When a developer needs access to your property for adjacent construction, RPAPL § 881 gives you real leverage. We negotiate so the developer routinely pays your attorney and engineer fees, pays you a license fee for the access, insures your property, and is held responsible for any damage. Most owners never knew they had these rights.
Before you sign the developer's agreement — talk to us first. Protecting NYC & Long Island property owners for 30+ years.
A § 881 access agreement isn't just permission for the developer. Negotiated properly, it shifts the costs and risks of their project off of you. Four protections sit at the center:
Developers usually send a pre-drafted agreement written to favor their own interests. We negotiate every term back toward you — and in most cases the developer pays for that work.
Courts routinely require the developer to pay your reasonable attorney and engineer fees for both negotiating the agreement and enforcing it later.
You're compensated for granting access. Recent NYC cases have shown fees from a few hundred dollars a day to thousands per month, depending on scope and disruption.
Comprehensive general liability naming you as an additional insured — commonly $1–5 million — with indemnification against claims from the developer's work.
Pre-construction surveys document your property's condition; the developer is responsible for repairing damage and restoring your property at their cost.
For higher-risk work — deep excavation, underpinning, structural work — we push for a bond as added financial protection for your property.
A firm end date with penalties if the developer overstays, plus the right to additional compensation and remedies if they do.
Strict conditions and higher compensation where work like underpinning touches or permanently affects your property.
If a developer violates the agreement, we pursue damages, injunctive relief, and attorney's fees through breach-of-contract or contempt proceedings.
In RPAPL § 881 proceedings, courts routinely require the developer to pay the adjacent owner's reasonable attorney and engineer fees — on the principle that an innocent neighbor shouldn't bear the cost of a project that benefits only the developer. Because the developer typically covers these costs for both negotiation and enforcement, reviewing the proposed agreement usually costs you little or nothing — while substantially improving the protections you walk away with.
Your attorney and engineer fees for review and negotiation are typically the developer's responsibility under § 881 — not yours.
We represent property owners in negotiating and enforcing construction access agreements throughout New York City and Long Island — Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk. When a developer needs access to your property for adjacent construction, we make sure your rights are protected, your property is insured, you're fairly compensated, and the developer — not you — bears the cost of review and negotiation.
We'll review the developer's request, explain your rights under RPAPL § 881 — fees, license fee, insurance, and property protection — and where things stand. In most cases the developer pays your fees, so there's no cost to find out.