Stairway to Heaven
Three weeks ago I spent an entire day in a North Shore single family home where the buyer was demanding that the seller repurchase the property. The main topic of examination and cross examination involved the installation of three flights of stairs in the new building. First, some background:
The house was sold in the height of the real estate bubble and we all know what happened to that. In addition, so much water was discovered in the home which was entering through the roof, the foundation, the stone work, and other areas, that the house was unable to dry out between 2 inspections completed with more than 1 month between them. Mold was beginning to develop and the home buyer lost interest. The Northwestern Code Department, noted their objection to the poorly designed stairs in the blueprint. Over a year later, the blueprint complaint was still in place yet the stairs were not built to compliance with the code.
The arbitrator on the site spent most of his time asking me questions about the cost of changing these stairs to what would be code approved. It was my opinion that should the stairs be done over again, someone was going to be out of pocket up to $30,000 or more.
What’s the real world problem? Other than the code violation, if someone tripped going up or down the stairs the insurance company would not have to cover the claim if the stairs where not code complaint.
After inspecting hundreds of new homes I have discovered that most contractors do not follow the code requirements for the installation of new stairs. In the case of this North Shore home the contractor’s neglect resulted in hazardous staircases that the City could force the new homeowner to change even though the problem came from the developer. The ruling in the arbitration is still up in the air yet it appears as if my client has a good shot at wining.