New Sherrif In Town
I own a commercial building.
We have a new Fire Official in office.
He has been abusing us for nearly a year.
Twice he sited and fined us for a violation that we appealed. Twice he was defeated.
In the last six months he has inspected our building 4 times. On two of those occasions he entered our building/place of work without authorization, notice or anyone from the business (or property owner) being present.
Our last inspection was in July, we did not receive any results for two months. We called the town, we wrote letters, finally we contacted Community affairs. The following day we received our paperwork with 8 violations. We again went back to Community Affairs and the "State Fire Official" inspected the place himself. All 8 violations were incorrect. They claim it was a "misunderstanding".
I live in New Jersey. What can I do???
Is there any legal recourse to abuse like this.
Your guidance is requested.
I would have your atty send the city atty document what has happened, and let he decide how threatening to be.
I hate to use the word “Discrimination” but it sounds like it may be what you are receiving. Let me explain a little through an example. A while back, when there were parking meters in the town, the guy who ran the barber shop had parked his vehicle by one of the meters and forgot (actually or on purpose??? I don’t know) to pay the meter. The meter maid came around and gave him a ticket (50cents). OK, he accepted that, but in fifteen minutes she came around again and gave him another ticket (another 50 cents). He took it to city court, claiming discrimination because she had not had time to make all her rounds. He claimed she was discriminating against the businesses in the downtown area and not checking the outlying areas, not giving a fair and equal treatment to all the meters. Another thought I have along this line. Our city ordinances say the building inspector MUST check ALL public building every six months. How many public buildings do you have in your town; has the inspector inspected all of them. If not then why?? If you can keep him busy bothering others then he won’t have time to bother you. Go and learn your city ordinances and you may solve your problems.
Try a Google search on "selective enforcement" the concept is that even if you are breaking the law you cannot be singled out for enforcement if MANY other people are breaking the same law and the government is not enforcing against any of them. But it is very tricky to prove.
File an abuse of powers action. Inform your attorney upfront that your goal is not to go to trial but rather to seek injunctive relief; this will keep your cost down. Usually, if your petition is toothy enough and you are in the right, the town will stipulate in some manner and you have it resolved within 30 days... But keep in mind, I am very aggressive when I run into similar situations. It will stop it though. Send the message that you mean business.[ Edited by leopanelli on Date 09/23/2008 ]
Thank you for your replies.
As stated in the original post, the state came in and said that all 8 violations were not applicable to my building. They also stated that this should all be put in writing to keep everybody up to date.
Well, that was one week ago. I went to the town to follow up on the
"clarification" paperwork. Nothing!
But the town did follow up that morning by closing one of my tenants business down stating occupancy limits. Nothing on the other violations. Currently I have a Temporary CO on that building.
I refuse to pull my hair out, but I am close.
Here is a site that will automatically from the website allow you to send a message to your senators and representative, based on your zip code.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
enter your zip
select one of the politician
then select contact above and to the right of the picture.
This is the template that I sent, fell free to use it or draft your own.
As a small business owner, I urge you to ensure that the small business sector is not left out of the proposed $700B bailout of the financial sector.
I would hope to see a Small Business Advocacy and Small Business Ombudsman Department and perhaps even a set-aside amount that small businesses would have a fair and equal chance to participate in the recovery, allowing the recovery fund to reenter the economy at a grass-roots level, rather than lining the pockets of big business.
I hope you understand and agree with the value of such a requirement being included in the recovery program.
As a small business owner, I urge you to ensure that the small business sector is not left out of the proposed $700B bailout of the financial sector.
I would hope to see a Small Business Advocacy and Small Business Ombudsman Department and perhaps even a set-aside amount that small businesses would have a fair and equal chance to participate in the recovery, allowing the recovery fund to reenter the economy at a grass-roots level, rather than lining the pockets of big business.
[ Edited by cjmazur on Date 09/22/2008 ]
[ Edited by cjmazur on Date 09/22/2008 ][ Edited by cjmazur on Date 09/22/2008 ]
I had the thought of a moratorium on forclosures.
If the Treasury dept buys a loan at 50/100, they could do a loan modification and take the borrower out of default/foreclosure and turn it into a performing note
Quote: That better NOT happen, or i myself will jump back into politics, feef first, and make damn sure the elected officials responsible get what he/she deserves.
That is exactly what is going to happen and the "elected official" who will most assuredly NOT going to get what he deserves is Paulson who, at least in the first draft of this bill is granted immunity in advance for any decision he makes in the matter. The reason "elected official" in the above sentence is in quotes is that Paulson, of course, is not elected.
How is this fair or equitable, to the the point of my "let small business participate.
"Washington Mutual Inc was closed by the U.S. government in by far the largest failure of a U.S. bank, and its banking assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.9 billion"
"Washington Mutual has about $307 billion of assets and $188 billion of deposits, regulators said."
Thats paying 1.0106% of the assets current value.
WOW I wish I could get a deal like that.
Quote:
On 2008-09-26 09:46, cjmazur wrote:
"Washington Mutual has about $307 billion of assets and $188 billion of deposits, regulators said."
Thats paying 1.0106% of the assets current value.
As I understand the arrangement, JP Morgan Chase is buying part of WAMU (assets, deposits and some liabilities). The company is not buying any equity, preferred equity, senior debt, or subordinated debt -- so, "bailout" is likely a misnomer.
