I need an engineer to do an assessment of a wall that requires repair/stabilizing. Is there any obligation on the part of the engineer to provide that report to my municipality? If the suggested repairs are extensive, am I obligated to carry them out (will the city force me to carry out all of the recommendations in the engineer's assessment)?
The question is who is asking for the Engineer to do the assesment. If this is part of an open permit and the City is asking for this work to be undertaken, then yes you will be required to submit the report to the City and perform all steps indicated in the report in order to close the permit. If you are doing the work on your own and you are asking the engineer to do this report then they are only obligated to submit the report to you, they have no obligations to file anything with the City.
Just remember, if you are doing work on your house with permits, and fail to close a permit, it will cause alot of headaches. The city can, if necessary put stop work orders on your home, fine you, even condem the home if it is bad enough. As well an open permit will always show up when you go to sell your home someday.
Hope this helps you!
Thank, you that's very helpful.
As an engineer, if I show up to a site to do an assessment and I determine that the present condition is unsafe or could cause considerable damage if left as is, then I do have an obligation to report the condition to the City. The City may issue an unsafe order and you may be required to fix the issue within a certain time frame.
The bottom line is, Engineers have an obligation to keep people safe.
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