Much of the development that is going on these days is by small development groups in lowrise neighborhoods in the outer boroughs. These small time developers often lack the proper insurance and neighbors are unaware of their rights. We knew enough to negotiate a license agreement that paid for our attorney and a preconstruction survey, but once the developer violated the agreement and damaged our foundation we discovered that their liability insurance policy had an illegal exclusion. In other words, though the developer's insurance company determined that the damages were due to negligence by the developer, they denied the claim!
Thankfully the City has maintained the stop work order over the past 18 months, but even if they know their rights, neighbors to construction are in the position of: 1. not being able to deny encroachment on their property or they will be sued for obstructing the right of a property owner (the developer) to develop their property and 2. after the fact of damages, being told by the City that it is a Civil matter, the only recourse for recovery being to sue. FYI: lawsuits of this type cost upwards of $100,000 and take 4--5 years with the possibility of not recovering legal costs. Our foundation damages and other come to @$100,000 aside from $36,000 of unreimbursed professional fees.
I fail to see how a developer offering ANY number of free nights in one of their hotels (unless it's for the ENTIRE duration of their construction work!) is really doing anything to mitigate the problem the developer is causing. Those few "free nights" cost the developer essentially nothing. The developer cited here got off very easy, IMO.
I'm surprised people can be "bought off" so cheaply; I think I'd have lawyered up to the hilt, and maybe THAT would have gotten me more than the pathetic dollar-value of what the developer offered.
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I sympathize with anyone having to endure years of endless construction, to the degree that their own place is damaged, yet I get the sense that the Stewarts are also a bit high-maintenance. In looking at the photo of their terrace, that shows some construction debris and dust on their furniture, it appears that the Stewarts could have done more to protect their own property, including boarding-up their skylight(s), and have the developer (and/or HOA) pay for all or some of it.
For years, I lived in a UES co-op, often where neighboring buildings underwent extensive construction. While my own quality of life was compromised, I at least proactively protected my property, where I not once incurred damage, while other owners in my building did.
I also decided to sell, instead of fight it out, and I'm glad I did. I believe I made more profit during the next-door construction than had I stayed on. Perhaps it's time for the Stewart's to do the same. I wish them well.
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The Stewarts, regardless of their "high-maintenance" status, have no obligation to facilitate activities that encroach on their living space. The slipshod manner in which their complaints were dealt with would enrage anybody. Replacing skylight glazing with plate glass is not merely a serious threat to life and limb, it's also a violation of building codes and black letter law. Anyone who works in that area, glass, skylights, etc. (as I did) knows full well what's at risk, what the requirements are and what the consequences will, not may, be. Had I been in their shoes I'd have made a much bigger deal of it and cashed in, and I say this as a former contractor in NYC who's been to court over these type of things more than once. The violation establishes de facto negligence, the only question is how much will the award be. Responsible contractors go to great lengths to insure compliance, we're all critically aware of the elements of liability. I'd suggest an audit of the subcontractors, I suspect there's some unlicensed, uninsured fly-by-nighters on this project, and that always turns out badly. Keep in mind a broken piece of 1/4" plate glass weighing 3 or 4 pounds and falling from a height of 15 feet or so can sever a limb, or worse. That's why our insurance is so high and also why I'm certain that installer had no insurance at all.
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There's no such thing as "de facto negligence." I think what you want to say is "negligence per se"- the injury would not have happened absent negligence. articles do not fly through the air of their will to shatter safety glass skylights in a building next door.
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This problem is global.....This is neither a 'first world' nor a 'city' challenge. I live in a gated community in Western New Providence (outside of the city of Nassau.) The subdivision is new so there is always some construction. Additionally, the landscape is elevated - some home owners like me opt to keep the cliff as a part of the design, others opt to tear it down and have driveways at street level. Therefore, we have regular excavation and construction noise along with the construction dust, etc.. Conclusion: There is no problem free neighborhood in the world........
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It's easy to say that developers are cheap thugs, but think about it: Would even a totally selfish developer want a job done incompetently so that they end up in lawsuits? These problems are due to the complications of building in NYC AND of course some builders' incompetence.
But: can you blame these guys for trying to save money? Would you pay 30% more for better-quality construction? Most folks will not. The margins on these projects are much slimmer than most people imagine.
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@Eric: You are clearly unaware of the shortcuts that plenty of developers take when they put up a new building! This goes far beyond "saving money" and often results in owners in the new building suing the developer(s) later due to shoddy construction.
A friend of mine in the Boston area was happy to move into a brand-new condo - until a year later, when some significant defects began appearing in various parts of the building, leading to an expensive & ongoing lawsuit by the condo owners against the developer. Why wouldn't the developer have spent 20% more to avoid this? Because the developer figured maybe they'd get away with the "shortcuts" for long enough that a lawsuit would not be likely.
So, on that basis, do I think a developer cares one iota about ADJACENT property that may be damaged? No, I think the developer tries to look the other way & hopes it'll all just blow over.
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Of the 16 years we have owned our little London mews house, there have been only a few months that some sort of construction was not underway within earshot. For two years, we put up with the house across from us excavating a story and a half underground to make more space. Then a few years later, they had to redo it all as it leaked and the entire place became covered in mold.