I am sure that JP Morgan is getting a deal, but I think they are probably paying more than one penny on the dollar.[ Edited by NewKidInTown3 on Date 09/26/2008 ]
if you can believe the news...
what good is stock and bond, if no assets in corp?
From: http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2008/09/22/daily38.html
Washington Mutual shareholders — including Texas private equity firm TPG, which led a $7 billion cash infusion for WaMu — were essentially wiped out as a result of this week’s events. The company’s shares were down to 16 cents in Friday trading, a stunning descent from WaMu’s 52-week high of $36.47.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) paid $1.9 billion to the FDIC to acquire WaMu’s deposits, branches and a loan portfolio valued at $176 billion.
cj, the price of stock is .16c, because they sold the assets. You are correct that the stock and bonds are currently worthless.
But it wasnt the bad loans that killed the bank, it was the paranoid mom and pops taking out every dime, even though it was clearly insured for $100,000. Simple misunderstanding, thats why the bank failed.
Now...on another point....
"JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) paid $1.9 billion to the FDIC to acquire WaMu’s deposits, branches and a loan portfolio valued at $176 billion."
Does seem fishy that a billion dollar deal could be made in 5 days. It would take me 5 wks to analyze a 5 million dollar deal, if someone asked me to put money into it. Just seems fishy that they were johney on the spot with the buy out cash.
what the pro/con trend here?
Did you think the bail out was good / bad and why?
This is the 1st "industry analyst" perspective that I have seen.
WHAT THE TREASURY PLAN MEANS TO COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
http://cbremarketing.com/ve/ZZxK28TW667184BuxB/VT=0/stype=dload/OID=108926135729380
Quote: But it wasnt the bad loans that killed the bank, it was the paranoid mom and pops taking out every dime, even though it was clearly insured for $100,000. Simple misunderstanding, thats why the bank failed.
The FDIC has only $50 Billion to insure $1 Trillion worth of assets.
Moms and Pops have the right to be paranoid.
http://tinyurl.com/67ouvf
What are you attempting to do with a land trust?
I would like to put the personal property that I live in, in a Land trust. I would also like to use it as a tool for buying/selling real estate as well as holding RE.
For personal property, you would use a living trust. The land trust commonly used in real estate dealing (buying/selling RE) and investing, so that the title is somewhat hidden in the name of the trust. The beneficiary would be the entity used for the aquiring the property.
There are different ways of going about it depending on your exit strategy.
Quote:
On 2008-10-06 08:25, honii wrote:
I would like to put the personal property that I live in, in a Land trust. I would also like to use it as a tool for buying/selling real estate as well as holding RE.
If YOU get sued, the opposing attorney will depose YOU. I am sure one of the standard questions that will be asked is if you are the beneficiay of any trusts.
If they have already discovered your trust, then your beneficiary status is already uncovered.
Sorry to hear that you passed on 2 legit offers for $500. But thats all they owe you, Im guessing those offers were also weak, thats why you passed.
The real estate law will tell you that u must return the $500. But use common sense... dont return the funds, they shouldnt get out of the contract without costs.
I did this once before on a home sell, i wouldnt sign the escrow release. The realtor wouldnt release it to me or them. I think the realtor ended up keeping the $750 after a year, because i certainly wouldnt sign to release it, they never sued...so that was that.
do what you need to do...i wouldnt give them the $500 back, if u want my opinion.
I do most of my own title searches back to the deed when the property was purchased by the current owner. When buying at the Courthouse, that is usually sufficient. But when I put money down on a property, I usually order a title search.
The problem is that my title search can only go back to 1988 because our public access record system only goes back that far.
But when I sell a property a 30-year title search is required. To get title insurance, the chain of title for 30 years must be clean.
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Thank you so much...I am so glad I found this website today. Have a good night.
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title insurance is so cheap, why take the risk, if you miss a lien,then it is you who will pay, not the title company. it is fine to do your own,I have on many occasions, but, I always pay for a title search and title insurance, unless your at the courthouse then everything is wiped clean by foreclosure except our buddies the IRS, and they are wiped after 120 or 180 days.
good luck
Title searches are a legal scam, they are unnecessary in many cases. Electronic title records date back over 25 yrs in most large cities...i.e. it takes about 5 mins. The charge for the "insurance" does not align with the "risk". Although im sure it happens once in every 10,000 home closings. I have never heard of a title company "paying" for some claim they missed. I.e. its about 99% profit business...just admin expenses and i guess bribes to state politicians keep the insurance "high". This really should cost $150, but they get $1000 or more in most cases...
That is what I assumed. I figure, if I can see the same stuff ONLINE and at the COURT HOUSE that the title company sees when it searches...than really there isnt that much point of a title search UNLESS you dont have time to properly and diligently research each property....which I do have TIME, so I will rely on my research.
Besides, I do tax deed auctions and as soon as I buy, I sell to a wholesaler...so title insurance is not a concern of mine.
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lol....thank you for your help. I figured the courthouse has everything I need to know!
Well you can get your title searches, and in some cases like my own I will get the title search done one of the reps that works for or owns the title company at a cheaper price if I do it thru there office.
Ex-Title Company owner allows me option to get a quick search done for $65, or have it done in his office for $200
Or I can do it myself, the downside is that you are better off leaving it professionals, and that when have a contract with earnest money held in escrow, the title company will charge you with the title search upfront anyway, this is one thing many courses do not tell you when you are assigning contracts as a real estate contract dealer.