Dealing with municipal closings due to Coronavirus.

[Kyle Altenau]

I have a multifamily property in Asbury Park, NJ. I have one vacancy that I luckily got an application on last week before things started getting really crazy. Unfortunately the tenant didn't actually sign the lease until Monday, so we couldn't call for the CO inspection until then. By this time, all inspections were halted. So I figured they'd offer a temporary CO in the meantime. Basically they said, no move ins without CO's and no CO's are happening. 

My business partner also owns a construction company. He has several projects that are halted because he can't get inspections done. 

I assume other people are facing similar problems.

Has anyone experienced their local governments coming up with creative solutions to these issues? I'd like to go back to the city with some ideas on how to solve this while still respecting public health. The only thing I could think of was making Skype appointments or something similar to walk inspectors through the property, but I think that'd be incredibly difficult for the inspector to fully do their job. But maybe they could do it just as a temporary CO until things get better. 

[Michael Evans]

As a General contractor, I have had to deal with many different cities and building inspectors. So here is my take; building inspectors do not accept anything without visual on the job inspections. They do not accept photos. They have been trained to trust but verify. Too many contractors and superintendents have tried to fudge (cheat and lie) to them about things that they hope the inspectors won't catch. The days of "drive by" inspections are over.

Don't even think about proceeding with any work until you have written approval from your inspector. That means make sure you have your job card signed off before you cover anything up.

Good luck