I'm looking for a full time job,
either commutable from Fair Lawn or to relocate somewhere on the
East Coast.If I have to move out of Fair Lawn at this point I wouldn't be too upset.
Check out my resume page and make me an offer I can't refuse.
The following is a (slightly editorialized) log of events relating to the purchase of and subsequent web of municipal hell that accompanied my house in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
The gist of this story is that we bought our house in April 2000, and in February 2002 we learned we were never issued a certificate of occupancy. This is probably due to negligence on the part of the seller that they never followed up with the town on specific code violations that were spelled out to them before closing. In their defense, the sellers definitely leaned towards the flaky side, and this is something that, based on our experience with them and that of our new neighbors, does not surprise us.
Then again, when the Borough I live in has taken almost two full years to realize this, and did not provide me with the information I needed until I physically went to the office on my own time, I think Fair Lawn is at least partially at fault.
It seems that Fair Lawn is more interested in nitpicking on building code than protecting the rights of individuals who choose to purchase a house in the Borough. We love our neighborhood, but we’re appalled that a local government can be so shortsighted to the needs of the people who choose to reside there.
While looking online at houses in Bergen County NJ, we came across a nice-looking 3BR, 1.5BA Colonial w/EIK, lg Fam Rm, and Fin Bsmt in Fair Lawn. We thought it looked nice and came at a decent enough price, so we printed out the listing, along with four or five others we saw that day.
Had first appointment with Hanna, our real estate agent in Bergen County, who showed us the house. We loved it. We decided to put a bid on it. Believe it or not this was the 11th house we saw. This includes 6 in Rockland County (NY) and 5 in NJ.
Our bid was accepted! Yay! Closing date set for April 2000.
Current owners requested to stay in the house until end of June until their younger son graduated from Fair Lawn High School. We said OK, and had our attorney draft a Use and Occupancy Agreement that allowed them to live in the house after the closing, if they placed their proceeds in escrow until they vacated the house on June 30, 2000 – just in case there were any problems with the house caused by them after the closing in April.
Current owners follow borough construction code (!!) and apply for an inspection for Certificate of Compliance.
Some guy from the town did an inspection. Who knew.
The closing … yay! All this meant was that my wife and I had to sign our names a couple of hundred times and wave goodbye to a lot of money. We went out to lunch to celebrate with the money we had left.
Current owners call me to ask if I would extend the Use and Occupancy another couple of weeks. I told them that I’d have my attorney contact theirs, and told my attorney that we already had booked the moving truck.
I took the whole week off so that I could do things to prepare for our move into the house. What did I need to do? Well, we hired a maid service to clean for a couple of hours to rid the house of demons and/or dirt from the previous owners. I painted the main bedroom because it was a horrid shade of puke. I tore wallpaper off the bathroom walls and primed them (thinking I'd paint soon after we moved in...pshaw). I also brought the cat to stay at the house so we could finish packing without him bothering the crap out of us. And we got the chance to watch fireworks in New York City for the last time out our Edgewater window. If there's one thing I'll miss about that apartment, it's that.
Bye bye, rental in Edgewater … hello-o-o Fair Lawn! Very little problem with the moving company, for a change. I won't use them again, but they were pretty much OK. I'll forgive them for cursing out the waterbed, that thing is damn heavy, even empty. And, the sellers get their escrow money back because they left the house in the condition we found it in at the time of the closing. And who didn't we have at the house fixing things? Cable (twice), Phone (three times), PSE&G (just once, I think).
After that first summer, we began work on all the things new homeowners do – making the house our own, instead of just a house we bought from other people. We laid ceramic tile in the entryways and replaced the (very old) front and side doors with brand new ones, we replaced carpet and fixed up a bedroom for our (then 2-year-old) son, we tore out some of the ugly shrubbery in the front of the house, and we were planning work on making a more spacious closet in the master bedroom.
We receive a letter from the Borough of Fair Lawn dated February 4 that states:
"A review of our records indicates that an inspection of your home for the insurance of a Certificate of Compliance was performed on April 12, 2000. At that time, certain repairs were called for; the individual present at the time of inspection was instructed to call the Building Department when repairs were completed, as of the date of this letter no reinspection has been requested and it has come to our attention that the closing has taken place without a Certificate of Compliance being issued.”
What this means, in English, is that we technically shouldn’t be allowed to live in the house that we closed on about 2 years ago and they’re finally getting to checking up on the file. My mouth hits the floor.
