Property liens for sidewalks damaged by street trees

From Bayside Patch:

State Sen. Tony Avella, D-Bayside, joined Little Neck residents on Thursday to protest the city’s policy of placing a non-monetary lien on several local properties that had received sidewalk violations for damages for which they were not responsible.

Several Little Neck residents were handed violations a few months ago that they felt were unfair since the majority of the damages are small cracks that are in line with cracks on the streets and uplifts caused by city tree roots.

While the residents are not personally responsible for any of the damages, a non-monetary lien will still be placed on any property with a sidewalk violation, which will come up on a title search of that property, Avella said.

The lien is removed once the condition is corrected either by the city or the homeowner. But if the homeowner is selling the property, they would likely have to put extra money in escrow prior to the closing to compensate the buyer for any potential repair cost for an outstanding violation.

“What the city is doing here is simply unacceptable,” Avella said. “Most of the small deficiencies in these sidewalks are being caused by city property, whether it is a city tree or street. Yet the city feels the need to not only sock these homeowners with violations, but to also place a non-monetary lien on their property.”

Avella said the rule seemed like an attempt by the city to skirt its responsibilities by pressuring homeowners into repairing the sidewalk, even though they are not responsible for the damages.