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In 2005 we bought a house in Valley Stream. Prior to us, there was only one previous owner. The house was built with two kitchens. One day code enforcement knocked on the door and asked how many bathrooms and stoves were on each floor. Like a dummy, I told him the truth. Being that we never did any work on the house, I assumed there was no harm. A week later I received 4 summonses. No permit for electrical stove, no permit for kitchen sink plumbing, no c/o for accessory apartment (even tho we don't rent it) no permit for basement shower.
We were required to remove stove, sink and shower. We complied and were still fined $3,000.00 for having it in the first place. We have proof from original advertisement that we purchased house with these things included. There's proof from a 1974 property report card that there were always 2 kitchens. Nassau county tax records had our home description as a 2 family occupancy, yet Valley Stream just says the county is wrong.
Are there any legalities that can get us off the hook for that fine? We complied and paid to fix the issue. It seems unfair to be fined that much over something we can prove we didn't install.
In 2005 we bought a house in Valley Stream. Prior to us, there was only one previous owner. The house was built with two kitchens. One day code enforcement knocked on the door and asked how many bathrooms and stoves were on each floor. Like a dummy, I told him the truth. Being that we never did any work on the house, I assumed there was no harm. A week later I received 4 summonses. No permit for electrical stove, no permit for kitchen sink plumbing, no c/o for accessory apartment (even tho we don't rent it) no permit for basement shower.
We were required to remove stove, sink and shower. We complied and were still fined $3,000.00 for having it in the first place. We have proof from original advertisement that we purchased house with these things included. There's proof from a 1974 property report card that there were always 2 kitchens. Nassau county tax records had our home description as a 2 family occupancy, yet Valley Stream just says the county is wrong.
Are there any legalities that can get us off the hook for that fine? We complied and paid to fix the issue. It seems unfair to be fined that much over something we can prove we didn't install.
It's called "buyer beware." The person who is the owner at the time the problems are caught is "it," not the former owner and it doesn't matter that the new owner did not do the work. You are supposed to do your due diligence when you buy a home, including making sure all permit and code issues are CLOSED. What you should have done was query the legality of the apartment because most existing accessory apartments are illegal on LI, and make the seller clear this up before buying the house and put it in the contract that if they don't do it within a certain amount of time, the sale is off.
Too bad your mortgage company didn't catch this for you. Lately mortgage companies are clued in to this and refuse to write a mortgage on a house with code and permit issues until they are corrected.
Sadly, you have to do it yourself because real estate brokers and agents are often too hungry for a sale to tell people the truth about a property they are selling. I have a friend looking for a house and went along to a couple of open houses and you wouldn't believe the nonsense they were saying ... one said underground oil tanks are still the choice of the homeowner and the government is not making people abandon them (that house still had an underground tank) ... another showed us an upstairs area with a bathroom and a linoleum tiled part of it (former mini kitchen?) and claimed, "You can rent out this apartment for income." When I asked her if the house was a 1 or 2 family, she hedged and tried to claim it was a "mother daughter" and when I challenged her on that (how can you rent a mother/daughter out to just anyone for income?), she pretended to go call her broker for information and came back with some more lies. Just another real estate salesperson who will lie to your face!
If the house is in the Village of Valley Stream, the Village is who determines what is or can become a two-family house, not Nassau County. The best advice is go before the Village Justice and state your case, that you bought the house in good faith that permits were up to date and that you immediately corrected the problems instead of letting it go on with them having to make several visits and give you several tickets like some people do. Perhaps he will waive or lower the fine for you since you acted responsibly quickly and you were not renting it to anyone, so not earning any illegal gain on it either.
Another thing you can do is report the Listing Broker to the New York Department of State for a real estate representation violation using the advertisement that pretended the house was legal as proof. If you have to pay a fine, then it would be worth your while to sue the Listing Broker in Small Claims Court and get the money back that way because they misrepresented the house. Brokers are not allowed to do this, but a lot of them don't care because they figure the consumer is too ignorant to know the difference. They are also not allowed to take on illegal apartments to rent for a commission, yet many do it anyway on LI. You cannot trust everyone.
