NEW YORK CITY – Inspection requirements and penalties for building exteriors in New York City could grow stricter and cost big fines for property owners under an update to Local Law 11 beginning this February, which requires hands-on inspections of all facades for buildings six stories or taller. Under the legislation, an estimated 13,000 buildings across the city will require the inspection.

"As New York City's building stock continues to age the threat of additional accidents continues to increase," Jeffrey Reich, partner at Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas, tells GlobeSt.com. "Property owners should anticipate requirements for greater diligence on façade maintenance, including more detailed inspections, more frequent inspections, more costly violation assessments and greater liability for failures to execute inspections and repairs."

Under Local Law 11, owners of affected properties must inspect exteriors every five years, and also must file a technical report on the condition of the facade. In February, inspection requirements will tighten further, with more extensive inspections, probe investigations, increased penalties and a new $2,000 penalty for failure to correct conditions.

The legislation has evolved since its enactment in 1980, following a fatal accident where a falling piece of masonry struck a young woman on the Upper West Side. As a result, New York passed Local Law 10, mandating periodic inspections of building exteriors for properties six stories or taller. In 1998, after another incident, Local Law 10 was replaced with Local Law 11, which now requires hands-on inspections of all facades at buildings that are six stories or taller.

Inspection requirements and penalties could also grow stricter on top of what is to come next month after a pedestrian was recently killed by a piece of masonry falling from a Manhattan building at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 49th Street. The building previously had been fined by the city for facade safety violations citing "damaged terra cotta" creating a pedestrian hazard. Plans for facade work had been approved by the city, but there was not a sidewalk shed in place at the time of the accident.

Instant Insights /

Stricter Rules on Facade Conditions Emerge as Top Landlord Concern

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