scaffolding - do i have any recourse

Satsu,

Unfortunately I believe you have no recourse.

I agree with Primer,however you might want to try a more reliable source for your info than the doorman.The managing agent,board pres. or building super/res. manager would probably have a better timeline for the repairs.

I would write a formal letter to the board and managing agent and request that the work be expedited as you do not have any light. There is no reason for the work to take this long if the coop has the money. You can also reach out to board president and check nicely for the reason and expected completion.

Do this first: You can also reach out to board president and check nicely for the reason and expected completion.

It is likely your building has more exterior problems than the neighboring buildings, hence the longer time-frame. That said, I'm surprised mgmt and/or the board never sent out a notice about the work and its expected length. There really is no recourse, as others have already said, because it is city law that buildings take the necessary steps to repair exterior brick work as needed to prevent injury to pedestrians from falling debris. Hence Local Law 11. Two years DOES seem like quite a stretch of time, though. Do check with your board and managing agent.

Thanks. Appreciate all the responses. I get it that this is work that needs to be done (correctly) and I'm guessing my building does have more exterior problems than the other buildings in my area but what makes me crazy is all the times when I would see construction guys working away at the other buildings but at my building there is no one doing anything. My super hasn't been all that helpful. I'll follow up with my board. Thank you.

I think it is amazing that your building (managing agent or co-op president) doesn't see fit to provide residents with all relevant information, How could they ever overlook doing so?

There is a disconnect here. Either the board is oddly not communicating with shareholders about the project or you may have missed communications. Annual meetings are very important for obtaining info on these types of projects. Others have suggested other means above. Realize that the presense of scaffold doesnt mean work is underway. As soon as an inspection reveals problems, up goes a scaffold by law. Ten the job is bid to engineers to come up with scope of work proposals. Then those proposals are bid to contractors. Then prep work is done and finaly the core work begins. If materials need special order, it may not be clear how much material is needed until some demolition has occurred. If more extensive or different damage than thought is discovered, it may require a delay to adjust the plan, get more funding, secure the proper materials.... I seriously doubt your coop likes paying for all that scaffold longer than necessary. It is expensive. So while inconvenient, it is necessary or yourbuilding will dteriorate. Two Fifth Ave has had scaffolding up for 4 years as they grappled with a dire facade problem and now replace every brick. My old coop with a terracotta facade had scaffold for 2.5 years as the board dealt with the discovery that water had infiltratedthe facade and coroded structural elements. Preserving the building appearance and correcting the problem and funding the enormous expense took time to figure out.

Because of the hassle and expense of local law projects mandated by the city, i alwaysstrongly encourage buyers to get answers on where exactly the building is in terms of compliance with the last and latest cycles. For some reason no one ever does though. And when the scaffolds go up and special assessments start coming, lots of people cry foul although there really is most often no bad guy to blame.