My mouth closes, and I take this opportunity to fax the letter to the attorney that did the closing. I tell him to hang tight, and I’ll check things out with the town before we continue discussing this.
I visit the Construction Code Office and learn a lot about my house. It was built in 1930, the rear addition was built in 1967, and a 550 gallon oil tank was decommissioned and buried in early 2000.
I fax all this information to my attorney. He drafts a letter to the seller’s attorney asking for a quick resolution to these matters.
Another letter is sent to the seller’s attorney, after almost a full month with no response from the sellers.
Lou calls me and tells me that the seller’s attorney says the sellers have ignored his request to discuss this matter and provides my attorney with their address and telephone number. He says that he’d contact the town to find out what we can do in the meantime, before we threaten to sue.
A representative from Lou’s office calls me to say that she spoke with the Construction Office, and the town will assess a fine if I don’t apply for these permits this week. I take the time to explain to her that I am working on an hourly basis and will be out money if I don’t show up at work, and reiterate to her that this issue was never addressed upon closing from either side of the closing table. Sandy tells me to keep track of the expenses I incur so that we can present it back if we need to sue.
I got to Town Hall at about 8:45 this morning, and I start explaining why I need permits to the woman at the desk. After I fill out all my information on the permit applications, the Construction Code Officer comes out from his office and starts to chat with me. He says that "all of this could have been solved before closing with a phone call from your attorney" and that "if the sellers were going to lie to us that they didn't know the buyer of the house, how could we check that?" He also told me that I should have a legal leg to stand on if I chose to sue the sellers. If they didn't follow through on their commitment to prep the house for sale in New Jersey (as shown by the request for inspection that they filed), we might have a case. After about 10 minutes of conversation with him, he told me to get a permit for my water heater and he would give me an extension on the paperwork for the deck and hot tub until the end of the month.
Once I got to work (90 minutes late, I'm keeping track), I called Sandy at the attorney's office and told her the situation, and that I'm pretty sure I'll be pursuing a lawsuit against the sellers. I offered her the hot tub -- free! but she declined. <sigh...>
I get my contractor, while he's doing a couple of things in the house, to take a look at the existing deck. He was going to let me know based on my knowledge of code up to this point if the deck could be fixed (retrofitted) or if I would have to build the sucker up again from scratch. In about 20 seconds he started rattling off some of the issues I have. First, there's no concrete in places (!!), let alone 3 feet deep. Then, it's not attached to the house properly. And there's no outside light. And there's no GFI circuit. And it slopes down in the corner we have the grill. Suffice it to say, I was laughing through this. I'm not going to pay for it.
So, I call Lou and I explain this to him. He tells me to get estimates for how much it would cost to retrofit the existing deck vs. build one from scratch. "Okay, whatever you say. I don't know if we're comfortable with it as it stands, but I will get estimates."
Got a call from my attorney saying that they put me on the list for a variance. My response: "Um, don't we need to know if the deck is salvagable?" Lou said that if they approve the work we want to do on the deck with the variance, and we go ahead and do it, we should be in the clear. <stunned silence> I am to expect further information from the town on or about July 1st with regard to paperwork I'll need to do before the variance committee meets on August 5th.
Any thoughts about this project are pushed aside, as our daughter is born on June 17th and I start my new job on June 25th.
Got a call from the town -- I need to come by and pick up the paperwork, of course they won't SEND it to me. I also need to bring $16 to cover the costs of a listing of homeowners and a map of the 200' radius around my home.
I called Sandy again. Being that I'm in Princeton and not about to jeopardize my new job by leaving early, I told Sandy that she would have to arrange the paperwork to be picked up from Fair Lawn. Thankfully, it's not a problem.
This is just funny, I had to share it. Sandy called me at work to let me know they picked up the paperwork, and, to quote, "It's just an application for a variance, that's all." Well, of course. Lou to call me Monday the 15th to discuss. Oy.
Fast forwarding a little bit ... as per Lou I'm getting an estimate to fix the deck without the extra part I'd need the variance to build. It's not worth the hassle. But we're going to need a significant part of the deck reconstructed in order to make this work. I don't care, I'm not paying for it except in antacids.
