From the Brooklyn Eagle:
A new City Council bill would allow the Buildings Department to seek court orders that would compel building owners and managers to let inspectors enter buildings suspected of having hazardous conditions and committing serious violations.
This bill has now received the support of Community Board 10, serving Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights.
While the committee supports the bill’s concept, [Ann] Falutico said, the bill as written is flawed and needs clarification. She said it particularly needs specific and much clearer definitions of “immediately hazardous” conditions and “major violations.”
“We do not want inspectors entering homes for any willy-nilly reason, and there must be consistency,” said Falutico. “If the law does not pass constitutional muster for the issuance of warrants, it will quickly become irrelevant. We want this law to work.”
The bill also does not address urgent emergency situations that require immediate inspections without a court order, such as a complaint about a propane heater being used, she added. “Two visits, one mailing, and 10 days for [an] application for and [an] execution of a court order may be a wee bit too long to prevent an impending explosion. A rapid response is necessary.”
The bill requires the DOB, upon getting a complaint, to send an inspector. If twice refused entry, the owner gets certified mail requesting the inspection and a date for it. Without a reply within 10 days, and if the commissioner considers the situation to be of imminent danger or a major violation, the commissioner is required to seek a court order to enter the building.
16 comments:
most of the violators of illegal conversions have been collecting rents (cash), and have not been adding this income to their tax returns. this occurs for many years and involves hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax fraud per landlord.
there should be a way to make them pay this income ,with interest.
it is time to really punish these tax cheats. it is not fair to honest homeowners,who obey the law.
This is a bill that has long been neccessary and is going in the right direction. The language need to be defined specifically and that is not a bad thing. Keep going with this initiative - save lives, collect more taxes and penalties including catching illegals and those who harbor them!!!!!
And then the next year the DOB will fill out the pre-signed court orders themselves. Totalitarianism in America, better make sure your 'papers are in order' or the Commissar will be displeased.
Nice idea but the death toll under Bloomberg's tsunami of community crushing development is proof DOB could not keep up, was or on the take, etc.
Christine Quinn dismissing DOB and ECB fines did not help and NYC gov refused to shut down corrupt developers, contractors and architects.
Suzannah B. Troy
So any spiteful or disgruntled neighbor will now be able to call in a complaint (whether real or not) and the DOB will be on his neighbor's ass!
I don't think so!
Go back to the drawing board with this one!
There are many ways to discover whether there are illegal rentals, etc.
Now if there is a gas odor or smoke coming from a window....well that's another matter and is already covered under the law.
(LOL)
Hey....what if had to suddenly run to the crapper (pardon me "Crappy") and in the meantime I left my breakfast toast burning...smoking up the place?
The FDNY comes busting in...swinging their axes and looting the premises...before I've even gotten a chance to wipe my ass?
This shits!
Anon #5: Well said, I agree with you
100%. We all have neighbors like that who have nothing better to do then spy on their neighbors and call in bogus complaints.
Tax fraud is another issue but there has to be a paper trail to get caught. And most of the illegal rent money paid to the landlord in cash goes for the mortgage, property taxes
and upkeep of the home.
the d.o.b. or d.o.finance only has to screen the d.o.b. conversion complaint records in the past 10 years on an address. when they "browse the block", they can pinpoint each homeowner who has refused to allow inspectors in the dwelling( illegal basement/cellar).
a check with the local post office will identify the number of previous illegal tenants and the duration of occupancy.
other utilities such as verizon,cable companies, etc.
often times, illegal tenants behavior causes an above average visit pattern from the n.y.p.d,n.y.f.d. and d.o.s.
a honest homeowner ,who has suffered the results of the greed of my so-called "NEIGHBOR (ABSENTEE)", except to pick up his illegal rent.
Yes, let's give the government even more control of our lives. Who's the idiot that dreamed this one up? Long live Israel! Death to the Palestinians! Long live my NYC teacher's pension. Long live my Big Hairy Balls!
And we wonder why our schools are in the shape they're in.
To address your comment about the state of your NYC schools, it's brain dead parents producing brain dead kids. I hope that answered your comment. Now get back to my Big Hairy Balls! That's it work your finger in, now go faster, don't stop!
And it's also the UFT and its members dedicated to enlightening young minds, rather than padding their pensions.
Isn't it great to hear about teachers so dedicated to education?
if you had to live next door to an illegal conversion, tax cheating ,absentee landlord,you would never stoop to using totalitarian,bogus complaint,spy, in your dialogue.you will experience a steady stream of so-called tenants who have visits from the n.y.f.d.,n.y,.p.d. (swat team).
the tenant was a schizo/coke head and the landlord could not get him out of the cellar.
two other "gay tenants" decided to celebrate valentines day with burning candles around the cellar .the six n.y.f.d. trucks finally put the fire out, after it almost burned the first floor tenant to death. they could not get to the cellar from the front ,so they broke my drive way and yard fences and ,entered by the rear of the cellar.$600.00 damage to my car by the ladders and fire tools. the absentee landlord never reimbursed me,for enabling his property to be salvaged.
the need to raise my yard fences so that his tenants and workers would stop entering my property.
i am not his partner in real estate greed,but we suffer his problems with his illegal tenants.
the d.o.b. regulations are a sham as they are written at the present.
Yet another step to the elimination of property rights. Fantastic.
Oh, do you think Dan Halloran will have to let them in to the illegal basement apartment.
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