HPD Self Certified Violations
HPD is offering a chance for me to self certify past vilations from previous owner at no cost ( how generous). one of the old violations claims that I must post a sign in the hallway ( foyer) with owner information and boiler info/access. I have seen these in other buildings. Does anyone know where…
HPD is offering a chance for me to self certify past vilations from previous owner at no cost ( how generous). one of the old violations claims that I must post a sign in the hallway ( foyer) with owner information and boiler info/access. I have seen these in other buildings. Does anyone know where I can obtain these blank forms?? ( I checked HPD and DOB website but found nothing). Thanks in advance.
you can get the signs from Sids hardware in brooklyn
They have all 4 Notices Metal frames and Inspection certificate frame.
345 Jay Street
they open 7 days
718-875-2259
They are not expensive. I paid the CO metal plate $5.41 with Tax.
In the yellow sheet, it states that you will be subject to the penalties described below unless you correct and certify the correction of violations by the dates indicated on the front of this Notice of Violation(s).
However , the white sheet said if you do not want to participate the program , we can discard the yellow and white sheets. My question is if I discard them, do I get the penalties?
OP here.
to answer above, my cover page gave me Until Sept 1 to clear these
thanks everyone for your advice/ experience. I am wondering if anyone has gone through this process and had it backfire ( i.e. an inspector came out and found a bunch of NEW violations). I just found out some of the backfiling will cost me $3k and some of the work around $2K. Having just finished a major renovation and received a new C/O I am tempted to not address these issues until a later date or sale ( at least 8-10 years away) and pay the fee for the clearing of the violations then( all are class A and B so the penalty woud not be huge). Thoughts? Advice?
FYI, I bought the building with owner financing and then refi through a bank with no issue…. I am wondering whether these HPD violations would block a sale or prevent financing.
We got the notice last fall. If you certify the repair, have it notarized, and submit everything on time, they really do remove the 20-yr old violation, or at least they did for us. They didn’t come out and inspect.
Unfortunately they only give you a week to correct the one type of violation (i.e. Boiler room notice) – we received the notice after the deadline had passed, had it notarized immediately, sent it in with a letter, and they still didn’t accept it.
It does have to have the yellow copy included in the package for it to qualify for the no-fee program. New violations aren’t included.
Try a local real estate managment company – or the super of an apt building they may be able to help you out with the signage you need or point you in the right direction.
Double check the letter from HPD. I’ve never heard of certifying violations w/out a fee being involved. It’s usually $300 for an inspection – HPD will generally not remove any violation w/out the inspection.
HPD has sent these notices out to all property owners w/ violations on record. In many instances the violations were previously corrected & HPD failed to properly record them as such. This is just a revenue generating scheme for the city. I rec’d a notice re a violation for not having a C of O. Was told by HPD that the bldg must be inspected even though i have the C of O certified & signed by the DOB in 1975!
owner12 – you should be able to get the signs at your local hardware store.
StuyMom – i strongly suggest you do not have an inspection while your renovations are in progress. the inspectors have been known to look for new violations while clearing old ones. just send in the required paperwork by the deadline & postpone indefinitely or not be home for any scheduled inspections.
TRY A Stationery STORE THEY CARRY A LOT OF legal paperwork, SO THEY MIGHT JUST HAVE WHAT YOUR LOOKING FOR
GOOD LUCK
We also just received one of these notices of violations (allegedly dating from 1985!). These violations have never previously been posted on HPD site, or found in title search. HPD’s cover letter states that violations are issued against a property, not a property owner, but current owner bears responsibility. HPD has an FAQ page on the violation reissuance program, with a phone number, at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/owners/violation-reissuance.shtml
Some of the forms they require are available on the HPD website. See buttons: “Site Index”, “Housing Code Compliance” “Homeowners” “Residential Building Owners”.
CAREFULLY NOTE the violation classification (A, B, or C) in the notice you received. There are extreme financial penalties for Class C violations. Whether you like the reissuance program or not, like the violations cited or not, like the fact that there’s never previously been a record of these violations, etc., HPD’s cover letter states that this program allows owners the opportunity to clear them without penalty IF you meet HPD’s requirements and deadlines. (Of course, that doesn’t help much when receiving a deadline date of July 13, in a letter postmarked July 15.) Personally, experience tells me to clear the violations NOW and complain and/or do research some other time. Use the Certificate of Correction on the back of the notice of violation, and complete it ENTIRELY.
Just get the language down exactly like they requested and type it up and post in a frame. They seem to like aluminum frames but I got away one place with some plastic ones from a 99 cent store.
I got a similar letter. Mine wasn’t a free offer – it sounded more like half off or so. Having had actual inspectors come in, I would be hestitant to do this if you don’t have to.
We got one of those notices too. Unfortunately I don’t have an answer for you about the forms, but I have plenty of questions of my own if you don’t mind me piggybacking on your post.
I’m curious to know if anyone else has gone through the process of getting old violations cleared on their house. Who comes to inspect? Are they merely checking off that you’ve fixed the old violations, or are they carefully going over the whole property looking for new violations? And why didn’t these 20 year old violations show up when I did a Property Shark search before buying?
We have fixed the old violations, but since we’re slowly renovating our place while living in it (a process some have compared to taking a shower with your clothes on) we have various things unfinished at any given moment, some of which might be considered violations. It almost seems like inviting the inspector over at this point might be more trouble than it’s worth, but the letter gives a deadline of September to get the violations cleared “for free”.