Mayor’s Office
Sept. 11, 2019 By Allie Griffin
Homeowners will no longer be penalized for sidewalk damage caused by city trees, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
Previously if a sidewalk in front of a home was damaged by a tree’s roots, the homeowner would be notified by the city and a lien would be issued against the property. The lien would prevent the owner from selling or refinancing a home until the sidewalk was repaired.
Many homeowners with this issue had to pay private contractors out of pocket to get the sidewalks fixed in a timely matter. While the city would make the repairs without cost to the homeowner, often it would take too long before the repairs were made.
Therefore, those trying to sell their homes with a lien were often forced to pay contractors to get the problem squared away.
There are about 50,000 existing broken sidewalk violations currently and the Department of Transportation will review each one to determine if the damage was caused solely by street trees and will then cancel the liens for any that meet the criteria.
The change in policy specifically provides relief to the owners of one, two and three family properties where there is sidewalk damage caused solely by city trees.
The DOT and the Parks Department will continue to inspect for dangerous sidewalk conditions, but the city, not the homeowner will be responsible for fixing them if they are exclusively tree-related, according to the announcement.
Thanks to the announcement, homeowners will be able to sell their homes without having to deal with the city should an adjacent sidewalk be damaged by a tree. However, those who have paid contractors to do the work in the past will not be compensated by the city, the mayor said.
“For nearly six years my office has fielded relentless complaints about liens placed on homes because of a sidewalk cracked by City tree roots,” Council Member Costa Constantinides said. “I’m glad to see today that a bad status quo is changing and the government is taking ownership where it should have all along.”
The city also pledged to speed up its sidewalk repair program to address 5,500 high priority sites over the next three years.
In June, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer found that it took more than a year or 419 days on average for the Parks Department to fix a tree-damaged sidewalk after it was inspected in an audit of the agency.
According to the mayor’s office, the Parks Department will repair the more than 5,000 damages sites by the end of FY ‘22 and within the year following, the worst sidewalk conditions caused by street trees will be repaired.
“Our more than 650,000 street trees are a tremendous resource to the city, but over the decades root growth has caused conflicts on our city’s sidewalks,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP.
“Our plan to repair all backlogged sites over the next three years, combined with new policies around sidewalk violations, will ensure that trees remain a boon to New Yorkers and not a burden.”
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11 Comments
What about when the tree roots ruin your water and sewer lines to the house? Homeowners are responsible for it even though the damage many times comes from tree roots from the sidewalk area. Its big problem for homeowners and very expensive to repair. I had an electrical problem from the outside (electrical wires that come into the house deteriorated due to snow, ice, salt, etc) and Con Ed repaired it with no charge. The city should be responsible for repairing outside sewer and water lines that come into the house if the damaged is caused by tree roots.
In the meantime if someone trips and falls because of the broken sidewalk due to tree roots , who would they sue if they are injured, The City..?
This isnt an issue a lot of our Queens reviewers talk about, but if it is for you make sure your voice is heard at gohomeny.com! NYC apartment reviews for renters, owners, and anyone else interested in NYC real estate
Long overdue. City trees need more TLC.
Now if we could only get the dog walkers to curb their dogs rather than peeing on the trees.
The smell of old urine is horrendous by the trees. My building superintendent is constantly watering it down to try to get rid of the smell.
A lot has to do with all the vaping that is making people and trees sick around here.
The city has more sidewalk and curb violations than all of the homeowners in all of the 5 boroughs! I work downtown and there are loose blocks of concrete at the crosswalk corners and intersections have potholes! Fine the city. Where are the millions if not billions of dollars from DOT tickets for Muni meters, expired inspections and registrations going? All of these b.s. PA, FL, NC and other out of state plates should be ticketed until the drivers prove they really live there.
I cant stand the Amtrak under pass throughout the Ditmars area. Most are dirty, full of debris and dumping grounds for old electronics and furniture. Some have turned into housing for the homeless. All complaints to 311 fail because they have no one to ticket. Can’t wait to move out. The train noise in unbearable! Never trust local Realtors! They told me its quiet and seldom runs only during the day (which is nonsense). My dogs cant sleep and it frightening when the floors shake.
Who moves next to a train a expects quiet. And you believe the reality saying the train seldom runs. I have a bridge to buy if your interested
Crackdown on the auto owners who deface their plates to avoid paying tolls. I agree your car should be registered in your legal place of residence. Although not illegal insurance companies frown upon this practice. At one time Albany had pushed to make the practice illegal.
City plants the tree on the city sidewalk – it roots cracks the side walk and homeowners required to repair . What a load of horse manure . I could never understand this but GLAD to hear city is finally taking responsibility .