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I am requesting your opinion once again on my property. I live in the Town of North Hempstead and am looking put in a fence for the house so my dog can run around. I have a couple problems.
1) my backyard slopes downward - I am hoping to level it. I had a landscaping company come and looked and he said we'll need to put in a permit, which is a pain in TNH.
2) Fence less than 4 ft - If I were to put in a fence less than 4 Ft tall, do I still need a permit?
Actually the fence permit is a snap. You take the survey and bill of sale from the contractor for the fence and fill out the paper work which is very simple. They will review it and calculate a per foot charge. In my case the permit was $50 and the per foot added $25. I only had to fence one side. It is pretty cut and dry.
That is how I found out about my a/c permit problem and they turned down the fence application until I had the a/c resolved (I bought house in 97 with central a/c already installed, closed with no problem, did a permitted addition in 98 and still no problem, in 2012 I wanted to put in the fence and the saga of permits in TNH began).
nuts2uiam - how did this whole fencing permit get into the a/c permit problem?? Do they need to look inside your house too even if you are just doing the fence? That's one of my concern. I dont mind filing, but i am afraid it will open up a whole can of worms.
The reason for the AC was that the unit stays outside the house and it was not likely on the survey they have in the town file, so they assume it was put it after and without permits. I agree that 4ft stinks for a fence, but you can always file a variance if you wish to have a higher height. It's all about the town making more money off the homeowner.
Actually 4ft fence is ok for me because it's not so much to keep my neighbors out, it's more to keep my dog in. Do you know of any good fencing company?
nuts2uiam - how did this whole fencing permit get into the a/c permit problem?? Do they need to look inside your house too even if you are just doing the fence? That's one of my concern. I dont mind filing, but i am afraid it will open up a whole can of worms.
Our side neighbors put up a vinyl fence and took down the chain link. We wanted the back side fence to match so we put the permit app in. We had bought the house with the central a/c back in '97 and it was on the original survey but neither the attorney nor the title search folks mentioned it to us as being a problem. Fast forward to 2012 when our neighbors did the fence. We put the application in and they picked up the lack of permit for the a/c. Bear in mind that since you are a recent purchaser during the time frame of the witch hunt for permits, you should be fine. Your purchase would have been flagged before you were able to close, provided you have not altered the outside footprint of your home. We bought when no one gave a rats patootie about permits.
nuts2uiam - We did not alter any footprint of the house externally but did have to give the house a face lift before we moved in. I m not sure what's up to code and what's not in the house. Afterall, I only own it for 8 months. I am afraid once I put in the permit for the fence which is inevitable because they wont let you go without one, might open up a whole can of worms. They do not need to come into the house to inspect anything, do they?
No need to worry at all. If you did not alter the footprint you will have no problem. You are allowed to paint and side and replace the windows (provided you didn't significantly increase/decrease the opening.)
They had to come into my home because the electrical inspector had to see the electrical connection to the a/c in the basement. That is the only reason he entered, so you should be fine.
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