Brownstone Renovation - Neighbor Harrassment
I see a lot of posts favoring the neighbor to a renovation however, I’m hoping someone can relate and offer advice to me, the renovator. We are renovating a home in Brooklyn. We have a contractor and all the correct permits. We’ve been doing everything by the books. A neighbor though has been making a series of false complaints, calling the dob, fire dept and police daily and has asked for money for false damages they will not show us proof on. Every few weeks the dob shuts us down for random and minute findings. Each time a different item. Whenever the dob visits, our contractor lets them in for inspection. Wondering what we can possibly do to stop this insanity. We worked so hard for this home. We’re not a huge developer. We’re just a family trying to have a home. Thank you for any insight here.
donkinsella
in General Discussion 8 years and 4 months ago
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11 replies
katdov | 8 years and 4 months ago
I had the same thing happen to me – I had a permitted underpinning job and the neighbor complained, saying “they are digging into my basement”. The inspector came, the job was filed correctly, but they found something (excessive garbage in the back yard), and issued a temporary SWO. Basically it is my understanding that they will always find something to justify a SWO. This problem was resolved quickly but I did lose 2 weeks, had to appear at the DOB, etc. They also explained to me at the DOB that if a neighbor makes 3 unsubstantiated (groundless) complaints, there are repercussions for the neighbor. But as long as there is SWO or a fine, that means the complaint was not unsubstantiated. Sorry you are going through this. Good luck.
donkinsella | 8 years and 4 months ago
Thanks for the advice but youre assuming we’re being jerks to our neighbors and thats why they’re doing this. We not only lived next door to these ppl for over a year , we were very friendly and explained all about upcoming construction. This is a shake down with the assumption there is money (that they do not deserve) to be had. I’m from here and would never give a newcomer this much trouble unless I was a piece of crap con artist. Not one complaint from them has been valid. The DOB does come by based on their complaint, dont find anything and then start digging for something to give a violation on.
utoeid | 8 years and 4 months ago
You must understand that your neighbor has a problem and it may be a legitimate one. Due to all of the over development of Brooklyn a lot of long time homeowners are afraid of change and that is their truth.
First off you may want to start by just introducing yourself to your soon to be and forever future neighbor and keep it light. Tell them you know the construction is a pain but the house needs these critical repairs and upgrades to make it your “forever” home. Give them a time line on when you plan on being done-finished-finito. Try to find out if there is any one thing that bothers them overall?
Contractors starting too early or working too late?
Weekend work?
Contractors not being respectful to the surrounding residents?
Debris being left in front of your neighbor?
Dust?
Splatter?
Equipment leaning on adjoining or shared property lines?
Are your dumpsters eating up the parking spaces in front of the house?
Is your 20 foot extension leading to them having to never walk naked in their backyards again?…
There could be a myriad of reasons but if you make an honest attempt to be decent about the imposition that comes with a big reno, you may find their bitchy little complaints will stop. Yo u may also want to update them when stuff is going to pop off loudly and for a long time and give them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant or even pay for a night at a hotel. All to build good will. As for the City, unless your worksite is unsafe, you don’t have to let them in outside of scheduled visits. But I love my firemen and DoB guys, they were invited in and came to the reveal party I had. Not Landmarks though, they were just buttholes about everything.
Now you may feel “Why the hell do I have to do all that?” Well you should. Renovations take a toll on many people and the worst thing will be for you to finally be done and be hated by your neighbors.
mrohrmann | 8 years and 4 months ago
General rule of thumb is to not let DOB in your house ever until its inspection time or they can make up any BS they want to put a SWO on it. Im dealing with one now due to a dip shit tenant calling DOB when we were trying to fix a leak running into his apartment.
mrohrmann | 8 years and 4 months ago
> @bk house
> and minute findings. Each time a different item. Whenever the dob visits, our contractor lets them in for inspection. Wondering what we can possibly do to stop this insanity. We worked so hard for this home. We’re not a huge developer. We’re just a family trying to have a home. Thank you for any insight here
donkinsella | 8 years and 4 months ago
Thank you for this!