The estimate was delivered last night. The contractor told me he could start Saturday 9/14 with one third down. Called Sandy and faxed paperwork. I expect a call from Lou next week telling me how high the estimate is, but they're no longer adding, they're subtracting -- they'll be chopping off the extra section of the deck to make it rectangular and they'll be adding new stairs. Maybe the estimate will come in too high, allowing me to replace some of the nasty old boards I have. And maybe weather-seal the deck. What a concept. I don't think it had been done before.
So after I haven’t heard from Lou I thought I'd give him a call the middle of the week and ask if everything’s hunky dory with the check from the title insurance company. Alas, Sandy explained that she had been out on vacation last week and Lou’s out this week, so she isn’t sure of the extent of his knowledge of this latest development. <sigh>
Got through to Lou about getting the one-third check for the contractor. Our quick conversation as follows:
Lou: "Hey, buddy, we're all set."
Ira: "Good, glad to hear it."
Lou: "Just write a check and we'll reimburse you."
Ira: "Well we're talking over a thousand dollars here."
Lou: "Yeah, you have that, right?"
Ira: "Um, I might, I don't know if I have that kind of cash available."
Lou: "Well, then just pay them and we'll cover you as soon as possible."
Ira: "I'll have to doublecheck here."
Lou: "OK, so we're set. Keep me posted. Bye!"
So let me get this straight. I have not been dealing with the title insurance company, and all I know is that they're "taking care of things." I don't have anything signed, sealed, and delievered that keeps me insulated from losing this money. And yet, I'm being asked to lay it out. I don't work that way, sorry. They'll get a call tomorrow.
So I call Sandy and explain to her that I don't have cash to lay out for the deck. Baby formula...prescription...not covered at this time...yeah she's doing OK...yeah we hope to be reimbursed...so we're a little strapped at this moment. I tell Sandy that the contractors are ready to start on 9/14 and I need a check, from where I don't care, for $1100. She said she'd get Lou's OK...wait, he's right there...yeah, OK. See, that wasn't so bad.
Rod the contractor called, "Are we still on for Saturday? I haven't gotten a check yet." I told him I'd check with the lawyer...but as far as I know I'm still expecting them on Saturday.
Julie went to Lou's office to pick up the check, in the amount I asked for. Life is looking up! Now if only I didn't have to spend it on my deck.
Yay! The deck is 90% done! Rod and Steve and a few helpers came over, demolished the junk that we had growing deck-like next to our blue room and created a new, smaller, but improved deck! And Rod chopped up the hot tub to get rid of it too ... it's a VERY good thing. It looks fantastic but it isn't completely done ... they'll be back next weekend to put down a couple more 2x4s, the railing, and the GFI and outside light. And, except for a triangular piece of no grass where there used to be the part of the deck that looked like where Texas juts into Mexico, it looks like we just upgraded! And, in a sense, we did ...
Things to talk to Sandy about:
1. The balance of the $ for the job ... they deserve it fast.
2. Do we need an inspector from the Town? I mean, are they going to give me a C of O now so I can breathe a little better?
To be continued...
Spoke to Sandy, who seems genuinely impressed with the speed of construction and I told her that it's all about the right people getting paid. What I need to do now is have the contractor invoice my attorney for the balance, and then when it's done call the town to have the thing inspected. Better be able to do it without anyone home because I hope Julie will be back at work in 2 weeks. I also hope that Steve and Rod can get the last bits done without the moolah. They laid out all the money for supplies and stuff.
The deck is done! Joy of joys! It looks nice. Maybe I'll put up a picture later. Oh yeah, and everyone's paid. A big plus.
Sandy calls...have I called the town to schedule an inspection? No, no I haven't. I need to, but I'm swamped at work this week, maybe next week. In reality I want to put this off as long as possible because I know they're going to tell me they need something else to give me my CO. I know it, I just know it.
Busy day here! Julie went back to work, Ryan immediately gets a fever so he has to be picked up from school, and I trek back to Fair Lawn from my job down in Princeton to get him. With my day freed up, I call the town. Of course there's a problem. As per the building code office, we didn't just do maintenance on the deck, we built a whole new deck. I told Toni at the town that I'm not going to complain, but we were also told that all we needed to do was remove the hot tub to get our CCO. SO ... I need to get out my sketch pad and draw the deck so that the town can see what we did, although once they see my drawing they will probably be more confused. I also have to spend $102 for a permit, and then and only then will they send out an inspector.
