New York Attorney General Letitia James is scheduled to appear before an administrative law judge on Oct. 8 after the city issued a summons alleging a fence in front of her Clinton Hill brownstone exceeds the four-foot height limit.
The Department of Buildings issued the summons on July 23 after receiving at least three anonymous complaints since April, charging that the black iron fence measures 5 feet, 6 inches. The violation is considered curable: James can avoid fines and the hearing by removing or lowering the fence to the legal height by a Sept. 26 deadline. If she does not comply, she could face civil penalties of up to $500.
City Councilman Robert Holden, a Queens Democrat, said New Yorkers were "tired of double standards" and urged that all public officials be held to the same rules as other homeowners. Neighbors on the tree-lined block between St. James Place and Grand Avenue said they were unaware the fence violated the height limit; one longtime resident said James inherited the fence when she bought the 120-year-old property in 2001. Another resident pointed to at least one other home on the block with a higher fence that had not been ticketed.
The building at the center of the summons is also part of a separate federal inquiry. The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating since April allegations that James falsified records to secure favorable mortgage terms on the Clinton Hill property and on a second property in Virginia that she co-owns with a niece. Records indicate the property had a certificate of occupancy listing five units around the time James purchased it in 2001, and investigators have said James claimed the building had four units.
James has denied the mortgage-fraud allegations, calling them "baseless" and attributing them to her extended legal disputes with former President Donald Trump. Her office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
In addition to the Buildings Department summons, public records show James was late paying an annual $13 property registration fee required by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development for the Brooklyn home. The DOB summons, issued after multiple anonymous complaints, is administrative and can be resolved without admission of wrongdoing if the fence is brought into compliance.
James, a Democrat elected attorney general in 2018, has overseen multiple high-profile investigations and legal actions. The federal mortgage inquiry is separate from her office's investigations into other public figures and entities.
The scheduled administrative hearing will address the Buildings Department violation; any developments in the Justice Department's mortgage probe would proceed through federal channels and could lead to additional inquiries or charges if prosecutors determine there is sufficient evidence. For the fence violation, city rules provide a clear, short timetable for remediation, and the summons remains curable pending the Sept. 26 deadline.