If a Notice of Violation for the sidewalk has landed on your desk, the first thing worth understanding is that it is not a fine. It is a notice that the Department of Transportation inspected the sidewalk flags in front of your property, found defects, and recorded them against the address.
The sidewalk is the property owner's responsibility
This surprises people every time. The sidewalk is city property, but in New York City the adjoining property owner is responsible for maintaining and repairing it. That responsibility comes with the address, not with you personally, which is why an unresolved violation follows the building into a title search when you sell or refinance.
What the inspector was looking at
DOT inspectors work from a defined list of defects rather than an opinion about how the sidewalk looks. The ones that come up most often are:
- A trip hazard. A vertical difference between two adjacent flags of half an inch or more.
- Cracking. A flag broken into multiple pieces, or cracks wide enough to catch a heel.
- Settlement or heaving. A flag that has dropped or lifted out of level with its neighbours, very often because a street tree root got underneath it.
- Improper slope. The sidewalk should shed water toward the curb. If it pitches back toward the building, that is both a defect and the reason your cellar is damp.
- Patchwork. Asphalt or improvised patching material used in a walking surface.
- Hardware in the walking surface. Cellar doors, plates and gratings that are not flush or not maintained.
The notice will normally identify which flags were cited, which is useful, because it tells you the size of the job before anyone quotes it.
You have to repair it to specification, not just fix it
This is where most of the money gets wasted. A sidewalk flag replaced by someone who pours a slab and floats it smooth will be cited again, because the specification covers more than "new concrete":
- Correct thickness, and a thicker section where vehicles cross it
- Properly excavated and compacted sub-base underneath
- Correct scoring and expansion joints, so the concrete can move without cracking
- The right slope toward the curb
- Finishing and jointing that matches the surrounding walk
The part that decides whether the repair lasts is the part nobody ever sees. If the sub-base is not excavated and compacted properly, the new concrete settles the same way the old concrete did, usually within a couple of winters.
What happens if you ignore it
Nothing, for a while. That is exactly what makes it expensive. An open violation sits against the property, and if the city eventually does the work itself, the cost of that work is billed to the property and can become a lien. Meanwhile, if someone trips on the defect you were notified about, the notice is documentary evidence that you knew.
What to do next
Get the address quoted. A contractor should be able to count the cited flags, look at what is actually causing the failure, and give you a written number. At Best Valana we replace sidewalk flags to DOT specification across all five boroughs, and the estimate is free.
Send us the address and a photo of the notice and we will tell you what you are looking at.
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