Prompt action of Local Laws 10 and 11 can bring some savings

Real Estate Weekly, Feb 24, 1999 by Fred Rudd

When masonry fell at 540 Madison Avenue in November 1997, it did more than inconvenience thousands of people and tie-up traffic for weeks. It was one of the catalysts for changes in the New York City's Local Law 10 legislation that requires periodic facade inspections. Local Law 10, passed in 1980, itself grew out of masonry falling and killing a student about 20 years ago.

Local Law 10 requires inspection of the facades of all buildings taller than six stories and within 25 feet of the street. The new Local Law 11 extends this to cover all sides of the exterior that are further than one foot from an adjacent building.

Enacted into law in 1998, Local Law 11 not only extends the previous legislation, but corrects some of its deficiencies and strengthens the enforcement. At the heart of Local Law 10 was the requirement that buildings have an architect or engineer inspect the facade every five years and file a report with the New York City Department of Buildings. Buildings were categorized as "safe," "unsafe" or "precautionary." "Unsafe" buildings required prompt attention. The "precautionary" category meant that the condition, if left untreated, could become serious and required the building owner to conduct periodic checks so the condition would not deteriorate further. The result was that in some buildings, the "precautionary" conditions existed for many years without repair.

Under the new law, the "precautionary" status no longer exists and buildings are classified as "safe," "unsafe" or "safe with a repair and maintenance program," which requires the condition be correct by the filing of the next report or it will be classified as "unsafe" and require immediate attention.

A key provision of the new law begins the inspection cycle a year earlier for Local Law 10, moving it to February 1999 from March 1, 2000. This puts it in the same time-frame as the new Local Law 11 schedule, eliminating the burden of double inspections. Before this modification, the Local Law 11 filings would have been due on March 1, 2000, and the Local 10 by February 21, 2002.

We are recommending to all our properties that they combine the two inspections. This saves time and considerable expenses, particularly since the new law requires hands-on examination from a scaffolding or other observation platform.

Secondly, if work is required, doing the entire building, rather than piecemeal, will save money.

We are also encouraging the boards and owners of buildings we manage to conduct inspections as soon as possible and to have any work done soon after, particularly since inflation is low and prices relatively stable. Also, as usually happens, we anticipate that many buildings will procrastinate in having the inspections, with a rush at the end for inspections and repairs creating a sellers' market with higher costs. With the good economy and financial stability of many properties, buildings are catching up on exterior work that was postponed when cash was tight, causing a run on sidewalk bridges and scaffolding, and possibly higher costs and/or a scarcity of equipment.

One interesting sidelight to the fiscal strength of properties and compliance with Local Law 10 is: as buildings make the needed Local 10 repairs, we are seeing many upgrading the facades and restoring and/or repairing the architectural details that were removed when work was done during periods of tight money. With some buildings putting back the original balustrades and balconies, they are making the buildings more attractive and adding to New York City's fascinating architectural cityscape.