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    SEP Self Certification Audit Unit Comes to Manhattan - Part II

    This is Part II of a two part article on the SEP Unit. Part I appeared in our last newsletter, and you can read it by clicking here.

    The Professional Self Certification Program was created in the mid 90’s, with the mandate of speeding up the plan approval process. Abuses with the program led to the creation of SEP – the Special Enforcement Plan. The SEP unit launched with the task of responding to alleged abuses by licensed applicants who were prematurely and incorrectly signing off on Professionally Self Certified Directive 14 applications.

    Fast forward to present day, and Self Certification leads to a surprising result – delays. On closer inspection, the entire process is wrought with issues, all pointing to a lack of clarity of roles, responsibilities and process.

    Self Certification sign-offs tend to take longer. Folders transported to the outer boroughs get lost in transit. Unannounced inspectors don’t gain access to sites, wasting time.

    More troubling, SEP inspectors tend to look beyond the scope of work, and start to question and write violations related to existing conditions in a building or property that have nothing to do with the limited work that was done under the Directive 14 application.

    The plan examiners also expand the scope of the filing and start to ask for proof of legality for conditions that are unrelated to the applicant’s work and may predate the owner’s possession of the building or property.

    Inspector’s will issue violations for minor deviations from the plans, such as a reversed door swing or a slight dimensional change to a room size that have no code compliance implications.

    Violations are often written with the applicant as respondent, not the owner.

    As a result, SEP sign off process can take months. An applicant may find himself justifying existing conditions in a building or property that have nothing to do with the limited scope of work he or she was hired for. If there is a delay between the time an applicant performs their final inspection and when paperwork is filed for sign off the applicant may be liable for additional work that may have been done without their knowledge.

    We have dealt with this in the outer boroughs in recent years. Many times we have recommended that applicants do not Self certify their filings. If SEP has now expanded its reach to include Manhattan owners and applicants should think long and hard before self certifying. Plan another two months of lead time to allow for a traditional filing and plan review.

    Posted By Austin Regan

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