Forum: Lawyers
October 24, 2009
ISO Construction Lawyer
I am looking for a lawyer who specialises in construction/home improvement disputes.
To cut a very long story short —my home contractor abandoned our home renovation project.
Apparently he had a family emergency in Canada which he told us would take a week. He was never seen again. He completed 60% of the work and been paid 90% of the money.
Of course he promised to come back and finish the project and even assured me he was pulling equity out of his house to finish mine — all lies.
I moved into the shell of a house sleeping on an aerobed with no electricity or running water and supervised the crew he left behind to finish the project as best i could until my money ran out.
Alot of work included in our original contract was not completed or started and I had to pay again for sub-contractors I’d already paid for. The plumbing, electric and final buildings dept inspections still need to be done.
For finishing the project and putting right alot of the contractors sloppy fixes has so far cost me in excess of $100k, not including all the pain and suffering.
I am looking for a lawyer who has experience in these sort of disputes. Does anybody have personal experience with a lawyer?
My advise to anybody considering a major renovation is get a lawyer.
Thank you so much in advance.
September 4, 2009
Two Owner Question
My father recently signed over his 1/2 of a two family house to me. Originally, it is co-owned by my father and my uncle. Over the years, they have not gotten along. Now that I am the owner, my uncle has shut off hot water for my 1/2 of the house and would not allow me access to the boiler room. We have one boiler attached to his gas meter but over the years, my father has been paying for 1/2 the hot water cost and the cost of maintaining the boiler. He is now saying it is his boiler because it is attached to his gas meter. I have the checks and proof that we have paid for our share over the years. I am about to have a lock smith force open the basement for access to the boiler and he has threaten to call the police. What will happen? I need my hot water that I am paying for in my half of the house.
Gift for Great Attorneys?
Hi - I just closed (today, yay!) on a condo after a grueling wait for city paperwork and mortgage financing to clear. My attorney was beyond fantastic and the sponsor's attorney was so great I felt like she was also on my side (in the sense that she really wanted to make this deal happen too). She really went to bat for me with the bank. Is it customary to give thank-you gifts beyond the legal fee I am paying? Or maybe it is expected, in which case I'd like to know so I can be extra nice to these two attorneys.
thanks!
August 28, 2009
Unresponsive Attorney
I'm in the last stages of selling my coop apartment. Throughout the process, my lawyer has been uncommunicative and unresponsive, which is making an already stressful time so much more so. Now, I'm waiting for a firm closing date in order to schedule my move. I called the office and emailed, but of course there's no response, as usual.
Obviously I'll never recommend this attorney to anyone. At this point I'm trying to figure out if I have any recourse that would make the lawyer consider my interests and smooth out this last part of my move.
I'd be interested in hearing if you've had a similar experience and how you've dealt with it.
July 26, 2009
Ridiculous First-Time Buyer ?s
My wife and I moved to Brooklyn 1.5 years ago, and we are now considering a condo purchase. We have been casually looking around and checking out open-houses, and have recently found something perfect for us. We want to make an offer, but want to make sure that we are doing everything smart.
So far our only prep has been to get a mortgage pre-approval letter, but what should our next step be? I know that the Brooklyn standard is to forego a buyer-broker and stick with the seller's, but when should we get ourselves an attorney? Should we begin by casually stating our interest with the seller's broker, or should we draft a written offer with all of the details (seller's concession, financing contingency etc.)?
Furthermore, is 5-6% a good estimate for seller's concession/closing costs? What else am I forgetting? Am I being ridiculously concerned over nothing?
July 21, 2009
Tenancy in Common and Mortgage
We're 3 friends looking to purchase a multi-family home in brooklyn to move in and rent out the remaining apartments. We have a couple of questions:
1. We're a little confused about the legal agreement we need to protect our individual investments. tenancy in common sounds like the most common one for our situation. does anybody have experience with that in brooklyn?
2. We're planning on individual mortgages to leave the most flexibility for each partner. our bank is not familiar with the concept and pushes for a combined mortgage. any bank or lawyer that comes to mind that is familiar with a set-up like ours? thanks!
July 7, 2009
Potentially Dumb Lawyer Question
Forgive me, I realize that this is probably a really dumb question. Does your lawyer need to be located in the neighborhood where you are buying? My broker seemed to say something to this effect today (I am looking for a good lawyer...) Maybe to make things convenient for everyone? Is there any particular reason why a lawyer located in manhattan or another part of brooklyn would not be suitable to represent us in bushwick/ridgewood?
June 19, 2009
Is Lawyer Fee Reasonable?
I am about to buy a house for around 900k with FHA financing. My lawyer flat rate is 5000$. Is that a lot?
Thanks
June 4, 2009
closing fees
Are these closing fees too high?
Patriot searches $150,
Surveyor $950, recording fees $650, bankruptcy searches $150.
My lawyer is using a title company that wants to charge me those fees at closing.
May 29, 2009
Gruber for No Action Letter?
I'm considering using Harold Gruber to prepare our condo conversion no action letter documents. His pricing is really good. Has anyone used him for this type of project? We're a four family, tenant sponsored project.
Thanks!
KD