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August 23, 2008

DOB Complaint

I just recently purchased a 2 family house... we are doing minor renovations in the rental (ie. replacing a small portion of kitchen flooring, new lower cabinets, sink and appliances... replacing vaniety in bathroom, tiles in shower and bathroom floor). Is thinks a violation??? I was under the impression that if everything (sinks, gas lines etc) was remaining in the same place and you did not need a permit....
Am I wrong? How do I resolve this issue? Thanks for any advice.

Comments

You're fine.

Posted by: Steve at August 23, 2008 7:04 PM

are you sure your kitchen tiles do not have asbestos in it?

Posted by: bobjohn at August 23, 2008 11:05 PM

Are you referring to old linoleum in the kitchen, bobjohn?

Posted by: vanburenproud at August 24, 2008 10:05 AM

"Is thinks a violation??? " not sure what that sentence means. But from sounds of it - do not need any permit.
no demolition, no change of floor plan, etc.

Posted by: Petebklyn at August 24, 2008 12:58 PM

"is this a violation," methinks

From your title, has there been a complaint? By whom?

Posted by: cmu at August 24, 2008 2:14 PM

Meant to say "Is this a violation?"
There are old linoleum or vinyl tiles in the kitchen... that are being replaced with the same type of tiles.

If there is demo and rebuild of old walls do you need a permit?

There has been a complaint but I am not sure by who- I am thinking that it is the neighbors who frequently park blocking our driveway :(

Posted by: katiem633 at August 24, 2008 4:12 PM

I hate snitches... People need to mind their business... Does not sound like u need a permit for what you are doing.

Posted by: caseycrespo at August 24, 2008 4:24 PM

If you demo'd an old wall and replaced it you might be in violation. The rest of it sounds like work you don't need a permit for.

Posted by: pmmtenement at August 24, 2008 7:04 PM

Katie

In terms of DoB permitting, it's hard to tell from your description whether or not what you're describing would require a permit in the eyes of a building inspector. How minor is minor?

No filing required: Replacing finishes, and replacing fixtures in the exact same location doesn't require a DoB permit. Although as Bobjohn correctly points out, there's a potential complication in what you're doing since there can be asbestos in tiles from the 1920's and 30's (and in adhesives even up to the late 1970's), so that's a possibility too if that's anything like your case.

What causes a filing: Removing partitions is definitely a scope of work that the DoB considers a filing issue, as is adding partitions. Moving fixtures from one place to another is also a trigger for filing. Finally, any amount of work involving more than $10,000 of construction expense requires filing whether the above is the case or not. Actually, the $10,000 figure might not be up to date, and for all practical purposes if you're spending that much you're probably moving things around anyways.

Hope this is helpful, good luck on your project.

Posted by: Smokychimp at August 25, 2008 1:59 PM

Really don't need to let anyone in to inspect if 1 does come by.
And without them seeing anything can't do anything.
Keep shades closed. And don't leave construction material out front.
Absolutely don't need permit to change floor or install new cabinets or change appliances.

Posted by: Petebklyn at August 25, 2008 2:00 PM

Thanks for all the input...looks like I will most likely need a permit for the upcoming work in our apartment...but the rental renov has been very minor, apparently the house was completely renovated in the late 1960's...and all of the original detail destroyed...(as per neighbors, so I am not too worried about asbestos in the tiles)and all fixtures and appliances remained in the same place). The other problem is that all the walls are metal lath so any renovation of our apartment is going to be that much more complicated :( Thanks again for all the help...

Posted by: katiem633 at August 25, 2008 7:10 PM

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