their never ending permit process and arbitrary fines.
12
Perhaps there should be laws prohibiting the sale of any property without an inspection and it being brought up to code.
Plus, a clear, large print, easy-to-read handout given with each sale explaining the need for permits.
In the meantime, vacate the fines, especially the failure to comply ones for people who bought properties with preexisting conditions, and go after the original building owners who mis-installed fixtures.
deBlasio for President? He shouldn't even be mayor.
22
@Marsha Pembroke The problem with requiring houses to be brought up to code is that codes keep changing, such that a house that complied with all codes when built will not comply with the current codes--even if no additions were done to it. Here in Houston, many older homes are the only affordable houses for first time home buyers, yet none of them comply with modern codes. The cost to bring them up to current codes would exceed the cost to tear them down and rebuild. This means that only wealthy developers could afford to buy these old houses. Of course, when they tear them down and rebuild, they will not build starter houses, because they can get more for larger houses. So the end result, would be making housing even more expensive--pricing it way out of reach of first time buyers. You could also require homeowners to bring their own houses up to new codes each year, but that would mean most people could not afford to own a house. It would also make rent skyrocket. The moral: some libertarian approaches turn out to have merit.
4
@Todd Johnson Its called grandfathering and it is done all the time, an old house does not have to comply with current codes, but renovations and additions must, pretty simple.
6
This is itself example of low-hanging fruit. A few anecdotal examples of enforcement of laws causing hardship to individuals, but not the bigger picture at all. What about the problem that the laws are meant to rent? Slapped together plumbing, slapped together renovations, shoddy electrical wiring, gas piping and other shortcuts hidden in walls and painted over. People who buy houses with hidden defects then pay the price when bad gas piping intersects with bad electrical wiring -- leading to an explosion that can take out an entire block of houses.
It's more than the inconvenience of complying with building-permit laws, and doing the job right -- this article completely misses the health and safety issues involved.
Whenever enforcement of laws is an issue, it's always easy to find someone who can claim injustice, lack of knowledge, or lack of resources.
The question is, do you want laws enforced fairly and evenly, backed up by an effort to educate the public, or you do you want individual (case-exceptions made - based on the discretion of government officials who are then open to claims of unfairness and corruption. it's difficult to have it both ways.
6
I did everything by the book when I renovated a classic 3 family Brownstone in 2013, which was abandoned 10 years prior making the street unsafe.
As a thank you the DOF raised my property taxes from $7000 to $20,000, triple of every other house in the Zip code. My mistake: I changed the C of O.
I have tried all official ways to appeal this. The rules are obscure and the ways to object are meant to deter and deflect.
Heck, look at the terminology on the ‘value of property’ statements. The same terms such as ‘market value’ have different meaning when printed on class 1 or 2 properties. Not even the major could explain his own property tax statement.
It’s just logical many fixes are done without permit.
I know of 3 whole house renovations within a 500 ft radius that keep the doors closed and renovate in secret. All of this makes us less safe.
12
I am a building professional (engineer) working in Brooklyn. I am continually amazed by the shoddy and dangerous work I see in old renovations and even current (unpermitted) work... buildings with no foundations, undermined foundations, party walls with no fire stopping, furnished roof decks on roofs never designed to support more than a few maintenance workers, bedrooms in cellars without windows or other safe means of egress, steel structures without fireproofing, etc etc.
I am talking about serious violations of health and safety, and buildings do collapse and people are injured in NYC because of issues like these.
In my experience Owners and Contractors will cut corners wherever possible, and what we are seeing here is the hangover from many decades of lax enforcement.
Of course the real estate market doesn’t help- potential buyers who raise any concerns about unpermitted work are in my experience passed over for buyers (often all cash) who might not be so savvy, or are willing to roll the dice on or just ignore any potential issues.
Building permits are a critical part of the process, and are the only mechanism we have to ensure some basic level of safety in our buildings not only for the Client but also Future Owners.
I have no sympathy for the Owners who are profiled here- they will profit (often handsomely) from every illegal addition, roof deck, and cellar bedroom- all at the expense of future occupants.
14
You have "no sympathy for the owners profiled here"!
That's heartless and suggests you didn't read the article very closely. The cases differ dramatically.
Plus, shouldn't the people who originally broke the law be the ones responsible for fixing the problems?
What's going on here is cruel and a gross miscarriage of justice.
16
@Schultzie
Penalizing people for months while denying them the permits they need prolongs rather than relieves the supposedly unsafe conditions.
The bureaucrats are either too stupid to be aware of this or are more interested in the revenue stream than safety.
5
@Marsha Pembroke
I have enormous sympathy for the tenants and/or future Owners of these properties who end up paying for the shortcuts taken by the Owners who engage in illegal work.
The first example in this article- a cellar washer and dryer- may seem harmless, but if improperly installed and vented they pose a very real risk of sewer backup/fire/carbon monoxide poisoning.
It would be perfect if we could go back in time and punish the original owner who executed the illegal Work, but in many cases the culprit is dead/gone- and if there is no paper record of the Work, it may not be possible to prove when the Work actually occurred.
The reality is that the current Owner will profit from the illegal condition upon re-selling the property, and is rightfully responsible for rectifying the violation. Buyer beware!
If the result of this article is less regulation and enforcement, as the majority of commenters seem to think, we can look forward to future NY Times articles detailing injuries/deaths occurring due to deficiencies in unpermitted work.
1
In general, there are health and safety issues regarding sinks that are unvented and leak sewer gas, jury-rigged gas line alterations that cause explosions, electrical services that fault in an overload state and cause fires or rooftop structures that might blow onto the street in a storm. Nobody wants to live next door to a single family house that has been partitioned into 10 or 20 small rooms. Nobody wants a car repair shop or some other nuisance in the next door neighbor's back yard.
Cracking down on unscrupulous property owners and slumlords is sensible but everyone is entitled to due process and consistency. The 'failure to comply' is a trap little different from nuisance violations used by Ferguson, Missouri authorities to loot from residents there.
13
I recently learned from a neighbor that to run a new gas line that is over five feet long (and arbitary number) costs $5200 in permits alone. That's before any work is done. If you research what other similar cost of living states charge, you'll find NY is adding an extra zero. I understand it's for safety, but that is a HUGE money grab for some paperwork.
