A Ray of Happy from Long Island
Sometimes, there are lingering details that can devil the simplest of deals. In this case, it was my garage.
The Town on Long Island I used to live in had sent a letter in 1983 stating that the dwelling and garage were built prior to 1932, when COs became necessary. That "letter in lieu" of a CO meant that the garage was legal. I owned the house (and garage) from 1991, but nobody had noticed that the letter in lieu at that time was silent on the garage. So my purchaser and his attorney forced me to leave $10,000 in escrow at closing. If I got the town to make or admit that the garage was "legal," I'd get that money. If not, the purchaser would get it.
This was maddening, as the purchase price already reflected a $15,000 discount specifically to rebuild the darn garage!
Several calls to the Town that resulted in nothing but frustration: "I know we wrote the letter, but we don't honor those letters anymore." The Town stated that it had no records on file showing that there was a garage in those early days - or that there wasn't.
I hired an expeditor to get through the process of legalization. The expeditor filled out the paperwork, though the homeowner was now the purchaser so I only paid the bills and permit application fees, but had no control over the process.
All went well until the Town decided that the garage was now 2' too close to the property line. So I paid more money, and the expeditor did the variance paperwork. She even put up the sign (with much squawking from the homeowner, and the sign magically "blew down" the first night it was up...) that the Town required prior to the variance hearing. All of this took us close to the deadline where I'd forfeit the entire escrow amount.
We got the variance (the variance hearing guy apologized for putting us through this when he saw the Letter in Lieu). All that was left was the inspection, which we scheduled for the earliest possible date. I rented a car and drove out there, and the buyer - now the homeowner - threw me off the property that had been my home for 14 years. He kept the inspector away from me while he talked to the inspector the whole time.
The garage, which as you can tell from the built "prior to 1932" mention above, is not up to today's code with three-foot-deep footings and perfectly plumb everything (though it was in pretty darn good shape for such an old outbuilding, and is still happily standing today). The inspector failed it.
I hired an attorney, as I'd already spent more than $2,000 in fees to the expeditor and Town, so I'd now be out $12,000+. The attorney got the Town to review the tax records that show continuous tax payment on a garage dating from prior to 1932, and felt that a letter saying that taxes prove a garage was there all along, combined with the Letter in Lieu, show that the garage is legal. Not quite what the escrow agreement required, but darn close! My attorney called the purchaser's attorney, but did not get a response to repeated calls for two months. Strangely, the return call came after my attorney sent a letter stating that we were bringing the matter to court (yes, I was ready to do so).
My attorney called a few moments ago to say that a settlement was reached. Out of the $10 grand owed me, I'll end up with slightly less than 2 after the purchaser's cut, the lawyer's cut, and the expeditor fees are deducted.
I'm incredibly happy that this is almost over - just paperwork and then checks, even if I didn't get all that was truly due. The fact that I'm getting back anything at all is wonderful considering the Town's lack of cooperation, as attorneys really do operate in their own, rather interesting, world....
The Town on Long Island I used to live in had sent a letter in 1983 stating that the dwelling and garage were built prior to 1932, when COs became necessary. That "letter in lieu" of a CO meant that the garage was legal. I owned the house (and garage) from 1991, but nobody had noticed that the letter in lieu at that time was silent on the garage. So my purchaser and his attorney forced me to leave $10,000 in escrow at closing. If I got the town to make or admit that the garage was "legal," I'd get that money. If not, the purchaser would get it.
This was maddening, as the purchase price already reflected a $15,000 discount specifically to rebuild the darn garage!
Several calls to the Town that resulted in nothing but frustration: "I know we wrote the letter, but we don't honor those letters anymore." The Town stated that it had no records on file showing that there was a garage in those early days - or that there wasn't.
I hired an expeditor to get through the process of legalization. The expeditor filled out the paperwork, though the homeowner was now the purchaser so I only paid the bills and permit application fees, but had no control over the process.
All went well until the Town decided that the garage was now 2' too close to the property line. So I paid more money, and the expeditor did the variance paperwork. She even put up the sign (with much squawking from the homeowner, and the sign magically "blew down" the first night it was up...) that the Town required prior to the variance hearing. All of this took us close to the deadline where I'd forfeit the entire escrow amount.
We got the variance (the variance hearing guy apologized for putting us through this when he saw the Letter in Lieu). All that was left was the inspection, which we scheduled for the earliest possible date. I rented a car and drove out there, and the buyer - now the homeowner - threw me off the property that had been my home for 14 years. He kept the inspector away from me while he talked to the inspector the whole time.
The garage, which as you can tell from the built "prior to 1932" mention above, is not up to today's code with three-foot-deep footings and perfectly plumb everything (though it was in pretty darn good shape for such an old outbuilding, and is still happily standing today). The inspector failed it.
I hired an attorney, as I'd already spent more than $2,000 in fees to the expeditor and Town, so I'd now be out $12,000+. The attorney got the Town to review the tax records that show continuous tax payment on a garage dating from prior to 1932, and felt that a letter saying that taxes prove a garage was there all along, combined with the Letter in Lieu, show that the garage is legal. Not quite what the escrow agreement required, but darn close! My attorney called the purchaser's attorney, but did not get a response to repeated calls for two months. Strangely, the return call came after my attorney sent a letter stating that we were bringing the matter to court (yes, I was ready to do so).
My attorney called a few moments ago to say that a settlement was reached. Out of the $10 grand owed me, I'll end up with slightly less than 2 after the purchaser's cut, the lawyer's cut, and the expeditor fees are deducted.
I'm incredibly happy that this is almost over - just paperwork and then checks, even if I didn't get all that was truly due. The fact that I'm getting back anything at all is wonderful considering the Town's lack of cooperation, as attorneys really do operate in their own, rather interesting, world....
posted by Val Smith at
11:10 AM
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