Any Architects here or Lawyers involved w Architects (NYC)?

I�m living in the same house for 30 plus years, which is back to back with a Jewish school. I have a space of about 30 feet to the property line, as they do, between my house and the school, so there was always about 50 feet separating by bedroom windows from the school.

School needed to expand and because its cheaper to expand in the width rather than vertically, according to them, they are in the process of extending to their property line (gate dividing both properties) which will now be about 30 feet from my bedroom windows. They say that theyre allowed to do this because theyre a congregation.

Until now Ive heard the screeching and banging noises at 2 am of the cleaning crew moving and dropping desks and other furniture loudly in addition to loud music. Now I will hear it 30 feet closer. This affects my quality of life.

They are building a multi-story extension without a single permit. Totally illegal. According to a lawyer even if they are allowed to build to the property line, they need neighbors permission to do this, in order to get a permit. They never asked or told us anything and went ahead to build without asking us or getting a single permit.

All this devalues my property substantially and my quality of life. My bedrooms are no longer bedrooms with the heavy moving done at all hours, now newly drastically closer to them, all planned and done illegally, without a single permit.

WWYD?

Wow, that's awful! First of all, are your neighbors affected? If they are, you might want to arrange a meeting with them and act as a group. And I would get Rabbinic advice about how to proceed because it's a Jewish school.

I am not an attorney but I see 2 options for you:

Religious: Take them to beis din. Because you are suffering a loss of property value, you may be entitled to compensation -- please speak to someone who knows the halacha here -- I do not.

Secular: Report them to zoning. If they're doing this without permits, they may also be ignoring local codes like neglecting to install required fire sprinkler systems. In any event, without permits they could be forced to take the whole thing down.
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