27
Much like the Third Party Transfer (TPT) program that the City touted to transfer "distressed" properties from bad propety owners (who turned out to be mostly minority homeowners in the outer boroughs), these excessive fines with inadequate due process appear to strip the equity from homes of working-class New Yorkers. This is a poorly thought-through policy that attempts to achieve positive regulatory goals but in practice disproportionately affects the little people and the penalty does not match the crime (or infraction).
I would like to see how many of the affected individuals are seniors, people of color, and of moderate means. Like TPT, I'm guessing the negative results of this aggressive enforcement are felt mostly by those least able to defend themselves and only serves to imperil home retention by the most vulnerable. It's alarming and shameful.
26
This is why people don't trust government. This is why some of them vote for Trump---not because he'd fix the problem (which has nothing to do with the federal government), but out of frustration that it doesn't listen to them.
Vacate the fines. Issue permits, retroactively in these cases, for any work that isn't actually dangerous. That includes new plumbing fixtures, and even chicken coops on the roof. Why should these even need permits at all?
31
@Jonathan Katz new plumbing can and does create dangerous situations that could bring down building. That chicken coop - is the roof built to sustain the weight, or to allow for people going up to the roof? Homeowners should not try to illegally modify their dwellings and then cry.
5
Building codes cut two ways. Sometimes they protect people. And other times they bankrupt people and threaten to drive them out of their homes. Whether building codes "work" is all in the delicacy of their enforcement.
8
Thank you, New York Times, for constantly working to expose things like this. For people who have limited resources the press is often they’re only weapon in fighting back.
31
@Ben frankly i'm glad the City takes these illegal modifications seriously. Admittedly they could do more to explain the process and also set up appointments so there's someone home when the inspector comes. i once complained about a nearby building that had a large metal beam hanging precariously off onto a neighbor's backyard. The DOB inspector came by - didn't even get out of his car to see what the matter was and drove off.
4
This is the same thinking that causes parking tickets to balloon to absurd amounts. A government wants more money and sees its citizens as ATMs. Then they can say they don't raise taxes. A permit for an additional bathroom makes sense. A permit for simply iinstalling a washer and dryer in the guise of safety is nonsense.
20
@Ceilidth, I agree the current DOB operations are ridiculously unfair and probably unconstitutional. However the permit requirements were for the plumbing and electrical wiring installed to make the machinnes operational. I think we should want those categories of work to require permits and be done or at least inspected by licensed contractors.
3
After voting democrats to virtually all levels of power for decades, I am wondering what else Nee yorkers expect. After all those gold plated retirements and benefits for 50 year old apparatchiks have to paid somehow.
7
Okay Wisconsin, that's pretty easy to say in a state about as big as one public housing project in queens.
8
@Barbarika
Um, before DiBlasio we had Guiliani and then Bloomberg, each for several four year terms. Have you seen dear Rudy's recent partisan rants? Although Mike Bloomberg has recently left the Republican Party he ran and governed as a Republican, albeit a very progressive one on many issues.
1
Alexandra Fisher: ‘Merely engorging the laws as written.’ Disgraceful and shameful. When bureaucrats hurt people by saying ‘not my problem’ we need to replace them as soon as possible.
15
Over-regulation, writ large. Hey, who wants more government?
9
Excessive enforcement and fining of individual homeowners, while allowing developers to endanger citizens and flout zoning laws? It begs questions about the integrity of the system by which building plans are designed and approved. Excellent reporting by NYT on this. We still wait for the outcome of the citizen's challenge to the scandalous and seriously dangerous skyscraper development where DOB "approved", submitted plans don't show the extra 10,000 square feet that was actually built. When DOB inspectors don't "see" 10,000 square feet you know something smells rotten at DOB;
Developers Built a 30-Story High-Rise. They Might Have to Chop Off 5 Floors. https://nyti.ms/2JWIxYM
15
@TEB
It would be interesting to learn whether the developers were also fined a commensurate amount (to the $1,200 every 60 days noted in the current NYTimes article) for each unit of the extra five stories. I suspect not. I doubt also that they chopped off the extra five stories in 60 days.
2
uh Someone in the bureaucracy has to admit a mistake was made. How about it Mr. Mayor?
18
This stupendous overkill is why conservatives hate government. This one thing causes massive social damage, and all the agency can say is 'we're just enforcing the law as it was written.' That is nowhere close to acceptable. That smug arrogance is an outrageous insult. The agency should be saying, we're going to fix the law ASAP.
22
In these law enforcement endeavors its all about impressing the bosses. If your colleague gave out a slew of tickets and you didn't, your bosses will point to the collegue and tell you that such-and-so gave out "x" number of tickets while you gave out substantially fewer tickets and then question what is wrong with you.
18
This is happening everywhere. The price of a minor traffic violation is ridiculous. Cities and States need to find different ways to raise money!
2
This is terrible. Big Government run amok! A whole lot of staff members in NYC Building Department, who have done willful harassment of law abiding citizens, bordering on persecution and illegal confiscation, should be immediately put on unpaid leave and after due process fired from their jobs. Whatever happened to property rights and respect for taxpayers who foot the bill for these local government employees salaries and benefits.
12
Other cities have residents that are able to do renovations like this without permits without killing people. I guess New Yorkers can't. I think that says something
7
Wow. It's almost as if living in an over regulated nanny-state is a total nightmare! Congrats, keep on voting for guys like DeBlasio and expecting different results. So glad I moved from there long ago. The rest of y'all will keep fleeing down here to Raleigh like rats out of a sinking ship.
14
Stories like this are why I'm grateful to the NYTimes. Ms Harrow was in a terrible bind, but now she's got the paper of record in her corner. Bet this is resolved for her and other small property owners within a week.
8
She probably does NOT have the paper. The DOB intentionally drags the process out to collect more fines. My work has been complete for almost 10 months, but the completion certificate has not been issued and the fines keep on coming.
4
a washing machine is subject to inspection and fines.
and you wonder why people vote for Republicans?
26
@Zenster D'uh it's not the washing MACHINE - it's the plumbing and maybe electricals that require a permit. Reading comprehension is sorely lacking in some of these comments.
