The Knock on the Door
Restoration firms monitor fire calls and arrive quickly, sometimes within hours. Much of what they do is legitimate and useful, and speed genuinely matters for securing a building.
What causes trouble is a large payment made before a scope has been established, on a day when the owner is not in a position to evaluate anything. The framework is on our page covering the trust and the records.
What Should I Sign in the First 48 Hours?
What the Trust Does to a Contractor
The point owners rarely know. Funds received by a contractor under or in connection with a contract for an improvement of real property constitute assets of a trust, and the contractor is the trustee.
Under section 79-a(1)(b), a trustee who applies trust funds for a purpose other than the trust purposes is guilty of larceny and punishable as provided in the penal law where the funds were received as contractor or subcontractor and the trustee fails to pay a trust claim within thirty-one days of when it is due. New York courts have repeatedly held that failure to keep the required books and records is presumptive evidence of diversion.
Does That Help Me If My Contractor Disappears?
We publish no assessments of any contractor, contract or trust position. A New York lawyer is the right reader for a restoration agreement or a dispute about one.
Historic Character Raises the Scope
Much of the housing across Corn Hill and the South Wedge is old and architecturally distinctive, and a repair that respects it costs more than a repair that does not. That raises the payout and therefore the size of the trust.
It also means more trades and more suppliers, which means more potential beneficiaries and more reason to hold lien waivers as payments are made.
Values Increasingly Support Repairing
Finished values in these neighbourhoods now carry the cost of repair on much of the sound stock, which makes repairing better than selling more often than it used to be. We would rather say so than compete for a file we should lose.
The South Wedge in Context
Where the arithmetic is tightest, see our page about the northeast and northwest. Where payouts are largest, see our page for the inner suburbs.
The Provisions That Reach a Contractor
Article 3-A of the Lien Law, sections 70 to 79-a, makes funds received by a contractor trust assets under section 70(1) and (6). Section 75 requires books and records and section 75(4) makes their absence presumptive evidence of diversion.
Section 79-a(1)(b) makes diversion larceny where a trust claim goes unpaid for more than 31 days, and section 76 gives beneficiaries a right to examine records after 30 days.
South Wedge Questions
A Firm Turned up the Same Night.
Emergency make-safe work is a real need. Contract for that alone and keep the larger agreement for a day when you can read it.
My Contractor Took a Draw and Stopped.
Take it to a New York lawyer. The trust provisions run against the party holding the funds and the position is stronger than most owners assume.
Will You Buy in Corn Hill or Swillburg?
Yes, and on sound stock at current values we will frequently tell you repairing beats selling.