Access Licensing Agreements: Not Just A Handshake Between Neighbors

When your neighbor knocks on your door and asks for access, there are a few preliminary steps that should be taken.

Take a stroll through New York City, and you're bound to see a dog walker wrangling a pack of mixed breeds as he passes by the 24-hour corner bodega. And on his way to pick up his Sunday morning bagel with cream cheese and lox, he will most definitely pass under, and meander around, a sidewalk shed. This often unassuming overhead protection, made up of scaffolding-like support legs topped with green plywood, is sprinkled throughout the city. This structure is often the tip of the iceberg of much more elaborate protective measures unseen to the distracted bystander and is the physical manifestation of an often long-winded negotiation culminating in the form of an Access License Agreement between neighbors.