CarmenR | 8 years and 4 months ago
We went through a similar situation and got a SWO for something very minor (and not what the original complaint indicated.) We literally got a SWO for something to the effect of “you put up a temporary beam and it’s not on the plans” (it was dropped when our contractor went to court.) Folks here that are saying that the DOB only issues SWOs for major issues haven’t done work in some time- we’ve heard tale of many many people going through hell with the DOB in recent years
We only had the DOB called on us a few times, but neighbor did also send us “legal” threats (written by himself) and was generally menacing.
My advice would be some combination of the following things:
1) Do not initiate any form of communication with him- only speak to him when he seeks you out and remain extremely pleasant. Do not ever provide even a HINT that you are at fault. Do not apologize for anything
2) Respond to any legal threats with a legal response drafted by an actual lawyer
3) Look into his own property and see what kind of perhaps-not-above-board things he has going on. Turns o ut our neighbor was living in a very large, ill-constructed and without permits glass house. When he realized we knew that, he got quiet very quickly. Lots of old-timers have construction work that they didn’t get permits for (digging out cellars, illegal extensions, etc.) but feel like they are somehow immune to the same shenanigans that they try to pull on others. A bit of research can help you fight fire with fire.
4) On the above, you can pull permits for anyone’s house by going to the Brooklyn DOB office. You don’t need any sort of credentials beyond a photo ID. They will literally hand you the file belonging to the property which will include any relevant paperwork., of which you can then make a copy or scan with your phone. The folks there were also quite pleasant, honestly.
5) Play nice with your other neighbors if you’re new to the block. We’ve lived in this neighborhood for 6 years but bought on this specific block in 2014, and we’ve gone out of our way to meet our neighbors, have them over for bbqs, drink a few beers with them during the summer, etc. Since crabby neighbor is a bit of a busybody, I think our presence has helped to combat any of his craziness and has allowed our other neighbors to make their own judgments about us.
Good luck. I know this sucks now but I promise, it’ll be in the past soon!
boredatwork | 8 years and 4 months ago
As @gobedstuygo noted, the Department of Buildings does not shut down a job “for random and minute.” A Full Stop Work Order usually signifies that the inspector found unpermitted work, or work being done in a dangerous manner. Are you sure your contractor is following the permit and that all permits have been filed properly?
You are in a tough spot. If you plan to live there, you have to consider future relations with this neighbor. A letter from a lawyer might simply escalate matters. And if you pay off for nuisance value, there is no way to stop future anonymous calls to 311.
Good luck.
slopefarm | 8 years and 4 months ago
A suit might be difficult if DOB is actually issuing stop work orders in response to some of the complaints. But a shot across the bow from an attorney might make sense here. Someone who does construction litigation, preferably. One thing that occurs to me is the need perhaps to deal up front with the neighbor’s unsubstantiated complaints of damage. You want your professionals to see what, if anything, the neighbor is talking about and have a chance to remedy. If neighbor ignores the offer, it may be much harder for neighbor to sue later for damages (real or imagined) where neighbor refused the opportunity to mitigate.
Arkady | 8 years and 4 months ago
You could try going to your Community Board to get validation of what you’re doing & give a copy of it to the neighbor. Maybe get a lawyer to draft a letter threatening a law suit for the nuisance he or she is causing.
robyim1 | 8 years and 4 months ago
What you’re describing sounds like a nightmare but not sure why you’re getting shut down by the DOB. I did go through something like this and get an anonymous complaint by a neighbor. When the DOB inspector came he said he was there only to look at the complaint and nothing else. When he saw that the complaint was bogus he simply left. To get a stop work order there has to be some serious violation. In my experience, although it was a nuisance they didn’t stop work for minor problems.
That said if you’re having these problems you need to make sure everything is done according to what was filed. Maybe you’ll want to write a letter to your neighbors describing what you wrote here and try to gain some relief like that.