Someone decided to cut corners, do some illegal renovation and then come crying to the media!
1
The Kushner's of this world are riding high, the little people are crushed. Why would anyone live in New York?
5
I am sure, after this NYT exposure, there will be a response and a "review of our policies" statement and *reconsideration* of half million dollar penalties.
5
This is preposterous. Who can afford to pay and $500k fine? Let me guess. You can go down to the bank and get a loan to pay it off? Go to the same bank that offers the special rate on the taxi medallions loans. DeBlasio should be ashamed.
11
So by forcing an elderly woman to do her laundry at a laundromat rather than inside her home, NYC is making cranes on skyscrapers more safe. Got it.
107
@DL No they're ensuring that the old woman's illegal plumbing doesn't jeopardize all her neighbors' dwellings - this is NYC we're all connected. A neighbor complianed and started the whole process - but then said old lady had illegal improvements in her house!
It should surprise no-one that the laws regarding building codes are regressively enforced. This is true of the enforcement of nearly all our laws in Amerika. Poor people break the law, rich people evade the law. Corrupt governments insure this peculiarity of status quo. I feel sorry for people like Jean Harrow however, I would suggest that she sue the lawyers that handled the closing on her house for malpractice. They should have identified this problem. Otherwise, what exactly is their function in the closing, to take a percentage of something they don't deserve?
5
It is looking like Fergusson, Missouri. Used of the regulation and justice system by the city to make money.
4
"Welcome to New York"
-Taylor Swift
Official Ambassador, NYC
1
Dreadful story that shows government at its worst. Kudos to NYT for reporting it. The fact that agency lawyers were overruled by a deputy director shows it's just a money grab by the city. God forbid that Bill D'Blasio gets elected to do for America what he did for New York.
19
Folks like me not living on NYC can only laugh at this absurdity of a petty government gone high.
Since we are close to 9/11 - soon after, a Senate investigation team consisting of senior senators including Sen Trent Lott - the Majority Leader were in NYC - being given a tour of the city by the Mayor (Giuliani).
And the Mayor pointed put all these densely packed "houses" in the city.
The Leader looked around and said "where are the houses?"
He being from Mississippi - thinks houses are homes as in those with a garden, a backyard etc.
So, these violations in these small properties for inconsequential modifications or improvements - simply a NYC Kafakesque situation.
That brought to mind Frank :
"..These little town blues
Are melting away
I'll make a brand new start of it
In old New York
If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere
It's up to you, New York, New York
New York, New York
I want to wake up in a city that never sleeps
And find…..."
And Sinatra found violation notices upon notices.
1
I'm a homeowner and coop President and our experience with the NYC DOB has been nothing but frustration and basic incompetence. One hand with generally no idea what the other hand is doing.
Pray you don't get tangled up with these people.
23
Welcome to doing business in de Blasio's version of New York City. He's on the take from developers, so this story of truly indefensible behavior toward small-property owners doesn't surprise me at all. He has to be one of the most corrupt mayors we've had in awhile.
To de Blasio, it's ALL to the good, just as long as the 'big boys' in real estate keep lining his pockets with their large sums of money. De Blasio takes his orders from his donors, even when that means shafting thousands of owners of single-family homes or small buildings.
11
This is the kind of abuse by one department - or one supervisor of one department - that anti-government forces use as an argument to destroy all government. Some department is abusing a poorly written law? Let's get rid of all city agencies and all laws regulating everything! Can you imagine NYC without rules/ regulations? Correct the problem - don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
5
@carolz
Don't paint conservatives with a broad "anti-government forces" label. A LIMITED government is at the very core of our democracy. A government only granted the essential authority to perform, and nothing more.
5
@SSS. As a conservative in many ways myself, I realize the problem with defining "limited government". What exactly is that? As long as we are human, our institutions will need oversight. But we need those institutions, imperfect as they may be!
"In small print, amid references to sections of the administrative code, tickets instruct owners to “timely correct” violations, without explaining what would be considered timely, or specifying that the city can issue failure-to-comply tickets every 60 days in the meantime. And although hundreds of languages are spoken in New York, the instructions appear only in English."
I understand every part of that paragraph other than :
"And although hundreds of languages are spoken in New York,
the instruction appear only in English."
Why would Ms. Ashford expect the City of New York to issue tickets that list instructions in the "hundreds of languages " that are spoken in New York ?
Does she expect the City of New York to hand. out tickets the size of telephone books, which include instructions in hundreds of languages ?Which languages does she believe she should be included ?!
New York is in The United States. The official language of the U.S. is English. It is incumbent on those who move to the United States to learn to read, write and speak English, not for New York State to issue phone book size tickets that contain instructions in hundreds of languages.
The people who are being ticketed are homeowners. Did they manage to become homeowners without learning how to read English ?!
5
@DJS
Contrary to popular belief, English is not the "official" American language. It behooves any government, even a city government, to serve the people. That includes to communicate in the language the people speak. For some of the people in the immigrant community the city government could issue the small print in Latin, and it wouldn't be any worse (possibly actually better ...). These are community members, who pay taxes.
9
@DJS
Yes. Many upstanding citizens (and non-citizen immigrants) cannot understand English legalese (nor can many native speakers). Hundreds of languages are impossible, but it is entirely feasible to issue these documents in a few major languages: Spanish (many citizens by birth are native Spanish speakers), Chinese, perhaps a few others.
5
@DJS
They really should have the summons issued, at a minimum, in Spanish as well as English.
1
DeBlasio, NYC city council, Albany, everyone directing housing practices in NYC are corrupt and embrace malfeasance. And we know that based on outcome. Consider NYC rezoning and displacement, REBNY influence on politicos and pac fund raising, NYCHA, housing for the homeless, 2-3 year wait at DHCR for rent dispute hearings.
Across the board. It’s ugly and striking in it’s universality. And, it’s by design. Elections matter. Nothing less than an across the board take down and redo required.
5
Just another reason I moved out of NYC. The thieves and the uncaring bureaucracy are running and ruining the city I grew up in...Thanks to the Times for this article. Maybe it will embarrass the mayor into doing the right thing. On second thought, it won't help at all. NYC has no mayor!
