Neighbor Beginning Renovation
Thanks everyone for the responses. Very helpful to know about NYC Building Code 3309.
FWIW from what I am reading there the 2008 code does require a pre-construction survey for adjacent properties in instances of excavation of more than 5′ deep, which in this case the developer seems to be doing as their permit application indicates filing for “HORIZONTAL EXTENSION TO FIRST AND SECOND FLOORS” – cellar in neighboring house is between 5′-10′ so they will have some requirement. But like someone said above there is no detail on the survey requirements, however this does seem to indicate that the surveyors will need access to our house for this inspection, and while we can’t block that without taking on the liability ourselves, it seems we can use the access they need as leverage to require that we are named as additional insured and have an insurance review of their policy done, and ensure other reasonable protections.
Any other comments much appreciated…
(Page 51 of the attached shows the requirement for pre-construction survey:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/apps/pdf _viewer/viewer.html?file=2014CC_BC_Chapter_33_Safeguards_During_Construction_or_Demo.pdf§ion=conscode_2014)
Guest User | 8 years and 5 months ago
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Guest User | 8 years and 5 months ago
We live in an attached 2 family townhouse in South Slope. The house next door to us (we share a wall) recently sold and is now being renovated by a developer.
The developer’s rep has been in the next door house a few times, about 2 months ago we spoke to him and he said he would be sending us a letter of formal communication to explain what they would be doing. He was quite friendly and we wanted to give him and the developer the benefit of the doubt, but now we see on DOB website that permits have been filed and no communication has come from them and we want to protect ourselves.
From basic research we have done we understand that we need a pre-construction inspection by a licensed engineer which fully documents pre-construction conditions. And we know that we have to ensure that the contractor’s insurance includes responsibility for any damage incurred to our house. Ideally we would also have a construction agreement with the developer but here are the issues:
We are on a tight budget and don’t have cash to pay for engineering reports and these other protect ive documents, nor do we think we should have to pay to protect ourselves against work somebody else is doing. Ideally we would hire a lawyer to discuss our options, but again the cost.
Here are some specific questions:
– What if any obligations does the developer have to ensure no damage to our house? Or will all of this be the contractor’s obligation? Who enforces this requirement (i.e. who do we have recourse with if we find damage and can document it against a pre-construction survey)?
– What advice does the forum have as far as whether to reach out to the developer and first ask them to pay for a survey (we would choose the surveyor) or just suck it up and pay for it ourselves (credit card I guess?) Only have had verbal discussion so far with developers rep not the head people.
– What points specifically give us the the maximum leverage against the developer to take our requests seriously? We intend to work with them in good faith, but since they haven’t held up their end of what they said they would do we have to act to protect our position and feel unprepared to do so.
Thank you!
Putnamdenizen | 8 years and 5 months ago
What you suggest is a very careful and wise course of action. A less expensive action might be to take pictures (with time stamps) of your shared walls, nearby ceilings, etc. Construction happens all the time without damage to neighboring properties.
shahnandersen
in General Discussion 8 years and 5 months ago
Your home is your biggest investment. You absolutely need to protect it. You clearly have rights, but you have to be able to execute them. Yes, ask the developer to pay for a lawyer and an engineer and to include you on their insurance. But if there is no positive response, yes suck it up and hire a lawyer. Hopefully, s/he will be able to negotiate the developer to pay for the legal and engineering services. But if they do not cooperate, it ultimately will be up to you to document the damages and the sue them for for the repairs.
pepinohill | 8 years and 5 months ago
Take pictures, but please know that you won’t be able to anticipate (or prove) the damage. We didn’t do a pre-construction survey. We took pictures of our walls when our neighbor was renovating (and shared pictures with them), but we didn’t anticipate certain damage and we also can’t prove that it was caused by the renovation (e.g., our newly finished bathroom has cracks all along the corners where there was constant chipping on the other side; we have leaks in our two-year-old roof). On the plus side, the renovation is almost over and aside from a few cracks, lots of construction debris and lots of inconvenience, it’s been okay.
Guest User | 8 years and 5 months ago
Hi all thank you very much for your responses.
So 2 more clarifying questions:
– Is it the developer or the contractor who is responsible for damage? I assume property owner (developer) ultimately responsible but they will push that liability to contractor via insurance.
– Is there any requirement for developer naming us as additional insured on their policy?
