Posted on 11/12/2022 3:10:08 PM PST by grundle
Something about New York’s legal system doesn’t seem right to Joseph Riccardi, who is jailed because he won’t spend up to $500,000 to meet the demands of his Staten Island condo board.
“There are people committing serious crimes who don’t even have to post bail and are free,” Riccardi told the Daily News. “Yet, I’m on Rikers? It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
“I’m a 57-year-old grandfather, worked 35 years in the finance industry,” an exasperated Riccardi said. “I haven’t got a parking ticket in 20 years. I’ve never so much as sat in a police car.”
Riccardi, a foreign currency trader, began his most recent Rikers Island stretch Oct. 24, and expects to be released Dec. 28.
His trouble is rooted in a years-long legal feud with the board of Ocean View Tower, a condo on the far northern end of Hylan Blvd. in Rosebank, near New York Harbor and across the street from the historic Alice Austen House.
In 2006, Riccardi bought a 14th-floor penthouse in the building for nearly $1 million.
At some point after the building went up in 1989, someone added to the size of the penthouse, the building’s board says. A lawsuit says the addition “exclusively used certain portions of the roof” and is in violation of the city’s building code.
Riccardi said he learned that the 1,500-square-foot rooftop addition was completed by a previous owner, though one architect later told him the space was in fact part of the building’s original construction.
Howard File, a lawyer for Ocean View, doesn’t dispute Riccardi’s claim that he didn’t build on the condo’s roof — but says it doesn’t matter. Under the building’s bylaws, Ocean View says, Riccardi is responsible for fixing the situation.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Never buy a condo.
He spent $425,000 and owes another $100,000 fighting a requirement to make a $300,000 to $500,000 repair? And he made his money in finance?
Aside from somebody saying so, why is he responsible for a unit that isn’t his?
never buy a condo, live in a HOA or a liberal state
Thats the point. He owns the condo. He claims either the prior owner made the roof changes, and one architect he talked to said its part of the original building plans. The condo association says we don’t care who made the changes, you are the current owner so we’re demanding you pay for changes.
Yes but I don’t understand why he went to jail unless he is being held in contempt of a court order and no I did not read the complete article, this is FR you know.
I’ve owned,or co-owned,four piece of residential real estate in my life...the most recent being a condo,the only condo I’ve ever owned. The nightmare of dealing with the Chairman of the Board,whose father-in-law owns about a quarter of the units,has been an eye opener. He’s a guy you’d expect to meet in Harlem,the south side of Chicago,or East LA but not in my middle class suburb.
I can’t say what I really think.
Right. Buy your own detached home in a good neighborhood. If it’s a small home, okay. Make do. It’s your house, on your property. You answer to no one except the tax man. If you want to put a pink flamingo or two on your front lawn, go right ahead. No one can stop you.
Oh, and here’s a picture my front yard.
There is no justice in the United States.
(I can’t say what I really think.)
Buy a house in the Philippines?
😜😋😆😃
I’m at our house now....
There should be building permits and probably construction contracts and checks recorded.
There is no justice in this life. I’m sorry you had to find out this way.
We have turkeys that occasionally wander through the yard.
I should buy a fake pink turkey and plant it in the yard.
There’s only as much Justice as you can pay for.
No condo ever for me.
How many AR15s do you have in your gun collection?
None unfortunately
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