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Town of Oyster Bay coming to inspect my house. Neighbor complained of noise and vehicles parked outside due to Thanksgiving get together. Strange I didn't know I couldn't have a get together and invite people.
Issue: I have a finished basement. Sheetrock and drop sealing. Bought the house like that. I don't have a CO for it. We use it as storage.
Questions:
1) Allow inspector in to check or wait for court warrant to enter ?
2) I have the option to just enclose the entrance to room in basement and make it into a closet so he doesn't see the room itself but opens the door to a closet. Or will he know that a room exsists?
A noise complaint does not warrant an inspection of your home. If a bunch of cars are a concern tell the inspector he's welcome to come by anytime of the day or night and check how many cars are at your home.
Town of Oyster Bay coming to inspect my house. Neighbor complained of noise and vehicles parked outside due to Thanksgiving get together. Strange I didn't know I couldn't have a get together and invite people.
Issue: I have a finished basement. Sheetrock and drop sealing. Bought the house like that. I don't have a CO for it. We use it as storage.
Questions:
1) Allow inspector in to check or wait for court warrant to enter ?
2) I have the option to just enclose the entrance to room in basement and make it into a closet so he doesn't see the room itself but opens the door to a closet. Or will he know that a room exsists?
Any help would be appreciated.
Based upon the footprint he will assume there is more than just a closet. If it really is for storage and there is not a play room or man cave you should not have a problem, even if he came in. I would meet him at the door and be pleasant and ask the basis for the complaint and then just say no, I am sorry I am not renting rooms and the neighbor is just angry because I had a gathering at Thanksgiving. I would say I am having one at Christmas too (if it applies) just to give him a heads up.
What is the actual complaint? Noise and cars on a holiday doesn't create a reasonable suspicion of any non-permitted construction or interior property use. If that's the complaint, the Town is unreasonable to request an interior inspection. I had this argument with leadership constantly when I worked in code enforcement: you have a Constitutional right to privacy. If you consent to an inspection of the exterior issue, we had no right to hold the open case over your head to force an unrelated interior inspection.
Also, if this is some covid-related crowding issue, those are outside the purview of the Town. Those complaints fall under the auspices of the County Fire Marshal or PD, who have zero interest in household gathering.
Right now the municipalities are trolling for money. They got an elderly neighbor of mine on things that are more than 40 years old and basically almost drove the guy to commit suicide, he doesn't have jack. He should have never let them in.
They are most likely specifically targeting people who are not protected by anyone in local government. It's really low end scummy stuff that it wouldn't surprise me leads a person on the edge to do something tragic. If you are in inspector going around trying to milk old people out of $30K because they've had a shed since the 1970's, you are a low life.
“NON DISTRICT USE”. That is all it says on the notice of violation.
Spoke to inspector awhile back he wants to make sure not too many people are living there.
Any idea if this noise complain is a valid reason to come in ? I almost don’t want to let him in .
The issue is they may leave me 2 more notices of violation and then get a warrant from a judge to enter . I mean who knows what the neighbor complained about . Maybe he said too many people living in the house ?
So I’m debating on what to do. The basement although finished is used as storage . So not sure if he will issue me a ticket . The other thing I can do is get a CO for a finished basement but that’s going to cost me a fortune hiring a expeditor. Who knows what the neighbor complained about . Maybe he said too many people living in the house ?
Repeat after me; "Come back with a warrant". You can even get it pre-printed on a welcome mat.
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