Thanks
fiordiligi | 8 years and 5 months ago
The Society for Clinton Hill held a workshop meeting on this topic over a year ago. The speaker was Don Friedman of Old Structures Engineering (you can google their website) which specializes in doing pre-construction surveys in historic buildings prior to the commencement of nearby or adjacent construction. They can also install vibration monitors, which alert you to vibration in excess of what’s permitted in historic districts, and build a dossier that permits them to testify for you in court if necessary. Their services are not very expensive, and once the pre-construction survey is done, you have someone to call for advice in case of emergency; and they have a good track record. Also, DOB has a team that specializes in addressing this kind of thing very quickly, if you know where to find them. I plan to use Old Structures’ services soon myself, as I anticipate a similar problem developing in the near future with the house next door to mine.
eFortGreene | 8 years and 5 months ago
My husband and I are poster children for what can go wrong. Developers bought the house next door, demolished it, and we had a license agreement that paid for the structural engineer’s preconstruction survey (yes expensive: $5400!) and we were added to their liability policy as additional insured. Without going into tremendous detail, they amended their shoring and excavation permit without telling us and the means and methods they used, contrary to our engineer’s approval, in fact undermined our foundation. They have had a stop work order since I called it in last April; we filed a claim against their liability policy and discovered that their policy had an earth movement exclusion, so despite the fact that their own insurance company found them at fault, our claim was denied. And yes, our own homeowner’s policy has the same language excluding damages “due to earth movement, whether from natural or man-made causes”. Check your policy for that!
You can look at their permits and can actually get their plans from DOB if you’re willing to devote a number of hours in p erson at the Municipal Building. If they are excavating you should demand to see their policy to make sure it does not have such an exclusion. Look for whether their plans are self-certified; that means no one at DOB really scrutinized much before issuing the permits.
Though the City states that adjacent neighbors to construction are protected, a lack of enforcement and a pro-developer mission belies that. They’ll shut down a job after egregious damage such as what happened to us, but they then wash their hands, saying that it is now a civil matter.
I am pursuing the insurance issue with the City because this is a direct violation of written rules. I would like to collect names of those in similar situations. Also, in case your developer is the same as mine (19 LLCs all operating out of the same address on Queens Blvd), do look up who actually owns the property on DOF. These guys are total slugs, as a land use attorney I spoke to said, he having filed a lawsuit against them on behalf of a defrauded client. If you respond, I can tell you if the owner is part of this group, no matter what the LLC name is.
peaceout | 8 years and 5 months ago
Good luck and don’t give up. Your experience is precisely why we did not purchase a beautiful limestone which was adjacent to an empty lot in the process of being developed.
bk123 | 8 years and 5 months ago
efortgreene
Wow, DOB increased the requirements to prevent this type of thing a
few years ago by requiring pre-construction surveys and a higher $
amount of insurance. All for naught! I am sure the exclusion is fraud
on the contractor’s part, don’t think that helps you. DOB should be
verifying this loophole by having a specific check box for earthmoving/underpinning on their form. That was the whole point of the new program! There are hyperlinks in BIS for project specific GL insurance on all jobs that require it.
eFortGreene | 8 years and 5 months ago
There is no DOB requirement for preconstruction surveys We only got them to pay for it because they wanted to excavate to the property line and needed a license agreement to site their fence on our property. The law is against adjacent owners refusing this kind of temporary encroachment, so we tried to make the best of it through such an agreement. I am still trying to determine who at DOB actually views the liability insurance policies. As far as I understand it, it is either Licensing or the Plan Examiner; the unit that issues permits only sees insurance certificates with aggregate limits.
slopefarm | 8 years and 5 months ago
I would be shocked if anyone at DOB is actually reviewing a contractor’s liability policy, and particularly to determine whether neighbors are adequately protected against possible grounds for disclaimer. DOB may require contractor to file a certificate of insurance, but that is not the policy. I just don’t think the nuances of insurance terms, coverage scope, exclusions etc. are within the purview of plan examiners. Not their area of expertise.
I would add that the contractor has no incentive to introduce terms that would allow the carrier to disclaim coverage for damage to a neighbor’s property because it increases the contractor’s exposure. It is really the insurer that tries to get away with that stuff. I would also add that, just because there is an “earth movement” exclusion and the carrier is standing on it, does not mean the carrier is right. This stuff gets litigated all the time and these terms don’t always come to mean what the carriers think they mean. If there is enough money at issue, I would review the policies with a lawyer who has dealt with co verage disputes, so you can get advice as to whether the disclaimers are worth fighting. I would never accept an insurer’s first “no” at face value.
bk123 | 8 years and 5 months ago