A demand letter attorney for Long Island, Nassau to Montauk.

UDCA § 1801 · UJCA § 1801 · $5,000 / $3,000 SMALL CLAIMS

Where a Long Island dispute goes: District Court or justice court.

Long Island is not part of New York City Civil Court, and the limits are lower. In Nassau County and the five western towns of Suffolk County (Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, and Smithtown), small claims are heard in the District Court, which takes claims up to $5,000 under the Uniform District Court Act. Long Beach and Glen Cove have their own city courts with the same $5,000 limit. Out on the East End, in the towns of East Hampton, Southampton, Riverhead, Southold, and Shelter Island, there is no District Court; small claims go to the town or village justice court, which is limited to $3,000 under the Uniform Justice Court Act.

That matters for strategy. A $4,500 claim against a Huntington contractor fits small claims; the same claim against a Southampton contractor is above the justice court limit and would have to be reduced or brought in a higher court. The demand letter does not have a limit, which is one reason it is the right first step on the East End. Our town and village court small claims guide covers the justice courts, and the New York small claims court guide covers the District Courts and the statewide picture.

Long Island disputes we see most.

• Home-improvement contractors. Nassau and Suffolk are single-family-house counties, and the deposit-and-disappear contractor is the dominant dispute: kitchens, bathrooms, roofs, siding, dormers, and finished basements from Valley Stream to Riverhead. New York requires a written home improvement contract with specific terms under General Business Law § 771, and both counties license home-improvement contractors through their consumer affairs offices, which gives a letter additional leverage. Start with contractor took my deposit.
• Landscaping, pools, and outdoor work. Long Island's pool installers, paver and masonry companies, sprinkler contractors, and seasonal landscaping firms take deposits in spring for work that sometimes never happens by fall. A pool deposit is often $10,000 or more, well above small claims, which makes the letter the practical tool.
• Boat storage, marinas, and seasonal services. From Freeport and Oyster Bay to Port Jefferson, Greenport, and Montauk, disputes over winter storage fees, repair work, and slip contracts are a Long Island specialty, as are cancelled charter and dock deposits.
• Small-business receivables. Suppliers, subcontractors, and service firms along the Route 110 corridor, in Hauppauge's industrial park, and across Nassau's downtowns carry unpaid balances from commercial customers. See unpaid invoices for small businesses.

Tenants, deposits, and freelancers on Long Island.

Long Island renters, in legal and illegal accessory apartments, in the garden complexes along the Nassau border, and in seasonal East End rentals, run into deposits that do not come back. General Obligations Law § 7-108 requires return with an itemized statement within 14 days. Landlords outside New York City who will not make repairs are covered on landlord won't make repairs. Long Island freelancers are now covered by the statewide Freelance Isn't Free Act, which extended the city's written-contract and prompt-payment rules to the rest of New York; see New York Freelance Isn't Free Act.

How the flat-fee letter works for a Long Island address.

Hochman Law PC is based in Manhattan and serves Nassau and Suffolk remotely through DemandLetterNY.com. You complete an online intake and upload what you have: the proposal or contract, cancelled checks or payment-app records for the deposit, texts, photos of the job site, the storage or slip agreement, invoices. An attorney reviews it and drafts the letter, which goes out by certified mail with return receipt to the contractor's or business's address, with an email copy where possible. You receive everything. No office visit, no drive to the city. Details at flat-fee demand letters.

For licensed home-improvement contractors, we send to the address on the county license where it differs from the one on the proposal, and the letter notes that a complaint to the county consumer affairs office is available. Long Island contractors care about that license.

What the letter does in a Nassau or Suffolk dispute.

The letter documents the contract, the deposit, and the failure; cites the home-improvement contract statute or the other law that applies; states the amount; and identifies the next step, which may be District Court small claims, a justice court filing, a county licensing complaint, or a higher-court action for a large pool or renovation deposit. For a contractor who works by referral in a handful of towns, a certified attorney letter with a licensing complaint behind it is persuasive. The letter also offers a written completion schedule or payment plan, which many contractors prefer to any of the alternatives.

Is it worth a letter? A Long Island example.

A homeowner in Massapequa pays a $12,000 deposit on a $30,000 inground pool. The excavator comes once, the pool shell never arrives, and by August the contractor is not returning calls. That is above the District Court small claims limit, which means the filing alternative is a Supreme Court action, expensive and slow. A flat-fee demand letter, citing the written-contract statute and the county license, is a tiny fraction of $12,000 and is the proportionate first move. A contractor who is still installing pools for the neighbors generally does not want a licensing complaint and a lawsuit. Worth it.

A $350 disagreement about whether a lawn service mowed often enough is not, and we will say so. See demand letter vs. small claims.

Loans and vendor deposits.

Long Island also produces personal loans between relatives and neighbors, and deposits kept by catering halls, photographers, and DJs for weddings and sweet sixteens that were cancelled or moved. See lent money, not paid back and vendor kept my deposit.

Timing.

Contract claims have a six-year limitations period under CPLR § 213(2). Seasonal contractors, though, are easiest to reach and most motivated during the season, and a deposit dispute that is sent in writing before the contractor's phone changes is worth more than one sent after.