Sunday, May 27, 2007

When home renovations go wrong

What used to be Bhogendra Sharma's South Ozone Park home is now a perpetual construction site, the result of a year-long dispute with his contractor that has left him $132,000 in the hole with a house that is unihabitable.

Home Renovation Nightmare Prompts Calls For New Laws

Photo from Queens Chronicle

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I propose an element as part of the solution to "contractors" who fail to complete the job or even just slip on the schedule:

Banks could establish low-cost escrow accounts on behalf of homeowners. Homeowners would make payment into the account and the bank would pay the contractor only upon a homeowner's signature plus the contractor's affidavit of the progress status of the work.

Proceed with the change to state law making failure to properly complete a felony, but include as a felony any fraud for submitting a falsified affidavit, and require the bank to reimburse the homeowner for payments based on fraud.