Help! Developer next door ruining our house

I meant 9.27. Sorry 6.14.

Posted by: KES at June 27, 2008 8:11 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

Thanks all of you. After researching today it looks as if his FAR is within the limits, but I may get a zoning consultant for an expert opinion. Then, if I lose, adjust attitude; try not to hate the shyster bastard; grow ivy up it. Yeah, it's city life. Oh and thanks 6.14. My podunk town is London, England, where property is dirt cheap and developers are unheard of.

Posted by: KES at June 27, 2008 8:06 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

Thanks quest. Do you happen to know a good housing attorney? And, excuse ignorance, but what's FAR?

Posted by: KES at June 26, 2008 9:30 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

FAR is Floor Area Ratio - It's a formula to determine how many square feet can be legally built upon a property. Every parcel of land in NYC has a set FAR that you can look up on Property Shark or other similar sites.

If the place next door is exceeding their FAR they might be required to remove some or all of the addition, although they may be perfectly within their right to do everything they are currently doing. Often properties underuse their available FAR for many years.

Sorry I can't recommend an attorney for this, but you should be able to find one through due diligence.

Posted by: guest at June 26, 2008 9:56 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

Try the department of buildings.
Call 311

Posted by: Ysabelle at June 26, 2008 10:04 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

What is on the permit filing?
What was the scope of work that is listed?
Go from there.

It is all in the dob filing or hpd filing. I forget which.

If you look you will find something.

Posted by: Ysabelle at June 26, 2008 10:08 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

He's an architect, eh? That means he can self-certify his own plans and work.

I agree with the others. Pay DOB a visit and see if an inspector actually inspected his plans and made a site visit.

Posted by: Steve at June 26, 2008 11:22 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

ahahhahah

what can you do?

NOTHING. ITS NOT YOUR PROPERTY.

Its called living in the city. You mean you didnt have neighbors in Idaho or whatever podunk town your from??

Posted by: guest at June 27, 2008 9:27 AM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

Follow 9:56's advice. Also, since this is a field job, the plans should be on the site (you can also see them at DOB). You should look at the plans and see if what they are building is consistent. Perhaps the plans show a far smaller extension. They have to build consistent with plans and with zoning laws.

Posted by: slopefarm at June 27, 2008 9:30 AM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

Architects can't self-certify work that involves changing the size of buildings (Alt-1 in DoB speak). So if the building is being enlarged, it's been through the standard, inspected review process for code compliance as well as zoning at the DoB.

Although Slopefarm is right that the approved plans will be kept on site, the building owners aren't obligated to show them to anyone who walks by and asks. It is possible your neighbors would show you out of hospitality, but probably not if they're being harassed by spurious 311 complaints.

At this point you have no evidence that your neighbor is breaking any regulations, do you?

Posted by: Smokychimp at June 27, 2008 11:27 AM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

Before you go on the defense, be sure to have your own house in order(e.g. no violations such as an illegal extension or decks, existing # dwelling units match what is on the CO etc) before calling DOB.

I had a similar situation on my block. Turns out that the developer was legit and the complainant had a lot of illegal stuff on his property and was fined accordingly.

Finally, if you can't beat em, join em. That's what my neighbor ended up doing - he's building an extension too.

Posted by: guest at June 27, 2008 11:38 AM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

Yes, I agree. As an owner who filed and received all proper permits, I was amazed to discover some neighbor I had never met claimed I was building an illegal extension on my roof. Of course I had permits, but that didn't stop a building department inspector from coming by and all the ensuing back and forth. We were, of course, found to be in compliance with the plans. But, II would have appreciated if the neighbor came by and asked me or my contractors about it. Calling to complain before you have bothered to determine if anything wrong is going on is obnoxious. THis happens all the time and is one of the reasons the DOB is so damn slow at doing the work it needs to do.
Do you homework before you pick up the phone.

Posted by: guest at June 27, 2008 6:14 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house

Hey 6:14,

Maybe the neighbor of the OP didn't let the OP know about the plan to add on. If that's the case, I'd say that's a huge tactical error.

How about you? Did you let the neighbor know of your intentions or did you let them wake up to the sound of bulldozers? I sure hope you spoke to them first; if you didn't, mybe that's why they called the inspectors on you.

Being a good neighbor requires effort from both sides of the property line.

Posted by: guest at June 27, 2008 7:12 PM in response to Help! Developer next door ruining our house