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Public looking at property folders - FOIL ???

No Soup for you

Registered User
Joined
Feb 13, 2020
Messages
112
Location
New York
The Building Dept I work in allows anyone who comes in and asks to go through a property folder.... neighbors, real estate agents etc....

No foil request, no signing in, no anything.

Any building dept I have ever dealt with, makes the public FOIL such things , unless they are the property owner.

I am trying to find out more info.

What do all your departments do?????
 
Per the city attorney's determination for all city records
You can look at anything at the front counter. If you want copies or take photos of the documents then you have to file a written request with the city clerk and we have 10 working days to responds. If the records are already electronic then no charge. If they are paper and need to be copied then there is a fee schedule for the copies and time to comply with the request.
 
For us,

Owner or owner's representative can get anything about the property.

Non-owner has to fill out a freedom of information request.

Privacy is a very serious issue and should be respected.
 
Permit records are public information. Other information such as contemporaneous corrections are not public information. The public can review the paper files at the counter. I recommend keeping an eye on the person that is going through the file just to make sure that nothing is stolen. I don’t know about access to electronic records but Shirley that’s possible.

I worked at a city that charged 25 cents per copied page. One man that researched many properties would bring his own copier.
 
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