ECB Violation
Hello all, we’re in contract to buy a brownstone, and according to the dept. of buildings website, there is one outstanding violation on the building. However, according to the same website, a fine of $800 was imposed and paid. The seller called the dept. of buildings and all they could tell him was that, even…
Hello all, we’re in contract to buy a brownstone, and according to the dept. of buildings website, there is one outstanding violation on the building. However, according to the same website, a fine of $800 was imposed and paid. The seller called the dept. of buildings and all they could tell him was that, even though it was satisfied, it is still in their system (5 years later) and there is nothing that they can/will do about it.
What’s the deal here? Is someone waiting for a bribe? Should we just buy with the violation still active, since we can point to the dept. of buildings own website for proof that the fine was paid? We need to do a complete renovation of the place – will we run into trouble filing permits because of this?
Thanks for all thoughts and advice.
Well, by now I hope the matter has already been resolved. However, my website http://www.consultmbr.com specifically addresses your concern. Your issue is very simple to resolve, yet unknown to many. Click on the ECB page, then on the sub-menu click on DOB. If you have any concerns after reviewing the information you can email us, and we will further try to assist you.
Good Luck,
Beyla R.
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could given us some advice,
My parents allowed a visting college friend to stay with us for 1 month in our basement. They delayed moving untill an agreement to stay and rent was reached. It’s not been almost a year, he is refusing to pay and have threaten to turn us to housing authority for renting an illegal basement. What can we do and how can we get this person to move?
jesse.
Unfortunately lots of buildings have violations on file with no record of what the violation is.
If it was serious it should be on file – the seller should know what he shelled out $800 for.
As for the building department – when I can walk in and pull permits myself without an “expediter” then I will agree they are not on the take.
Without looking at the actual violations, it’s difficult to say what you are facing. From my experience, it’s very common for sellers, attorneys, etc. to be confused by this matter. A lot of times, homeowners think that by simply paying off fines they took care of the problems/violations. From my understanding from talking to the building dept. and the search company that pull the building violations searches for us, a building violation must be physically inspected to be removed from records. For example, let say it’s an illegal basement. You need to restore the basement to it’s legal usage and contact DOB for an inspection.
You may already have this website,
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/violations/violations.shtml
or if the property is in Brooklyn, call them directly at:718) 802-3635.
Sorry if I missed the mark and we are talking about a different issue. I’m guessing based on what I’ve encountered.
One more thing: on the DOB website, while there is an open violation listed for ECB, there are no DOB violations, open or otherwise, listed for the house. This is very confusing, since one of the posters said that getting a violation from one means getting a violation from both. So, is the website wrong?
Thanks again!
Hey there, original poster here. First of all, thanks for the comments. I have a good attorney, but as with everything else, I try to understand things best I can independently of him so that I can hold up my end of our conversations.
This issue was brought to us by the seller, which I give him credit for – he wasn’t trying to sweep it under the rug. My attorney checked and we can add this to the title insurance, but that only protects the bank, not us. If somewhere down the road we need to get this cleared up for whatever reason, we’ll be stuck paying any outstanding fines. So naturally, I’d like the seller to take care of it.
He insists, however, that he has taken care of it, since he paid the $800 fine. Can anyone please point me in the direction of something (online, perhaps?) that spells out what two of the above posters have explained? While the explanations of the Brownstoner regulars are good enough for me, I imagine I’ll need something more official to convince the seller that his work is not done.
Thanks!
I work for a title company and if I understand the question properly, it sounds like there is a DOB violation that shows up when the title company ordered municipal or departmental search. Now over the years, I encounter many misunderstanding about this issue from attorneys, mortgage brokers, investors, buyers, etc almost daily. We are talking about 2 different things.
The $800 ECB is a lien and therefore a title issue and would have to be paid off. It sounds like this is already done and the lien is probably released and no longer an issue (otherwise it would show up under the “judgement and lien” search of your title commitment and the seller would pay it off at closing, a simple matter).
Now, the DOB violation is what we call a departmental issue and is NOT a title issue. The title company doesn’t require this to be cleared up to close because it’s not a lien and they can’t be held liable for it. The lender may or may not requires it to be cleared up or ask for escrow; this varies from lender to lender and file to file.
Technically the seller should really clear this up but of course, it all depends on how the sales contract was written and the attitude of the seller. Now to remove this violation from the DOB, the homeowner needs to correct the problem, fill out a request, pay $300 and have the building department comes and inspects the house. Of course when you do this you may be opening up a new can of worms with more violations… or not. Since you have not closed yet, the seller has to request this of the DOB but talk to your attorney and have your attorney speak to the seller attorney. Really, this is standard stuff that most real estate attorneys know how to handle this… whether they or their client wants to is another issue.
When I bought my house last year, 2 violations show up and the seller didn’t want to do anything about it. And my bank was willing to close with those violations (actually, sometimes it’s also the bank’s attorney call to close with those) and I was okay with them since they seem relative minor to me.
maybe title companies you deal with miss DOB issues but.. a good company wont . the title company i deal with never assumes anything , neither does my attorney
Title companies miss this all the time. They make the same assumption as the owners. The violation has been paid and there fore cleared. Not realizing that the same violation is still active at the DOB and that the additional step of filing the letter of correction.
I called one of my clients yesterday with the bad news that he had to pay the DOB an additional $1,200 for a violation issued five years before he bought the building.