How To Navigate the Approval Process

First things first. Ask for the set of architectural and engineering plans. You want to see the extent and complexities of the project. If your neighbor needs to go below your building for excavation work and intends to put in underpinning or tiebacks, you want to know that ahead of time. You also want to see how high up the project extends, whether it’s coming to your lot line and what protections are going to be put in place. And those plans have to be the final ones approved by the Department of Buildings, because they can change at any time.  

Next step. Have your own professionals go over the plans to see how your building will be impacted. As for fees, the general rule of thumb is that the party performing the work pays your engineering, architectural and legal fees. Determining a reasonable fee depends upon the complexity of access requirements, the risks posed by the project and the intricacies of drafting the access agreement with your neighbor.

Don’t forget. Projects get stalled all the time, so you want to require that the building doing the work deposit money in an escrow account that can be drawn from as you incur costs. You also need to draw a line in the sand as to when this money will be released. If the project next door gets delayed for a month, a year or whatever, the people on the other side certainly don’t want to write any checks because they’re probably losing money. There are certain terms that can be negotiated for the release, but there should always be money put up in escrow.