Forum Archive: Permits

I’m a renter who’s taking care of the building while my friend and landlord is away for an extended time. The building next door to ours is beginning some renovations and today began putting up scaffolding. Got a call from the people downstairs saying “hey, did you know that scaffolding comes into our yard?” It extends a good 5 or 6 feet into our yard, far enough that when it’s complete it will come past the window closest to the house next door. The guys putting it up say they have a permit to go 5 feet beyond the house they’re working on. Seems logical, for safety reasons. But is it really possible that someone can put a scaffolding up that covers a portion of your house without giving any notice whatsoever?

I have a situation where the filing for a permit got disapprove and expeditor is supposely working with examiner on getting the plan approve but it has been 2 months since it got disapprove. Is this normal?

In my house-hunt, I came across a decently priced 2 family smack in the middle of a historic district with landmarked designation. This house is certainly the ugly duckling on the street and will need some exterior/interior work.
Would want to do restore this building back to its former glory within code but I’m wondering what else I should be considering when looking at a landmarked property.
I would imagine that gaining approval for work takes a whole bunch longer than a regular property but what else should I think about please.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

We are starting renovations on our two family brownstone including kitchen remodeling, updates on all bathrooms as well as updated plumbing and new electrical throughout. Our question is; Do we need to file the plumbing and electrical work?

We are working with both a licensed contractor and architect on the project and will be filing for a general construction/demolition permit. We are not changing any layouts or systems in the house, only upgrading current layouts. It’s is a considerable cost savings to not file the electrical and plumbing however we’re not sure if it is work the risk. All advice is greatly appreciated!

We’re trying to buy a lovely three-bedroom house in Kensington and are running into all sorts of problems with the bank. They want documentation of the permits for work done on this house–but the work was done before 1940. I believe there are no permits required for work done before 1938. Is this true? We’re desperate to close and this is really holding us up.

Is it necessary to get a permit to put down another roofing layer on top of old layers on a flat Brownstone roof? I know a past post didn’t suggest it was, but since I need to file paperwork related to rent-stabilized apts, they do ask if I got the required permits for the work done. So since I need to go by the book on this, before I go ahead with the work I need to find out for sure if I need a permit for this work. It would just be recovering the entire flat roof with a new layer of roofing material.

Thanks for your help!

Hi,

We’re planning some projects for our house, nothing too major – replacing an old front window with a new bay, putting up a pergola in the back yard to give us privacy.

Before we get going, I’m wondering if there is a resource somewhere that tells you what kinds of project s require a permit.

Any input would be appreciated.

We are looking at replacing an old deck with a new one. We are looking for a licensed architect that can file for a permit and advise on best way to get a deck build at a reasonable cost (the type of deck that we could build from home depot type deck)

Please send me your email address if you can help out or send me details of an architec you would recoment.

thanks
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I have a condo that I am looking to do some work to. Specifically, I am looking to wall off an “open” room to create a separate bedroom and hallway around it (no problems with light and air).

My problem/question – I cannot determine what, if any, of the work can be done myself (DIY) or if I have to hire a licensed contractor to pull the permit. While I would not consider myself a master craftsman, I have built plenty of walls, partitions and even portions of small houses (and I can do better work than most who *would* consider themselves “master craftsmen”). Assembling a wall is about as basic as it gets, and other than fire access there is no real change to the building (I am adding, not taking away). I know this needs filed – it is a change of layout – and I am not interested in forever hiding something that is not in the plans. Moreover, I know something identical was done in a mirroring apartment in the building (officially) so it can be done.

Can anyone give me insight into if/how I can get a construction permit to do work like this on my own? If so, what is the best way to go about it – architect? expediter? FWIW, I have filed to do work on houses in other areas – it is the NYC regs that have me confused, not that a process exists that I need to follow.
If allowed, I am pretty confident I could get condo approval, BTW – it is an 8 unit structure (I know that can matter in terms of doing work on your own, but not whether it eliminates the possibility).

Thanks for your input.