So ... I then called Sandy who sounded a little frustrated. She assumed that the contractor would have known we needed a permit and shouldn't have done his work without figuring that out. I told her, a little snippity, that I don't consider anyone's knowledge of the situation as a given because we've been screwed by everyone since I bought the house and I don't expect that to stop. I know what I know, and that's that I have to keep following up with people to make sure they've taken care of their part of the deal.
Once I get the drawing done (I'm taking my time, I need the creative juices to flow) I'm going to call Sandy back and tell her I'm putting in my bill for 40 hours of work on this whole project at a cost equivalent to my current hourly contracting rate. Because I'm the only one involved with this that is spending time and not getting reimbursed for it. And I've spent more time on this than the lawyer, contractors, and town put together. I'm mad as hell ... and I'm not going to take it anymore!
Ha ha! This one's a knee slapper. I get home from work and there's a "not approved" sticker for electrical work on the table -- Julie fished it out of the mailbox. It turns out someone from the town came to inspect electrical work in the house and couldn't get inside ... so he failed it. Now, this is after the town told me that they would not inspect anything until the proper permits were taken out.
So I called Sandy and told her to call the town, being that I don't want to jeopardize my standing in my job by continuing to do personal work here over the phone. She said she will take care of it. (To be continued...)
Are we having fun yet? I finally got through to Sandy to find out if she's heard anything from the town. She said that she had left a message but it's time for her to call back and get a response. So she calls me back about half an hour later and tells me ... catch this ... there is an outstanding permit for electric work done in 1999 -- 1999 -- and I need to call Ann at the town to discuss it with her directly.
Stop the presses. I tell Sandy that I'm no longer frustrated, I'm angry. It's not bad enough that the town's recordkeeping is such that I was not notified of the closing without a CCO issue for 22 months. Now they're trying to inspect my house for electrical work done before we actually saw the house! And they're telling me it's my problem. I no longer have any interest in making this my problem. I have too much on my personal plate to worry about the problems that were made by everyone involved with our purchase of this house. What I want to do is go to come home from work tonight, open my mailbox, and find a Certificate Of Continued Occupancy for the house I have continued to occupy since July of 2000. I don't care who does it, how they do it or what favors they need to provide to get it done ... I'm not interested in wasting my time on this anymore. I own title insurance. They should do the work.
On that note, I really hope the right people are looking at this page.
Long story short, I need to have somebody home to let the inspectors in to get this taken care of. But it will be both the building inspector and the electrical inspector at the same time, or thereabouts. So I nominate my dad. He doesn't know this yet. But it seems that Lou's taking care of it, we will get the CCO if the deck passes.
So, like, I'm on my way home, and, like, Julie calls me, like, on the cell, and she's all like upset like, and she tells me that, like, Ann from the borough called on the machine and said that they're NOT sending the building inspector because we need a permit, no ifs, ands, or, like, buts. I've had it up to like here. Lou is getting a phone call first thing tomorrow.
I spoke calmly to Sandy. She called me back while I stepped away from my desk, and told me that Lou has had a "heated" convo with both Ann and Tom Van Hook at the building department. I need an answer today, otherwise I'll play the dad card and tell him to stay home.
My dad will be waiting at the house tomorrow morning for the electrical inspector. What he's looking for, what he'll find, what he'll do, I don't know, but it's not my issue, from what I understand. Stay tuned.
Okay, good news and Kafkaesque bad news.
The good news: The deck was approved. I went to the town on Thursday (Halloween) and met with Tom Van Hook. After about half an hour's worth of back and forth, the gist of it was that the deck is fine. And Van Hook viewed it -- with his OWN TWO EYES and WITHOUT A PERMIT! Of course, this is where the bad news starts.
The bad news: The fee currently out of my own pocket was for $253. $53 for the permit and continuing education fee (wondering what they're taught will take place outside of this semi-blog), and $200 for a FINE that was never mentioned to me previously. What's the fine for? Construction without a permit.
Isn't that what brought this about?
So, I'm on the hook for trying to fix what the previous owner did -- and I'm getting a BREAK on the fine because, in the immortal words of Mr. Van Hook, "I don't believe you intentionally tried to hide anything from us, you just didn't know better." What? I tried to let you know at each step of the way what was going to be done. Incredulous at the turn of events, I paid the fine and faxed the paperwork to Lou's office first thing the next morning because I'm supposed to get this money back. But wait, there's more!