7
Thank you NYtimes for this story. I’m a small home owner who came home to find a FALSE violation posted on our door for a allegedly illegal construction the inspector had no way been able to inspect because he had not been inside our house. Very luckily I had the means and know how to hire the right “expeditor” - from two different companies— since I understood the potential seriousness (though i did not know about ballooning fines). At our OATH city hearing, the unprepared very very young city lawyer sought an adjournment - we’d been warned this would happen and we were told to reject it and demand a decision and to see their evidence on the spot. This was the right call because they had made up the violation and had no evidence. It was dismissed but cost me about $2000 in expeditor fees, plus MANY hours of time and anguish when I also have a job. The DOB then sent the same inspector back who’d made up the violation to re-inspect to conclude the case. I finally met him in person and asked why he’d made up that we had illegal construction going on. This inspector- a recent immigrant speaking with a heavy accent -said “because most people do illegal construction.” And is there a quota Mr lying DOB inspector ? Thank you thank you NYtimes for exposing how DOB absolutely goes for the easy low hanging fruit - small owners like the people in this story. They are making mince meat of us. Please continue reporting like this.
99
@Hannah Aron Glad you shared your story. Not sure what the inspector’s speaking accent had to do with it though.
9
@MS I don't think it takes much to qualify to be an inspector, and I've seen DOB inspectors just drive up and slap a notice on doors without even bothering to walk around the building to view the problem - external and obvious. Almost all of them were my compatriots from Bangladesh where corruption runs rife.
10
@Vgg We have corruption run rife here in the U.S. The White House is Exhibit A.
Talk about abuse of power. This deserves a class action suit.
6
This is typical enforcement behavior, similar to that used by the IRS. The IRS’ agents are too chicken to confront wealthy and powerful tax evaders, so they end up siccing the dogs on pizza shops in garage mechanics. Same with the SEC, who hound individual advisers at large firms, but we’re too scared to go after Bernie Madoff, because he laughed at them and said he was too busy.
6
@Meg Greer
The IRS has been systematically defunded. We know hwo is to blame for that.
Hey someone has to pay the state workers pensions. And dont forget to go out on disability just before you retire.
4
It really depends on who you know. I live in Brooklyn and have a neighbor who has done major work and had no permits since 1994. Every time we complained ( our other neighbors saw a new floor being added on top, interior gutted, work done on fire escapes ...) to NYC DOB, a complaint was filed then quickly “cancelled” for no reason. Even when my councilman intervened, the deletions occurred and no fines or citations were given. It’s pretty clear that this neighbor “knows someone” at Dept of Buildings. I’d love to show NYT photos and proof, as with many things in NYC it’s really about ticket quotas and the easiest targets.
9
@Simon Great. Based on this article, whoever buys his house next is in for it.
1
One rule of urban capitalism is that the devil is in the details and if you don’t have a taste for sitting down and slowly reading the fine print, enjoying the nuances of contracts and legal minutiae, you are going to lose the game big time. How can a landlord not answer mail sent to a property he/she owns? Its like a letter from the IRS: you better open it up and answer it fast. And there are plenty of people who love the minutiae, love manipulating the system so that when you are overwhelmed, confused and forced into selling the building, they are there to buy it cheap and solve the issues, savvier than you. Too bad, you lost.
That said, this sort of punitive, reliance on fines and other bureaucratic “rent-seeking” behavior of governments is just a kind of punishment tax that pretty much every government participates in. The money is just too good. That they choose to really escalate and abuse these fines (viz. Chicago red light cameras) as oppose to raising money through taxes is only a sign of a broken and decadent governmental system.
4
Mr. De Blasio is such a non-entity on the national level that I have no idea if he is still running to be our fearless leader. If he is, this alone should sink his campaign. This kind of code enforcement represents such an abuse of power as to be unbelievable, except in a Kafka novel or in Stalin's Soviet Union. I was a building owner in Chicago for way too many years and this tactic is familiar from there; but believe it or not, this sounds way, way worse. Make no mistake, these enforcement programs are about simple revenue enhancement, similar the national trend among police departments to confiscate property and cash as a result of simple traffic violations--all to build their department's cash war chest in the absence of tax dollars to do the same. Really shameful!
9
This reporter should have included a response from building department as to how to correct any violations. I mean do people need to hire an architect, or simply a permit by contractor is sufficient. Also mentioning of a website where such questions are answered would have been helpful.
I think NY Times will do a great public service if a follow up article is published including serious concern expressed in these comments.
10
No surprise here - the law of unintended consequences strikes again. Between the recently enacted "tenant protection" measures and situations like this, little wonder that there is an affordable housing crisis in New York. No rational person would subject himself/herself to these burdens by building or upgrading small-scale housing.
5
This kind of archaic and arcane lawmaking and law enforcement is part of what many emigrants from Europe wanted to leave behind them when they left for the New World. It seems, though, that bureaucracy is one tough cookie - here in Germany we sometimes groan, but I fear the Germans would storm City Hall - or at least call in their lawyers - at the first sign of such practices. It helps that pretty well everyone has insurance which pays for legal representation in most cases. Bullies don't like resistance, and that goes for official bullies too.
11
We ran into a similar problem when we bought a house for our son and daughter-in-law in Portland, OR. A simple violation brought about by a neighbor led to intensive investigations of the house, which uncovered several renovations made by the previous owner who had never applied for a permit, and whose work was not up to code. We were responsible for bringing the home up to code, as well as for a variety of fines. We ended up spending about half the cost of the house on these renovations. My question is, shouldn't the realtor who brokered the house bear some responsibility for checking that the property is up to code? We had an inspection, uncovered a variety of issues that were settled before closing, but no one ever brought up the permit and code issues.
12
@CEM
No, the realtor should not be held responsible overbearing government. Nor should the previous homeowner be considered evil for having gotten away with evading these locusts. The solution is to exterminate the locusts.
2
@CEM I think you are correct. My son told me (not a realtor) that if my house has ever had any leaks -under the baseboards for instance, I would need to tell this this to the inspector. In other words, a buyer should be informed of any possible shortcomings prior to purchasing the house. Makes sense - I'll have to ask my realtor friend.
