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Failure to Exhaust Adminstrative Remedies Bars Claim for Certificate of Occupancy

By Steven Silverberg and Katherine Zalantis

In an action to compel issuance of a certificate of occupancy, the Appellate Division upheld the action of a building inspector on the grounds that the property owner had failed to appeal to the zoning board of appeals before starting an action, thereby failing to exhaust its administrative remedies. In Matter of Vinrus v. the Village of Pelham Manor Building Inspector, the building inspector had issued a notice that the property owner was required to obtain a certificate of occupancy for a new tenant. The property owner brought an article 78 proceeding challenging the direction of the building inspector on various grounds. The Village, which was defended by Silverberg Zalantis LLP, argued that the building inspector had acted properly but that, irrespective of that fact, a precondition to a suit challenging the actions of a building inspector's interpretation of the zoning ordinance is that an appeal must be submitted to the zoning board of appeals to review the determination of the building inspector...continue to full post

Full post as published by New York Zoning and Municipal Law Blog on October 11, 2009 (boomark / email).