Brownstone Owner in Buildings Department Hell

A Harlem brownstone owner had to evict his one tenant after she stopped paying rent. He had no choice. She owed him $7,000.
Almost immediately inspectors from the Department of Buildings showed up at his brownstone. Anonymous complaints had come in about the building.
That’s when he called Help Me Howard.
“That was only the start of Harold Smith’s encounters with the buildings department,” said Howard.
Harold Smith’s Mom bought his Harlem brownstone building back in 1976. Harold took it over when she passed seven years ago. When his one tenant here on the third floor stopped paying rent, he moved to evict. He’s paying a high price for that, in both time and money.
“As soon as she was issued her 30-day notice, the complaints started,” said Harold. “They would be unfounded, unfounded, unfounded.”
Then another anonymous complaint. “What the heck,” thought Harold, “It’s just me and the cat!”
This complaint concerned the front door he’d installed a year and a half before.
“The door had what they called illegal hardware,” explained Harold. “The door had a lock-yourself-in, it had a keyed lock. So I went, the same day the violation was issued, and had the lock taken out. The lock rebuilt and put back the same day.”
So he was out the $7,000 in unpaid rent. Add attorney’s costs, $5,000. The cost of getting the lock rebuilt, $350. The locksmith, $250. Then the fine for the violation, another $250. And he still had to go to a hearing. What a hassle.
“They give you an 8:30am date and 12:30, 2:00pm, you’re still sitting there,” said Harold.
That wasn’t the end of it. Another inspection found more violations.
This door put in on the third floor..illegal. The bathroom should only be entered from the hall.
Then DOB claimed there was a wall here that must have been taken down. Illegal.
“But there wasn’t,” said Harold. “As you can see there is a skylight and there would be no way to split the skylight to put a wall in.”
The pocket doors that can open up this doorway down on the second floor? Illegal.
“They’re telling me the certificate of occupancy is changed by opening the doors. Everything turns into something else, you do one thing, they throw something else up,” said Harold.
Why all the violations that, so far, total $2200? The buildings department has this brownstone listed as an “SRO”. Any changes that go against that, going back 75 years, are illegal. The Department of Buildings slapped him with a ‘Stop Work Order’. The cost? $5,000. $5,000 whether or not a judge ruled it was issued improperly. And never mind that these violation notices list a different address than his. One of them is for a building around the block from him.
$5,000 is a lot of money. Money Harold doesn’t have.
“I don’t have it at all. And I just keep spending money whether it’s court fees for putting the woman our or lawyer fees for DOB issues. Please Help Me Howard,” said Harold. “I don’t know what I’m going to do, Please Help Me Howard.”
Howard did a lot of checking.
“And Harold,” said Howard, “It’s not going to be easy..and it all costs money..and lots more time.”
Harold has to file an application to change the status of the building to a “Two-family”. That’ll take nine months.
Then he’ll have to hire an architect to draw up blueprints. That’ll run between $7-$10,000.
“I just want to get it over with,” said Harold. “I want inspectors to stop coming to my door. They come like this is their house, forcing their way in, this is harassment.”
The Buildings Department defends their actions. In a statement, their spokesperson Ryan Meredith FitzGibbon, said, “It is the responsibility of the property owners to ensure their buildings are safely maintained and that all work is done legally. Before purchasing or renting a home, New Yorkers should check the departement’s website to verify the legal use of the building and make sure there are no outstanding violations or illegal conditions.”
“We have so many people in the area,” said Harold, “who either don’t know the status of their house because nothing’s come up yet, or now they’re just enforcing these things.”
Building owners out there, consider yourself warned.

Produced by Noreen Lark