@CEM Not the realtor per se but yes--if your home can be inspected and the lack of previous permits discovered, then this should be part of the purchasing process. Just like when they assure you that there are no other liens on or claims to the property. It's unbelievable to me that this could be found to be the responsibility of a new homeowner who was not only none the wiser but whom of all people involved, the only one who can't be said to have dropped the ball.
Lax building code enforcement can end in catastrophe like the Ghost-ship Fire in Oakland CA, recently. NYC DOB has the ability to discern between life and safety hazards, and run of the mill non-compliance issues. Instead it chooses to view every violation as a nail that must be hammered. I hope this reporter stays on the story and the mayor is called to account. By the way, where is he?
50
@Ricardo222
Judgement and description are necessary to allow society to function. The entire society would grind to a halt with 100% enforcement. 80% of hospitals would shut down.
4
Try the treadmill at the Park Slope YMCA
1
When my neighbor, who is attached on one side to my home, removed the entire back wall of the lower floor of his house, without installing any structural supports for the upper two floors, it caused our facade to crack, our door to misalign and not close properly, and leaks from the cracks and shifting. He had no permit. We called the dob and filed a complaint with images of the construction. No inspector ever came out to inspect. The dob website in fact said for 4 weeks that an inspector had not yet been dispatched. Then the complaint was closed out and never inspected. Calling 311/ don was useless. Interesting that the city is fining home owners into the hundreds of thousands for work that isn’t affecting the property of others, yet a real life structural issue that has caused another property owner damage, that’s not worth the city’s time.
136
@Living In Greenwood
Wait until Greenwood is ready to be gentrified. You may be slammed with fees for your neighbor's actions.
9
This is "the deep state" at work—a grinding, remorseless bureaucracy, impervious to reason or common sense, that bullies the powerless while cravenly kowtowing to the powerful. File this article where you can find it—when you are confused about the behavior of people like Cliven Bundy and bunkered survivalists whose mistrust of government seems irrational or extreme, the Kafkaesque world of NYC government goes a long way toward explaining it.
51
@Civres
This is not a case of grinding remorseless bureaucracy. It is a case of an uninformed electorate. Specifically, it is a case of people voting for a particular mayor without sufficiently understanding his radical commitment to a personal vision of income redistribution by any means without much if any regard for legal niceties or individual consequences, a vision that makes Bernie Sanders look like Milton Freedman by comparison.
This is just another way that supposed liberal democratic cities like New York push the lower middle and middle classes out of their affordable homes, (unreasonable fines is a form of taxation), by taxing the middle classes and making NYC more unaffordable, they accomplish two things. Gentrification and money to repair old infrastructure. This world is built on the broken backs of the middle classes. Always has and always will.
Bernie or Bust!
39
This is common in every city and town in NY. Why should New York City be any different? I had to pay thousands of dollars to correct a building permit issue in Yorktown Heights, NY. The previous owner had applied for no permits for a new deck and patio. At one point there was a chance they were going to pull up the patio in order to verify the depth of the deck supports. Either abide by the law or change it.
10
When I was looking for an apartment in New York city, Manhattan to be precise, I was shocked at the quality of apartments in some buildings, but also found the bureacracy of NYC over whelming. We decided to rent a house in the Midwest instead and had no regrets. New York city days are over. NYC is Gotham city now with jokers on all sides.
21
Clowns to the left of you. Jokers to the right. Glad you were able to get out of NYC to the middle.
Each terms Democrats impose more regulations, with little upside and lots of unintended consequences. Democrats often take a road that makes America less great.
3
When I was looking for apartments in New York city, Manhattan to be precise, I was shocked at the quality of apartments in some buildings, but also found the bureacracy of NYC over whelming. We decided to rent a house in the Midwest and had no regrets. New York city days are over. It is Gotham with Jokers on all sides.
2
It's frightening how quickly fine systems, like those we see with traffic citations, turn into snowballing debtors prisons. These are systemic issues that need to be addressed with how the government collects fines.
99
I readily believe we should move towards a system where fines are determined by income. In the same way a speeding ticket can be seen as irksome by the wealthy and hole into poverty for others a find that can lead to a homeowner to lose their house may be considered a cost of doing business for a firm constructing a multi million dollar building.
18
Whether it is New York or New Orleans, I have learned to think of wrongful governance as what people do to other people. I choose not to think of it as bad big government, but as what needs to be drilled down to the persons that need to be held responsible. That is where an entrenched culture begins.
21
@william phillips We should have term limits for all civil servants based on performance. They should be rated by the people they serve.
1
As much as I like to see big companies held accountable for public and consumer safety, stories like this are honestly the best argument for voting Republican.
45
@Bradley
This situation would be worse with Republicans in charge. But this isnt about political parties; it's about the irrationalities inherent in large bureaucracies, something that transcends party identification.
45
@Bradley
I live in a town that is overwhelmingly Republican, in a county that is overwhelmingly Republican. The town police and the county sheriffs, both run by Republican chiefs, regularly set up speed traps and “inspection” road blocks. Drivers caught speeding just five miles an hour are fined one hundred dollars. The roadblocks are a widely thrown net by the police in order to issue tickets for any violation in the book. Warrants are promptly issued when the tickets are not paid in a timely manner. The money from the fines are used to “enhance police capabilities”, such throwing a party for the County Commissioners or putting decals that say “In God We Trust” everyware on patrol cars and on plaques inside and outside police headquarters.
These are honestly the best arguments for voting Democrat.
See how easy it is to politicize a problem stemming from poor adminstrative oversight. There are mostly Republicans in these law enforcement ranks, but there are also Democrats. Please, lets stop throwing devisive labels at every single failure of government.
54
@Bradley: Right, because Republicans have such a great record of holding wealthy big interests accountable…?
1
Not in New York, but the city I live in has been having a rash of anonymous complaints to the city housing department about the condition of privately owned homes in areas that are ripe for "development". Essentially, scouts for out-of-town investors go looking for houses that have imperfections or technical violations of property maintenance rules and report them. The housing inspector goes out and finds the violation and issues a citation and follows up with another inspection to check for compliance. Most of these homes are owned by elderly people or lower income families that are struggling to pay their mortgage, pay their property taxes, and support their families. Another problem is that owners of older homes are burdened with high city taxes, partly due to large 15 year tax abatements granted by the city to developers of new or remodeled houses . Developers love foreclosures or condemnations in areas identified as the next "hot" area. They are going through this city like a plague of locusts.
