Legal Question in Construction Law in New York
New Home that has NYS Code violations
I had a new home built on my property. The home was Modular construction. It has a full basement. The builder altered many aspects of the stamped engineers plans and did not apply for any variances. The town of Boston NY passed code on the home and issued me my certificate of Occupancy. After a few months of moving in I hired a Structural Engineer due to cracked floor trusses and other structural problems. The Structural engineer pointed out many structural problems and code violations. I filed a complaint to the Dept of State Codes division. The regional code enforcement official came and inspected my home. He had the town of Boston Code official issue me a summons because my home does not meet NYS Code. I have asked the builder to fix my home and bring it up to code but he refuses to do so. I am responsible to bring my home up to code because I am the home owner. The home should not have passed inspection in the first place. Does the town hold any liability for passing code and does the builder hold any liability? What is the best way to procede?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: New Home that has NYS Code violations
The Town is not liable to you for the defective construction. The builder is.
I am going to tell you something that I do very rarely (i.e., I have not given anyone this advice in more than five years). Sue the builder without delay. Every day you delay is a day later that you will be compensated. Every day you delay is a day that goes by without the contractor's insurance company being put on notice of the claim, and stale claims are inherently harder to resolve than fresh ones. Every day that you delay puts you deeper into the pack of litigants that will be clamoring for a piece of the contractor's hide. (You're not the only purchaser he has treated badly, that's virtually guaranteed.)
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