Remember the electrical issue that "wasn't my concern" but I had to get my dad to stay at the house? Turns out the inspection failed in two places -- inside, they put in a new box without a permit, and outside they didn't cap the wires properly (?) and so I got a red sticker. Well, this needs to be fixed -- by me, we think -- because it is, as well, holding up the CCO. This is from the mouth of Tom Van Hook, thus it is non-negotiable. But wait! there's more!
After the discussion of the electrical issues (during which my mouth remained open with my lower jaw taking residence on the desk), Mr. Van Hook went through all of the outstanding items in my pre-sale checklist that I thought would be able to be swept under a rug. "Did you ever get those banisters placed? You need them if you have more than three risers. And I noticed you did not have one going up on the driveway side when I saw the deck earlier. Did you ever get the sidewalk fixed? What about that window in the basement that looks rotten? You need all of these fixed before you get a CCO. My people have been going out there, I was the fourth time you had an inspection and we've only been paid for two because of the pre-sale inspection. We will come out there one more time and once only, otherwise the fines start piling up."
I'm calm. Really. Because I can't worry about this crap while I'm worrying about where I'm going to be working when my contract runs out (see below).
Not much new on the house front since November, so there was no real point in updating this page. Happy frickin' New Year.
Oh yeah, and I don't have a job either. Hire me!
But today, Sandy from Lou's office called with "Good News" ... which was that they were willing to have my CO done ... complete ... if I would get an electrician in to fill in a blank spot in the circuit breaker.
STOP THE PRESSES!
If it were THIS easy I would have done that already. But it's not, and I'm developing masochistic tendencies, so I told Sandy that under no circumstances will I do anything by myself (and out of my own pocket) until Fair Lawn sees to it that the electrical issues are fixed.
To this, Sandy says "So you're refusing to do the work, is that correct?"
Me: No, I'm not refusing, I just want the major electrical issues done first.
Sandy: That's refusing.
Me: No, in my mind, refusing is more like a 'I will not under any circumstances do this work.' I'm saying that there's a set of criteria that must be satisfied before this work will be considered. I'm amenable to negotiation.
Sandy: (stage whisper to the pen she's writing with) Homeowner will not yet replace the void in the circuit breaker.
Me: That's better.
I've been told that there was a death in Mr. Van Hook's family, so Sandy will wait a week or so to follow up with him about the latest with my house. I told Sandy that all I have is time.
I believe it was May 25th when an envelope from Lou's office (but not with his name, the previous denizen of the office had his name crossed out) arrived. In it was a signed Certificate of Occupancy. Yeah, it finally got here. Two years and 4 months after the initial communication with the town, it's done. Finished. Finito. Thanks for playing, here's your parting gift. I have to buy a frame.
I'm not going to vent about the fact that Lou never paid the electrician on time, and made me lay out $398.25 that I didn't really have to pay the guy that fixed my circuit breaker. He sent me a check three weeks later, but I was responsible for the bounced check fee in the meantime.
I'm also not going to vent that my wife and I had to get a letter notarized (which is a BIG pain in the ass when we're never together during business hours) that said that the previous owners are vacated of any future responsibilities and the house is now officially "as-is" just so Lou can get the $3500 or so he was to collect from them. I think if I add up everything, the amount should hit $4100 but Lou is at least 15% responsible for this fiasco.
Thanks to everyone who's written me to send condolences, advice, or ask questions of me. I'm flattered people consider me an expert in something. But if I've lived it, I guess it must mean something.
# # #
One more thing: the Thursday before Memorial Day the doorbell rang around 6 p.m. -- it was the younger son of the people that lived here. I went outside and met him on the outside steps.
Him: This might sound weird but I used to live here.
Me: I thought I recognized you, what can I do for you.
Him: Well, I left my driver's license at the bank and they're going
to mail it here, because I still have this address on it.
Me: Okay, what would you like me to do with it?
Him: I go to school in Vermont, could you mail it to me up there?
Me: Sure.
I got the address, I still have the address ... the license has never shown up. I guess I'm wondering why he still has Fair Lawn on his license after 3 years.
# # #
I'm looking for a full time job,
either commutable from Fair Lawn or to relocate somewhere on the
East Coast.
If I have to move out of Fair Lawn at this point I
wouldn't be too upset.
Check out my resume page and make me an offer I can't refuse.
# # #