Owning a condo or co-op in New York City involves a lot of responsibilities, which includes building maintenance. It’s likely that you are already a proud board member or property owner in New York City, or you are hoping to join one, and you are grappling with a variety of local building codes and laws. One of the frequently encountered ones is The Facade Inspection Safety Program, also known as Local Law 11. But, what is Local Law 11 and how does it affect you personally? In short, Local Law 11 governs how often facade inspections must be performed on structures that are taller than six stories.
What is Local Law 11?
New York City is well known for its distinctive skyline, which is packed with tall buildings, including architectural icons like the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Currently, the inspection procedures outlined in Local Law 11 apply to around 14,000 of those buildings. This regulation, which is at present is known as the Facade Inspection Safety Program (FISP), requires six storied and the buildings taller buildings to undergo an inspection of their appurtenances and facade done once in five years.
Local codes define a facade as the outside windows and walls of a building. This also includes the building’s front and also the sides that face a sidewalk or street that is frequently used by pedestrians. All external fixtures, flagpoles, signs, copings, parapets, guard rails, window frames, window air conditioning units, flower boxes, and enclosures around balconies are considered part of the building’s facade.
Why is it so important?
In 1980, a large chunk of wall fell from the wall of an Upper West Side building and killed a college freshman. After the incident, there was debate about how to reduce the safety hazards that crumbling facades present, and eventually Local Law 10 was passed. When the authorities realized that more needs to be done to ensure pedestrian safety after the Madison Avenue incident, which collapsed partially, this city ordinance was expanded in 1998 by Local Law 11, in which stricter inspection requirements were included.
Prior to Local Law 11, inspection was only required for the front side facade and all side walls that were up to 24 feet rising from the street. Unless a building was 12 inches or less away from an adjacent construction, the new statute required a physical inspection from scaffolding on all four sides of the structure. Moreover, it changed the way the reports were categorized, replacing the ambiguous “fail” or “pass” with the less confusing terms like “safe,” “unsafe,” or “safe with a repair and maintenance program.” Local Law 11/FISP repair was passed to ensure that possible risks resulting from deteriorating structures are promptly addressed and fixed. FISP was passed to improve the facade repair initiative’s overall efficacy and raise everyone’s level of safety in New York City.
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