One local mixed-use commercial property/building owner was notified by their bank’s underwriter that they would have to clear up violations prior to the closing of the refinance. The property/building owners wanted the bank to escrow funds for them to make repairs after the loan refinance but the bank denied that request. The property/building owner had picked up 47 HPD violations and found the process overwhelming to remove and clear the violations. The NYC Department of Housing and Preservation & Development issued the violations to the property/building owner because the property/building did not meet the standards of the City’s Housing Maintenance Code and the New York State Multiple Dwelling Law.
The property/building owner’s savvy team was working on submitting the dismissal request with applicable fees for the overdue violations but found themselves wasting time, and trying to meet HPDs imposed deadlines to avoid further fines and new violations. The savvy managers felt the process of trying to dismiss the violations was overwhelming and eventually asked our team to help facilitate the process. As industry professionals we knew that properties/buildings of the commercial type must have a current property registration on file at HPD to pay for any emergency repairs made on the property, program charges, and to resolve any judgments, prompting us to go online and start that process.
Immediately thereafter, our team asked property/building owner for the original violation preliminary notice, and since the client was unable to locate, our team researched each violation to start the facilitation of correcting the violations. The certifying violations process reminds you of a maze – that you need to find your way through to avoid landing back at the same place. Our team knew that the Notice of Violation NNOV) could not be certified correct without the original form, notarized signatures, and proof of the repairs.
We found that there were Class A, Class B, and Class C violations which required a correction period of 24 hours. Most of the property/building owner’s violations fell into this category: lead-based paint, window guard, heat and hot water and this required us to take action and start the process of clearing the violations. Several of the additional violations involved mold violations, locks, and plumbing. Our team immediately coordinated quotes from tradesmen and licensed professionals, managed the repairs, completed the forms, coordinated the inspections, and waited for the corrections.
Once the violation was corrected, and the inspection coordinated, our team still had to proactively work with HPD to close the violations by submitting the appropriate forms on the record to ensure that they were removed from the building/property title report. Next, certification is what we had to obtain to ensure that we had proof of the dismissal. A certification is a hard copy or electronic document filed with HPD to affirm that the violation conditions cited on the Notice of Violation (NOV) were corrected within the legally required timeframe. Once the certification was in hand we provided this to the title company, and to the bank’s underwriter to demonstrate all conditions were met to close the property/building owner’s refinancing loan.
If you have any questions or would like to hire a hassle-free professional firm to facilitate this process for you, All Boro On-Call Business + Home Center is always available at (917) 805-9868.
