All Forum Posts by: Jared W Smith

@Sonia Chopra, the latter. DOB is going to visit property to corroborate the 2-family status. Anything that's grossly astray, they will report that it needs to be corrected. Some may involve obtaining permits which may require architect/engineer to sign off on.

Hello @Rob Wii, I have to correct @Frank Chin, in NYC a legal habitable basement needs 8 ft floor to ceiling height (Per 2014 NYC BC 1208.2), so you'd have to increase the current height by ~12". Additionally, as mentioned, the bigger problem comes from egress, only one door from front/street for 2-family, and natural light and ventilation for bedrooms AND any other habitable space including living & dinning rooms. In my experience most of the time, unless the basement is large and sufficient windows can be added, it's not worth the conversion.  

@Llewelyn A. is right on collecting your information. @Sonia Chopra

However based on what you are saying, if there's little to work with, an LNO is not going to solve your problems. Yes, an LNO is the quickest route for legal occupancy status but shouldn't the current owner provide this? Unless they're willing to hold the sale until this document is issued. It could be months to obtain in the best case scenario. 

One caveat: If the property was recently altered (as in a flip/reno), and visibly so, and no permits are shown, they will likely deny your LNO request. A good Expediter is a start but you may need an architect also, if there are things the DOB deems necessary for legal 2-family status. As I said in previous post, it all depends on the property and what the prior owner did.

Hello @Sonia Chopra- Firstly, if there's no documentation showing that it's a legal 2-family then you have an illegally converted property which isn't really a 2-family. This happens when flippers or developers get a property and don't want to go through the legal means to renovate and just do it anyway with no paper trail, permits or inspections. When purchased for cash and no bank involvement, an investor may take it over and hope no City/DOB infractions occur. However this raises a red flag and I would be cautious purchasing unless the current owners can provide proof that it was done legally. Otherwise you are possibly inheriting their headache. Most banks won't lend on an illegally converted property or one with inconsistent information vs the historic data.

Back to original question- there are several steps for a conversion. It's project specific and everything has to meet the current Building Code. Yes, current. For life safety to the public, there are nearly no interior non-conforming items which would be allowed. Therefore the amount of renovating to make legal depends on how many Code infractions there are. With any change of occupancy, a new CO is issued from NYC DOB. 

Message me if you need some investigation services done on the prospective property and I can look into the specific property.

Jared W. Smith, RA

Principal Architect - Architect Owl PLLC

Congrats and welcome Jerome!

Sorry for not responding sooner, I missed the notification. 

Budgeting for an architect is difficult since their fee typically depends on the scope of work and complexity of project. You could estimate from 5-8% of construction cost.

You need an architect experienced in your location, dealing with legalization and dealing with City/DOB.

Also, the laymen review of Codes is not the same as a zoning attorney or an architect. I wouldn’t spin your wheels too much looking at information if you don’t fully grasp the language and intent. 

Jared W. Smith, RA

Principal Architect - Architect Owl

Usually it’s not worth searching for floor plans. Better to just re-draw them from field measurements as @Marcus Auerbach stated. If the home had a renovation completed in last 10-15 yrs maybe the City/town will have prints or scans but that’s a toss up. @Omer Bar

Jared W. Smith, RA

Principal Architect - Architect Owl

If they are an expert in the property location and unique or challenging circumstances make it necessary to be creative in complying, then a code consultant can make the difference between municipality approval and not. Why are you reluctant? If it’s just the added cost, compare your progress against time wasted. Time is money. 

Jared W. Smith, RA

Principal Architect - Architect Owl

I think others have summed it up well. With FHA, they may flag the additional units as non compliant.

@Alexander V. I know Yonkers very well. Highly unlikely for a existing non-conformance 4-family to be in a 2-family zone. 

@Danica Estrada Did you get my email from last week??

Jared W. Smith, RA

Principal Architect - Architect Owl