Forum
« Looking for Facade Bricks Littlest House in Brooklyn »
February 22, 2008
Windowless
I am getting pretty close to purchasing my first place (cheer!). The thing is that it is an old tenement kind of building where the bedroom doesn't have any windows. It is a long apartment so the kitchen and living room get good light, but nothing in the bedroom. I was wondering (other than lots of light fixtures), if anyone else has had to deal with this. I was thinking that I could "make" a small window using those thick glass blocks, thereby letting in some natural light. The wall is not load-bearing.
Thoughts Brownstoner friends?
Comments
By law a room can not be considered a bedroom if it doesn't have a window.
Posted by: guest at February 22, 2008 9:07 PM
This is not the response you want, but NYC law dictates that a bedroom has a means of egress--a/k/a a window. If you don't have a window in the bedroom, it can't be called a bedroom.
I'm not a lawyer or a real estate expert, but I don't think you should buy a place that has a bedroom without a window. Chances are it was originally a studio or a section of a larger apartment and has been chopped up.
Definitely talk to a real estate lawyer before you give any kind of down payment or binder on this place.
Posted by: tinarina at February 22, 2008 9:11 PM
Oh, I see.
I thought that if it was built before a certain time that the building follows the laws that were in effect when it was built (like the tenements on the LES).
Also, does it have to be a window to the outside? I ask this because there are 2 small (bed)rooms, neither has a window to the outside, but there is a little window-type-cut-out thing between the 2. Would that make it a real bedroom? I am just confused because this is HDFC housing.
I really appreciate the advice here, I didn't know that particular law. Anything else I should be warned about? Thanks!
Posted by: dda at February 22, 2008 9:58 PM
This has nothing to do with tenement law--current law is it.
If this is HDFC housing and they are calling these rooms bedrooms, they are being deceitful.
Call the city and make a fuss. You are not getting the straight story based on what you've said here.
Posted by: tinarina at February 22, 2008 10:22 PM
Unless you are talking about paying the price for a one-bedroom vs. a studio, why does it matter if the person who lives there calls it a bedroom? Can they prevent you from putting a bed in there? I didn't think so.
Posted by: guest at February 23, 2008 7:59 AM
You are describing what is commonly called a "floor through" tenement. The LES is full of them. The two interior windows are there because there was a time in NY when 20 people lived in a single room and law makers decided that wasn't too healthy so they required evry room have a "window". Not unlike all these new duplex condo apartments going up with "cellar storage space". YEAH RIGHT! Anyway, to answer your question, I would actually do the reverse and sheet rock them over, or good time to install a pocket door in the wall between rooms, or i have seen people embrace the windows and install curtains.
Posted by: guest at February 23, 2008 11:37 AM
I used salvaged stained glass for a bathroom w/o windows.
Posted by: rh at February 23, 2008 11:48 AM
I wouldn't worry about the "legality" of your bedroom. There are so many other much more serious violations of housing law going on in NYC. It's not like a housing inspector is going to randomly enter your apt. and make you sleep in the living room...
If you like the place, buy it. As for adding light, I think glass blocks would work great. You might also cut a transom into the wall above the door. Our floor-through tenement has transoms and they definitely help with light and air circulation.
Posted by: guest at February 23, 2008 2:23 PM
Open the top two feet of the wall up along the ceiling with a full length transom window and block off the old windows.
Posted by: guest at February 23, 2008 4:36 PM
Glass blocks are so 80s...
Your bedroom is indeed illegal and can't be called such. You legally have a studio with a "home office".
Posted by: guest at February 23, 2008 7:04 PM
11:37 has it right. Two common things in old floor through tenements are shallow closets -- to avoid a tax on a room -- which was described as any space that you could walk into and turn around and walk out of -- and windows connecting middle rooms to outside rooms -- because the law declared that any room you rented had to have a window. But the law didn't specify that the window had to open into the outside of the building.
As far as I know there isn't anything illegal about any room within a larger apartment not having a window -- many maids quarters in high rise buildings still don't. There may be some restriction on how it can be advertised as a bedroom if there isn't a window -- but who cares about the label? You could take down all the walls and call it a studio.
Posted by: breukelenbelle at May 28, 2008 6:19 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.