292
@Iris Flag
That would be Cleveland for certain
13
And totally destroying the fabric of nyc and what makes this city great
14
@Bchefsky
And the metropolitan St. Louis area.
5
"Penalizing average people" pretty much sums up Deblasio's second term. Sure some low-income people have benefited from his policies. But, this article demonstrates how the city's own policies leads to inequalities. Only wealthy contractors with lawyers seem to evade these fines. But its OK, homeowners can always sell their homes and apply for a 1 bedroom apartment for the affordable housing cost of $2500 a month.
105
1BR $2,500 in NYC? Did you mean 400sf studio with 1 window?
6
@Leo
Those who correct violations (and know the law) avoid the fines, whether they're 'wealthy' or not. The system incentivizes good behavior, and discourages bad behavior. What exactly is the controversy?
3
@Leo What low income people have benefitted from De Blasio's policies??
1
The violations and civil penalties are to the property owner. If the work was done by a previous owner before Ms. Harrow purchased the property she would not be subject to the referenced civil penalties (Bona fide purchaser). If the illegal work was done under her watch, that’s the law.
This same newspaper will take the same story and cry fowl when the City doesn’t enforce laws on negligent building owners who put renters at risk with illegal, unpermitted apartments in cellars.
9
@Stephen S.
"This same newspaper will take the same story and cry fowl when the City doesn’t enforce laws on negligent building owners who put renters at risk with illegal, unpermitted apartments in cellars."
If I simply change the "will" to "could", then you have a very fair point.... and a solid example of how the same facts can be spun to reach opposite conclusions.
"negligent building owners who put renters at risk"
I just know that the neighborhood is living in fear of Ms. Harrow's bathroom.
2
Just don't pay it. It isn't your fault. If more people didn't pay for things the legal system may just find it is impossible to collect for a failure in a crowded court.
3
Just don’t pay it and you can have a lien placed on your property, have your credit ruined, and possibly be placed into custody for contempt. I don’t believe these escalating fines are fair but I also believe in fighting things legally.
39
@Adrift
“ and possibly be placed into custody for contempt.”
It always comes down to this. Every government regulation becomes at some point a justification for government employees initiating violence against people minding their own business. It got Eric Garner killed. It could get you killed too. But what if people banded together, exercises the second amendment rights and refused to submit?
1
Before purchasing a property in NYC, prospective buyers need to obtain an affidavit from the owners stating that the property is in compliance with all permit requirements. The sales contract should include an ironclad requirement that the seller will be responsible for any and all fines and associated legal costs for noncompliance that may be incurred at any time in the future.
86
@J O'Kelly Correct! It is the responsibility of the purchaser's lawyer to include this clause in the contract of sale and to make sure the clause survives the contract. Typically a seller that has done illegal work would come clean at this point and disclose it, at which point the purchaser is made aware of the issue and can decide not to go through with the purchase.
If because of cultural and demographic change, the new neighbors find the type of pigeon coop that used to be pretty ubiquitous and well tolerated in certain neighborhoods to be a nuisance, or if a particular coop is just out of control, that is an issue for a politely and sympathetically phrased cease and desist letter from a community relations officer, no fine, and no need to take down the coop once empty of inhabitants.
Unless there is a rational and demonstrable relationship between increased level of community risk and any particular alteration, it would seem to me there are serious Constitutional 14th Amendment concerns with respect to $500,000 in fines being levied qute arbitrarily on a private home.
Having had a career in tax law enforcement with the IRS, I know all too well the temptation for an inspector to build up statistics by preying on helpless people for petty footfaults in a manner that does nothing to advance the public good.
Realize this disproportionate enforcement system is bound to lead to bribery, the temptations on both sides being irresistably strong.
I'd encourage the reporter who wrote this article to now visit Traffic Court, see what happens there when someone, for example, tries to contest an allegation that she rolled through a stop sign on a deserted street, and stay and watch the injustices daily endured there by ordinary law abiding individuals.
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This is taking of property without due process. Why wouldn’t you be able to buy the permit before paying the fines? How is it due process to have them pile up before a hearing? I hope the Institute for Justice files a class action lawsuit against the city.
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@Peter
How is the imposition of a fine for a violation “taking of property”? If you have committed a violation, there is a fine to pay. You should have gotten the permit first.
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@EdNY
You need the hearing for due process, but if you keep receiving more fines before the hearing can take place, that's a denial of due process. Similarly, if you want to contest the fine but still apply for a permit, you're denied that opportunity if you're not allowed to get a permit without paying a fine first. I don't see a reason why you should be denied the ability to obtain a permit without paying older fines first. Those fines still matter but it seems like the goal of the city here is to make money off of fines rather than protect the public.
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I moved out of LA for similar reasons. My car kept getting towed for inane reasons, due to violations from signs that were placed the night before the tow. These cities are just always looking for creative ways to nickle and dime their residents.
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In the NC county where I live, a major rationale given for permit requirements is to ensure that the county knows about any renovations that increase a property’s value so they can increase your tax bill.
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Isn't this the type of thing that, at least for recent sales, should be caught by home inspection and protected by title insurance? If not, why bother? Title insurance is not cheap, and home inspections are $700-$1000. Don't they have some responsibility and liability too?
That said, this seems like an oppressive policy by NYC. How about the bldg dept identies the hazards and for regular single family homeowners, then city helps them make the home safe, not fine them to death and steal the house from them. I can see modest fines to encourage compliance, but to do this to retirees or those with lower incomes is outrageous.
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@J has got the right idea - help people know what they're supposed to do, then help them do it, including pointing them to the right type of licensed worker and a process making funds available to low income homeowners who do not have the money or physical skills and strength needed to set things right. All this makes sense if the goal is public safety, instead of harassing helpless homeowners to take in fines.
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@J
Title insurance insures the validity of title, not compliance with zoning or any building codes. This I found out the hard way after learning my property did not comply to zoned minimum lot sizes.