In 2005 we bought a house in Valley Stream. Prior to us, there was only one previous owner. The house was built with two kitchens. One day code enforcement knocked on the door and asked how many bathrooms and stoves were on each floor. Like a dummy, I told him the truth. Being that we never did any work on the house, I assumed there was no harm. A week later I received 4 summonses. No permit for electrical stove, no permit for kitchen sink plumbing, no c/o for accessory apartment (even tho we don't rent it) no permit for basement shower.
We were required to remove stove, sink and shower. We complied and were still fined $3,000.00 for having it in the first place. We have proof from original advertisement that we purchased house with these things included. There's proof from a 1974 property report card that there were always 2 kitchens. Nassau county tax records had our home description as a 2 family occupancy, yet Valley Stream just says the county is wrong.
Are there any legalities that can get us off the hook for that fine? We complied and paid to fix the issue. It seems unfair to be fined that much over something we can prove we didn't install.
I recently went through this with the town of oyster bay. You have to plead not guilty and demand a jury trial. Don't let the court bs you . However you only get a jury trial if the charges are misdomeanors with a possible penalty of over 90 days incarceration. If the charges are violations you have a bench trial. IMPORTANT. either way the town has to prove that you installed the items. You don't have to testify or have a lawyer. the burden of proof is completley on the town. You corrected the situation when you became aware of it. You can't be fined for something you didn't do.
It's called "buyer beware." The person who is the owner at the time the problems are caught is "it," not the former owner and it doesn't matter that the new owner did not do the work. You are supposed to do your due diligence when you buy a home, including making sure all permit and code issues are CLOSED. What you should have done was query the legality of the apartment because most existing accessory apartments are illegal on LI, and make the seller clear this up before buying the house and put it in the contract that if they don't do it within a certain amount of time, the sale is off.
Too bad your mortgage company didn't catch this for you. Lately mortgage companies are clued in to this and refuse to write a mortgage on a house with code and permit issues until they are corrected.
Sadly, you have to do it yourself because real estate brokers and agents are often too hungry for a sale to tell people the truth about a property they are selling. I have a friend looking for a house and went along to a couple of open houses and you wouldn't believe the nonsense they were saying ... one said underground oil tanks are still the choice of the homeowner and the government is not making people abandon them (that house still had an underground tank) ... another showed us an upstairs area with a bathroom and a linoleum tiled part of it (former mini kitchen?) and claimed, "You can rent out this apartment for income." When I asked her if the house was a 1 or 2 family, she hedged and tried to claim it was a "mother daughter" and when I challenged her on that (how can you rent a mother/daughter out to just anyone for income?), she pretended to go call her broker for information and came back with some more lies. Just another real estate salesperson who will lie to your face!
If the house is in the Village of Valley Stream, the Village is who determines what is or can become a two-family house, not Nassau County. The best advice is go before the Village Justice and state your case, that you bought the house in good faith that permits were up to date and that you immediately corrected the problems instead of letting it go on with them having to make several visits and give you several tickets like some people do. Perhaps he will waive or lower the fine for you since you acted responsibly quickly and you were not renting it to anyone, so not earning any illegal gain on it either.
Another thing you can do is report the Listing Broker to the New York Department of State for a real estate representation violation using the advertisement that pretended the house was legal as proof. If you have to pay a fine, then it would be worth your while to sue the Listing Broker in Small Claims Court and get the money back that way because they misrepresented the house. Brokers are not allowed to do this, but a lot of them don't care because they figure the consumer is too ignorant to know the difference. They are also not allowed to take on illegal apartments to rent for a commission, yet many do it anyway on LI. You cannot trust everyone.
you don't know what your talking about. period.
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