Homeowners Fight Warrantless Searches

Knock knock? Who’s there? Your worst nightmare, the Buildings Department and he wants to search your home. He isn’t wearing a police uniform. If he was, he would have to produce a search warrant, obtained only with evidence of probable cause of wrongdoing. Think it can’t happen to you? Think again and you have every reason to be afraid.

This is a sweeping trend across America. In financially strapped towns and counties, Building Depts. are sidestepping homeowners’ 4th and 5th Amendment Constitutional rights. Warrantless searches are conducted by building inspectors to find as many violations as possible. Violations include the "Historic review of the property file" which can hold you accountable for work completed on your home that was grandfathered in, done before you purchased it and is documented in building files and on official county property records. Costs can rise to $10,000 or more. Homeowners’ lives are disrupted with short deadlines and court dates. They are put at risk of foreclosure, which would further lower property values. The method being used to increase revenue is a totally unfair and discriminatory backdoor tax.

For example, in NY, North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman has repeatedly cited the revenue generated by the Buildings Dept. in his State of the Town speeches, starting in his 2005 address: "Our daily operations are generating more revenue. Our Buildings Department brought in over $2 million in permit revenue in 2004, while our Code and Building inspectors, with the help of aggressive prosecution from our Town Attorney’s office, has increased fine revenue some 500% over 2003 numbers." This has been such a successful revenue generator, Nassau County has shuttered half the police precincts in the county while hiring at the Building Dept. They are hiring former police, particularly as Commissioner of the Building Dept. The current ad for the position lists qualifications as a minimum of 20 years in law enforcement and a degree in criminal justice, with no experience in architecture or buildings. This explains why homeowners are being treated as law breakers, but without any of the protections law breakers receive, such as the requirement to be provided with legal representation to defend themselves and the need to show probable cause to get a search warrant to search their homes. Please sign this petition to stop these injustices and reform Building Dept. Practices so they stop treating homeowners as lawbreakers and stop issuing violations for grandfathered improvements, which leaves the homeowner needing to pay for a costly legal fight. Don’t let this nightmare happen to you.

For additional information on constitutional rights, grandfather clause, court cases, visit Homeowners FightBack Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003849905305