HELP: Building Collapse Next Door. Next Steps

I would definitely use an adjustor. I was in a similar situation not too long ago, and the adjustor is basically your insurance lawyer. They will deal with the insurance company directly, assess the damage and negotiate a settlement. Most charge about 5%, which is not bad. Even though I am a real estate professional and has done many home renovations, I never really filed a claim with insurance and wouldn’t even know where to begin. 5% in the grand scheme of things is nothing. I’m 100% sure I netted out more than what I would have asked for, if I dealt with insurance directly.

Guest User | 7 years and 3 months ago

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deva | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Need help from this community. A building next door to mine collapsed pretty dramatically. We had to vacate premises. I am finally able to access my building and I see some damage from the demolition efforts that are going on now and i got a DOB violation thats extremely generic saying that my building has suffered damage from collapse and that it needs to be in code compliant manner… I am so at a loss how to manage this…

I can engage my insurance but in the past when I claimed loss on insurance my premiums went dramatically up. I think the owner next door who is a professional developer should probably cover my damage and all the work I will need to do remove my DOB violation. Do I need to engage a lawyer? Any references would be hugely helpful!

Thank you!

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 7 years and 4 months ago

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This may be a naïve comment, but do home insurance companies subrogate claims when another party is a fault, as is common practice with car insurance? If so, your insurance company might be of help. In any case, I don’t think you’d want the developer’s workers to be the ones repairing your building. IMO developers are not to be trusted and these particular workers have already demonstrated their incompetence.

deva | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Interesting question. I am definitely going to ask this question. I dont want the neighbor fixing it but I need him to compensate me for the damage. I would imagine he has insurance and his demolition company has insurance as well. They should be covering me given we are adjacent.

yudashasom | 7 years and 4 months ago

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9th st?

Guest User | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Hello, Deva.
We are professional engineering company specializing in structural/ mechanical aspects of business. Have involved in at least 4-5 similar situations in the past.
First of all you have to retain lawyer having experience in similar cases. We have worked in the past with at least 3 good specialists.
After that you need to get the engineer who will prepare engineering assessment report listing extend of damage and estimate for repair.
Next step is to get contractor to fix the problem. Cost shall be covered by insurance of other party.
DOB involvement is in removal of vacate order; you may need a good DOB expediter for this.
In any case contact me at 718-207-4255 or my partner Gary Vainblat, PE at (516)-232-1815.
Thanks, Michael Rabkin, PE

deva | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Thank you Michael. I will be in touch!

reader718 | 7 years and 4 months ago

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You may want to look into hiring your own insurance adjustor. They usually get a percentage of your settlement.

jjnoonan | 7 years and 4 months ago

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deva, I don’t have experience in this type of situation, but as reader718 recommended, I’ve been told to seek a public adjustor in similar types of situations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_adjuster

slopefarm | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Some good thoughts above from rvengineers. RE: public adjuster, I would first get your arms around what you think is the real cost of repair to your property. I would also consider making the insurance claim right away. You do not want them to disclaim on grounds that your notice wasn’t timely. Don’t trust an adjustor for the cost of repair — be pared to negotiate with the adjuster if your numbers and the insurer’s are way off. When you have an impasse, a public adjustor can be helpful but at a cost. It is possible but far from guaranteed that if your carrier is confident it will recover through subrogation, it won;t be so stingy with you. Also, make sure that if there are any steps the owner of the adjacent property needs to take to prevent further damage, you put them on notice. Definitely consult with an attorney about the implications of settling an insurance claim for any ability to recover from the adjacent owner. You may have choices to make abo ut how to proceed, each with plusses and minuses.

Of course, how much you staff up depends on how much damage you are looking at. If the numbers are small, it may be cheaper to eat some of it than to fight.

SoSlope | 7 years and 4 months ago

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I would be extremely hesitant to sign up with a public adjuster. They will take a hefty percentage of your claim even if they do not do anything (e.g., if the insurance company makes you a fair offer). It is very possible that their fee will be greater than any increased settlement you get. When a family member had a significant loss from a fire, they were swarmed with offers of help from public adjusters. I urged them to decline at least until they saw the offer from the insurance company. In fact, the insurance company offered a larger settlement than they even expected. (Granted, they had paid higher premiums for a higher-end insurance company rather than simply shopping on price.)

I agree with Slopefarm: you want to file a claim with your insurance company right away. Let them fight with the developer. This is exactly why you buy insurance.

brooklyngirl | 7 years and 4 months ago

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If you file a claim with your own homeowners insurance, they will file a subrogation claim against your neighbor and his/her insurance company, but you will be out of pocket whatever your deductible is. And if the neighbor’s insurance company disclaims coverage (say the neighbor was doing illegal work, or wasn’t maintaining the property), then you won’t be able to recover your deductible unless you sue your neighbor directly.

Guest User | 7 years and 3 months ago

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I would definitely use an adjustor. I was in a similar situation not too long ago, and the adjustor is basically your insurance lawyer. They will deal with the insurance company directly, assess the damage and negotiate a settlement. Most charge about 5%, which is not bad. Even though I am a real estate professional and has done many home renovations, I never really filed a claim with insurance and wouldn’t even know where to begin. 5% in the grand scheme of things is nothing. I’m 100% sure I netted out more than what I would have asked for, if I dealt with insurance directly.