Description

The house next door to mine (57 South...we are 55) has been undergoing renovation for months and the demolition phase has left the building basically open and freezing, as well as putting multiple holes through the party wall through to my downstairs apartment letting cold air, dirt and debris and even daylight! There are other parts where my floor is falling away from the baseboard for feet at a time through which wind and dirt are flowing freely. I can clearly see into the demolished building next door through the holes and the apartment is obviously cold and smells overwhelmingly like dirt. We have been enduring literally months (why is this taking so so long?) of daily cleaning of pervasive gritty and smelly construction dust that gets in to our drawers and cabinets and on the plates and the food and my kid's toys, clothes in closets...everything, but that's not really the problem...but the holes. The last recent cold snap (12/29/18) sent the temp down there colder than the heat could handle. As a result the pipes froze for both my tenant and I. We were away for the holidays at the time. Tenant had to leave apartment. I paid a plumber to replace pipe to get water back for tenant. I've attempted through the contractor (Neil Pradhanang...201.481.6000.) and the owner (Paul Jones...818.264.8803.) to do something to block or insulate the holes a bit so my tenant can live there and the pipes not freeze again and even after saying they would do something, nothing has been done except adding to the holes. Temps this weekend are supposed to be well below freezing and everything on the other side is still totally exposed. I brought multiple heaters into the apartment to try to combat the situation. The owner contacted me about setting up a meeting with their contractor to talk about "my issues" sometime this weekend. Just yesterday a STOP WORK sticker has been attached to the door. My wife feels that at this point a private meeting with them is of no benefit to us in this situation since the contractor has been let's say not nice to us via texts concerning the issues. In addition to his manner and bad language repeatedly denies any blame or fault for putting the holes through. She feels pressured by this proposed meet up and doesn't want me to do it. I attached a pic showing one hole but multiple pictures would be needed. Please, what can we do in all of this? Your time and consideration are much appreciated.