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@J
Title insurance is not really for that and would be a lot more expensive if it were. See recent articles about property in Tulum Mexico. You build a beautiful small hotel on the beach, and one evening a gang of machete bearing goons show up and tell you to get off their boss’s property. That’s when you call the Title Company (if they even have those in Mexico).
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Did she put the powder room in her basement herself, or hire contractors? I'm a plumber, I know I need permits, it is my responsibility, professionally and financially, to make sure I get the proper permits and inspections. If she hired contractors the fines should be against them for not doing their job properly. I can tell you people don't like to pay for permits and inspections. I have lost many jobs because I refuse to work without a permit. I do not live in NY.
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Typically even a homeowner needs permits. My husband did a lot of renovation himself in our home in Florida (no, not a second home—we used to live there!) and he pulled permits for everything.
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Not from NY, but living here now, I see and hear about this all the time. I’m sure she hired a friend of the family that said he could do the job for her, and that she wouldn’t have to pay for permits and all. He’d do it one afternoon, some cash would change hands, and all would be good. Of course, until this happens. Then, the “contractor” is long gone and has no intention of helping her out. It takes a trifecta of bad faith and misinformation to get to where she is now. She or the contractor had to know there was an official permitting process to go through, but they opted to do it on the fly and on the cheap so that it wouldn’t cost them anything, and they would hide the misstep so that only after she sold the house would the new owner be saddled with her indiscretion. I’m sorry for her, but not. She, or the people that did the work knew what they were doing and they know the risks they were taking in not going through the proper channels.
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@JL - When we bought a "fixer-upper" - our current residence - we hired contractor to work with subs just for the reasons you give. If there is a problem with the work, I have someone's desk to pound on. And in CA, the contractor liability laws are taken seriously.
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My question is, how can a person buy a home in NYC, without the seller getting a certificate of occupancy, before closing? I live in NJ, where buyers are protected in most towns by this "C.O." When the town inspector goes over the property, violations like the ones described in the article would prevent the seller with illegal building issues from getting the C.O. The buyer also will have an inspection performed, while in the process of purchasing the home, by a private inspector who goes over the entire house, so that the buyer knows the state of the roof, plumbing, appliances, heating/cooling system, etc. Before even making an offer to purchase a home, it's a good idea to check with the town to make sure that the finished basement was done with permits, so that time & money are not wasted. If permits are missing, then the buyer can have the seller obtain those permits - and pay for them - as part of the contract.
Most of the violations listed in this article are valid. Pigeon coop? Illegal garage transformation into a housing unit, with a bathroom? However, the city aggressively inflating the money owed for these violations is troubling. Sounds like a case of collecting money in order to make their jobs secure, and a way for the city to gouge homeowners to pay more.
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@LovesGermanShepherds I have bought houses in two states, neither of which have anything like a requirement to get a certificate of occupancy. Even inspections are not legally required there unless the buyer and seller agree.
Perhaps title insurance should cover this (no idea if it does) and inspections should be mandatory, but that's in the future. These people are being wrecked financially now by a corrupt, greedy, and stupid New York City government.
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@LovesGermanShepherds. When I sold my house on Long
Island, I was advised by my attorney that I needed a C of O for the home office that was part of the original construction of the house. Apparently the builder never indicated on the drawings that a garage bay shown on the original plans was going to be an office. I ended up hiring an expediter to manager the permit process which cost roughly $2,000 for correct drawings, application and inspection fees. The builder thought he was savings us some money on property taxes by not showing the office.
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@LovesGermanShepherds
CofO's are not required in NYC for buildings built before 1938, as long as there have been no significant changes made to the building.
I've known of new homeowners in NYC who are shocked when they find that the two family house they just bought without a CofO is still recognized by the DOB or Department of Finance as a one family house, and must file for a change of occupancy- thanks to a previous owner who did an illegal conversion.
Inspections are great, but with the NYC market being as hot as it is, sellers can often just ignore a more demanding buyer in favor of one who is less savvy and/or risk averse and is not asking difficult questions about un-permitted work.
Buyer beware is the name of the game.
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"In small print, amid references to sections of the administrative code, tickets instruct owners to 'timely correct' violations, without explaining what would be considered timely."
That right there is a notice and due process violation in violation of the US Constitution that should result in a class action suit to get the whole mess thrown out.
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@bloggersvilleusa. Wouldn't that be a matter to be pursued by the State's AG, Miss James? NYTimes, might be worth asking her office for a statement.
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This is what we call BIG GOVERNMENT, and it’s one of the thousands of reasons why I’m not a democrat.
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@Thomas Aquinas On the contrary, this is what we call CORRUPT GOVERNMENT. Big government has given us Social Security, Medicare, hurricane info by NOAA (before Trump corrupted it), protection from lead poisoning and polluted water by the EPA (before Trump corrupted it), etc. I don't guess you are going to refuse those.
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@Thomas Aquinas In many rural areas, like rural Illinois, small towns use these permits and fines to keep up the salaries of the city workers and provide work for local tradespeople. These folks overwhelmingly vote Republican. Local “big government” is great when it lines your pocket.
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@Thomas Aquinas
I’m a life long Democrat and this is offensive to anyone with common sense. Political party has nothing to do with it.
7
"I'm from the government and I'm here to help you." Right. This attack on property amounts to a different form of civil asset forfeiture. Trust government at your peril.
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@Jon Harrison I trust "government" far more than I trust corporations to do the right thing. At least I can go to my city hall, or perhaps petition for redress, or maybe vote the rascals out.
Why was FDR so loved by my parent's generation? Because he made government work for them. It's easy to criticize government when you've not lived through the lived through the alternative, lack of.
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@Jus' Me, NYT: I was waiting for someone to post such a reply. I didn't say or imply that corporations are typically trustworthy. Nor did I advocate anarchism (i.e., "lack of" government).
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The nefarious law that allows the city to seize property from owners the city deems "slumlords" which appears to be enforced almost exclusively on minority property owners and now this.
I don't believe in coincidences.
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Kind of sounds like the building inspection department is the equivalent of a speed trap. Do they use the money to hire more inspectors?
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It’s almost as if well-intended overregulation can have unexpected consequences. Who knew?
