By Mario Aurioso Effective March 15, 2018, applicants for Master or Special Electrician licenses will not receive their license or renewal if they owe civil penalties. This change complies with Local Law 47 of 2016. The licensing hold applies to penalties imposed by the NYC Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings/Environmental… View more
By Renee Sosnowski Effective December 28, 2017, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has increased the civil penalties for Work Without a Permit violations. For one- or two- family dwellings, the penalty has increased to six times the filing fee. The minimum penalty is $600, and the maximum penalty… View more
By Renee Sosnowski Did you know that New York City offers a violation penalty settlement program for defaulted and docketed violations that have not yet gone into collections? The program is managed by the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), formerly known as the Environmental Control Board (ECB). OATH: Upholding… View more
By Renee Sosnowski Effective Wednesday, May 10, 2017, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has let NYC expediters know that it’s adopted a new Buildings Penalties Schedule. Rule Relocation The new rule relocates the DOB Penalty Schedule from the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Environmental Control Board (OATH… View more
By Renee Sosnowski For many building owners and property managers, violations only become a concern when considering either a sale or a purchase. Prospective buyers perform due diligence to avoid unpleasant surprises, and sellers often choose to clear violations on their own, rather than place large sums of money in escrow… View more
By Brian Lafferty After a year of site accidents, the City is taking action. The DOB has issued 4,580 Stop Work Orders in the first six months 2016, a year over year increase of 23%. Just two years ago, the number for the same period of time was merely 2,701. As… View more
By Renee Sosnowski The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings Environmental Control Board (OATH ECB) has some adopted Rule updates, and proposed Rule updates. Adopted OATH ECB Rule 4/15/16 Effective 4/15/16 a separate modification was made to the ECB DOB penalty schedule which added two new infractions and amended three existing… View more