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Brooklyn Woman: Buildings Department Ignored Complaints About Construction Damage

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- A woman in Brooklyn said the Department of Buildings ignored her for a year, and she's concerned that her home isn't safe to live in.

She said the walls in her Bed Stuy home continue cracking due to construction happening next door.

"See the cracks in the wall, the cracks, you notice the cracks coming right down," Elgin Elias said to CBS2's Raegan Medgie.

The cracks are on every shared wall with the house next door that's under construction.

Elias said the cracks started in January 2014, when construction began.

She said she called the Department of Buildings immediately, but not until a year later did they come to inspect.

"Do you know how much shifting this house has to go through for this to happen, and they don't even care," she said.

Elias showed CBS2 a list of the times that she has called the Department of Buildings since 2014, and said she feels they ignored her.

She then took matters into hr own hands and hired engineers to inspect her home.

Reports from two different engineers said the home has suffered structural damage from the construction, and should be fixed immediately.

According to the woman's lawyer, the Buildings Department was slow to respond, and Elias was forced to take the construction company 'M Remodeling Corp' to court to fix the damage.

"DOB inspected the construction site in July of 2015. A full stop work order was issued, along with violations. the department has not received any additional complaints concerning the construction work," the department said.

Elias said she continued reaching out to the DOB because the cracks were getting bigger.

"This is my home. This is my castle. This is my castle," Elias said.

A spokesperson with the Department of Buildings said they have no record of her construction complaints after that date.

Now, Elias is left with cracks along her walls that continue to grow.

CBS2 called the construction company M-Remodeling Corp several times, but nobody answered the phone.

 

 

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