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Combine this with high taxes, high cost of living, and a high crime rate and it amazes me that people still want to live there, let alone own property.
I understand there are advantages to living there, but when do the costs outweigh the benefits for families here?
Not accepting amazon (jobs), removing gifted programs, crumbling infrastructure, the list goes on of what I continue to read from the times.
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@John Cavendish: Perhaps you are unaware that Amazon has a very large - and growing - presence in NYC AND they're renting office space at market rates. They didn't actually need their 'deal' as it turns out!
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NYC isn’t for everybody. We kinda like it like that🙂.
3
So the attitude of the Long Island suburbs is entering New York City. Just great.
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This reminds me of how it's so often the small workers and households who are consistently targets for penalties and fines for everything from tax errors to car inspections while businesses and corporations with legal teams may never be held accountable with meaningful proportional fines that would act as a deterrent. It easier and cheaper to go after the "low hanging fruit."
It doesn't help that enforcement budgets are often cut to the bone. Just look at how trump and the republicans keep cutting the IRS staff. Wonder why?
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@Nancy How is this a Republican or IRS issue? This is a function of the De Blasio administration.
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@Half Sour it was a example. Do you understand that? Being from Jersey, probably not.
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@Nancy
The IRS allowed themselves to be used to punish Obama’s enemies.
4
In upstate New York many building departments troll the internet examining the photos of houses for sale, looking for violations. When they find what they think is one, they send the owner (who might have just purchased the home), a notice threatening fines if the suspected infraction is not fixed.
They do this without the owner’s knowledge nor consent.
They claim they are trying to protect but they also want the fines. Plus, the more infractions they can find, the more they justify their existence.
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This is really sad. Please tell me how the contractors are not at fault as well. I guess before buying a home in NYC one should have an inspection to ensure all previous renovations were legal.
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@MS, One should be able to call or email the city office that deals with this issue and get a report in writing about status of the given home. Potential buyer after buyer should not have to pay an inspector to get this public info.
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@MS
The renovations can be done perfectly in complete compliance with all code requirements and pass inspection but be deemed illegal because the homeowner did not volunteer to pay extortion to the city for the “permit.” I don’t advocate shoddy or dangerous work, but anytime anyone gets away with avoiding feeding the dragon I consider them a patriot for Liberty.
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@MS
Of course one should have an inspection before buying a home in NYC , or before buying a home ANYWHERE,
for a number of reasons, including to protect one's personal safety & that of one's family, if one has a family.
7
Someone is using this law to push the old people out now that their properties are worth $1 million plus.
There isn’t a house in queens that I have been in that doesn’t have some violation. The old timers did things their way but fining them out is the wrong way to fix this.
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@Deirdre Agree based on experience that this does look like a crooked scheme to harass people out of homes in neighborhoods where property values are rising.
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@Deirdre
Nail on head, Deirdre. Only the City and rapacious developers looking to kick out long-time older residents benefit from this "enforcement".
6
@Deirdre
No, this is how we ensure that our buildings are safe for people to live in.
The 'old timers' (or their children) will be fine, they will cash out on their houses purchased in the 70s for $50k ...meanwhile the lucky new owners will be responsible for the shoddy un-permitted work they did over the years.
2
Please follow this story up by looking at the sales of these properties - particularly the areas they are in, who buys them, and prices paid vs median prices for that area.
There could be a lot more to this story than is evident at first glance. In my humble opinion there's a good chance this is the City's version of attempted expropriation of private properties by a few who are "in the know." Who might be gaining a benefit by purchasing properties that have "violations" issued against them?
You might also look to see if the fire codes are applied in the same aggressive manner, and what happens to those properties.
449
How very insightful,I never would have thought of that.Great piece.
9
This is how it works. Something bad happens due to neglect, incompetence or greed of private contractors or property owners. The press gets on it and their is outcry. What we need is more regulation to insure that such things don't happen.
Require permits for work. This will guarantee that the work is properly done and safe.
Of course, the regulation requiring permits does nothing of the kind. It does increase costs and creates additional jobs for the employees who issue the permits and the private sector employees who complete all the paperwork.
But, it does nothing to ensure that work is done properly. That can only be done by onsite inspectors throughout a job, which is prohibitively expensive. So, there are some inspections and some things are checked. Mostly based on how easy they are to check, not how important they are.
Ultimately, it just turns into a revenue measure for the City. Issue fines for failure to obtain permits; fine for failure to pay fines etc.
The only saving grace of over regulation is lax enforcement, but, every so often some fools try to enforce the regulations as they are written and we see the result.
It was foolish to pretend that the permit requirement would make any significant contribution to public safety or welfare.
30
@Mac So Mac you are so wrong! A permit needs to be pulled. I do not know how many inspectors are in the big city. You are obviously not in the building biz, because if you where you would have come across some horrible practices by other builders. If a dishonest trades men new there was not going to be an inspection then you have a problem that could be life threatening. That is the reason for inspectors because back in the day they had buildings falling down and burning up. Only a fool thinks that people are perfect, people are only human and humans make honest mistakes.
The problem here is the enforcement of lack of permits. When a complaint is made the inspector should have the authority and know how to the severity of said violation. That way time and resources can be utilized fairly and the situation can be corrected. Save the hard tactics for dangerous conditions that are a clear and present danger to the public.
2
I thought New Yorkers liked big government? They keep voting for it.
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@Lee Zehrer The article is not about "big" or "small" government. It is about regressive government. Big regressive corrupt government, the type conservatives blithely support until they too are the subjects of its regressive and oppressive laws. In New York we favor justice and equity for all. Government for us is neither big or small. Its size is merely a reflection of the means to maintain a constitutional democracy. Give us liberty or give us death. You know, America!
13
@Lee Zehrer and people in Las Vegas like stealing other states' water and an absolutely empty culture void of anything than capital and vice.
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@Lee Zehrer Conservatives will use this horror story to crow about the dangers of Liberal government. That's a miss-characterization of the issue. You can have smaller government in Wyoming, but not in NYC.
Libertarian government in an urban area gets you Houston, where you can build wherever you want once the flood waters recede. It will soon get you Las Vegas, when the water runs out.
10