The neighbors to the rear also excavated - essentially tunnelling under our house until we discovered it and stopped them. As a final insult, they tried to attach their outside lighting to our back wall. The hammer drilling gave it away.
The neighbour on one side has renovated completely twice and on the other side just once. Then there's the pub on the corner which is morphing into a gastropub - noisily. Admittedly, we renovated once ourselves, but it was all done in six weeks. Life in the city.
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Real estate is a dirty little business and one of the classic ways that building owners try to save money is hiring "licensed contractors" who subsequently hire subcontractors that are not licensed or workers who are not licensed, many of whom are right off the boat and are left unsupervised to do the actual work which is ultimately done poorly.
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“It’s hard on the family,” said Mr. Stewart, who is a member of the building’s condo board. “It’s unpleasant. It’s dark. The reason you have a penthouse is to have access to light and outdoors and we don’t have that.”
That about sums it up. I'm glad I don't live in a penthouse.
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I live overlooking a pit. They took down 5 brownstones and they're gonna put up a giant hotel in the middle of the block. They start at 7 am. I have citiquiet windows and believe me , you hear them. Till 5 pm 6 days a week. While the view is temporarily great, soon a 17 story building will obliterate any light. Meantime till 2019, come feel the noise. You think the hotel might offer me some free nice quiet nights in their shiny new building when they're done torturing me and my neighbors? Maybe a couple of cocktails in the shiny new super loud bars that are bound to be there. Maybe some dinners in the roof top restaurant with clanging dishes and garbled stuffed with food mouth talking. Maybe some selfies with the natives, aka neighbors. You think they'll offer those things or are we gonna have to get loud?
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DOB should have more presence in this matter, violations and stop work orders, bigly
NYT should g search the violations data base
and the affected neighbors have not seemed to ask for injunctions and restraining orders, there are reasons for not asking such though, working through agencies is the best
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@Fortress: You realize that "injunctions and restraining orders" require one to hire a lawyer, which costs $$ and takes time, don't you?
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Anyone unfortunate to have deal with situations like this can file a complaint via 311-online at - http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/1270/building-construction-com...
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NYC government, including DOB, is "developer friendly." 311 is nice, but it will do nothing when there are severe problems, especially those requiring DOB's assistance. Nor will your local elected officials, i.e., councilmen, who are often in developers' pockets.
It has been so since the city was founded in the 17th century.
Real estate is to NY what cars are to Detroit, but most people don't realize it.
If you doubt this, please provide an alternate explanation for the recent rezoning of Midtown East.
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Q., you have nailed it. The NYC DOB is complicit in this degradation of life in NYC,and has always been a corrupt,semi-competent agency of destruction.The overbuilding, mass density high rise walling off of light and air for profit has permanently damaged what was always glorious and vital about NYC, as diverse ,mixed building types now head become a homogenized Shanghai density Blade Runner hell.
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A first world problem if there ever was one.
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If glass shards raining down on you from your ceiling and water leaking through walls, creating mold, inundating electrical switches from within and causing major humidity damage that has to be repaired by noisy, gigantic drying machines for weeks, are first-world problems, then I have a newfound respect for first-world problems. Just because it happens to wealthy people, doesn't make it not worthy of our empathy.
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Yes Catherine T., how dare people who pay huge amounts of taxes to make NYC. better place to live and work complain.
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I had a very similar experience in a condo in Boston I'm not rich. I don't have a penthouse. We don't have a large co-op to help us get us a ten night stay in a botique hotel. Instead we had dust and filth, broken skylights, and a damaged interior wall. I had a cat that developed constant UTIs due to the stress of all the constant noise. It was a nightmare for two years. I couldn't afford to move, besides who would buy next to a construction site so miserable? This is a quality of life issue and I have plenty of sympathy for the subjects of this article.
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Why Mr. Stewart didn't go to his insurance? Isn't the issurance job to go after the builder insurance to recuperate the loss?
3
I live directly next door to construction site of a high rise condo building. The damage to my walls and floors from their demo and foundation digging is extensive. One thinks that our home owners insurance is there to protect us from such events, but this isn't quite true. Even with replacement value, the amounts offered by insurance are never the same as the actual cost of repair. And then there is the responsibility - which no one wants to take - and the deductions they take based on "wear and tear".
Insurance can not make up for the endless hours of early morning and weekend noise and additional traffic and/or closed streets and sidewalks, the increase of rodents in and around your building, the extra soot and dust covering all the surfaces in your home, nor can it make up for the hours and hours spent on the phone dealing with the insurance companies. lawyers and getting estimates from contractors and engineers.
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We tried that in our situation and it would have driven our insurance up through the roof to have so many claims. We sued, which not everyone has the luxury of doing.
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And you're trapped because you can't even sell it just to get away from it and live a normal life.
15
Williamsburg ,too suffers from this building craze. The building in which I reside has suffered broken windows from construction across the street of a structure that is 1.5 stories taller than what is legally allowed. The developers are thugs with cranes.
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