Sidewalk violation liability?

Our building got a sidewalk violation a couple of years ago and they basically want the whole thing redone for various minor cracks, nothing crazy and nothing tree-related, though it is just above the 1-2 family class.

Our insurance company has been fine with us patching little issues they notice on their inspection but I don’t know if they know about the city violation. So it’s been patched and they’ve been approving that for coverage.

We plan to do the sidewalk repair as part of a bigger project (since water main might require sidewalk to be dug up at that time anyway and ideally we’d avoid tearing up a new sidewalk) when money allows, sometime in the next 5 years.

If someone gets hurt on the sidewalk, will the city violation affect the insurance company’s willingness to cover the claim if the insurance company has been Ok all along with the state of the sidewalk?

stickerhappy

in General Discussion 2 years and 10 months ago

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andriywww1990 | 2 years and 10 months ago

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Don’t call the city for anything unless they owe you money or you need an ambulance or fire truck.

stickerhappy | 2 years and 10 months ago

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Yes I actually did request a re-evaluation and they came back and again found minor issues with each concrete section. And of course they won’t allow patching or grinding down, they want every piece fully replaced. We got estimates over $8k — and the city won’t eventually do it themselves bc it’s over 2-family.

Arkady | 2 years and 10 months ago

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I’d ask for a new evaluation from NYC.

andriywww1990 | 2 years and 10 months ago

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Read your policy. People get violations for things all the time but that does not necassarily release the insurance company from their responsibility.

I would be more worried that they would drop you after paying the claim.

Perhaps pretend you are shopping for insurance and without identifying your proprty, call a competing firm and tell them you are shopping for insurance and want to know if they will take you with an open violation.