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December 6, 2008
How do I determine if my apartment is a legal residence?
Hi there,
It has recently occurred to me that I may be living in an apartment that can not legally be used as a private residence. I have searched for a CofO on the NYC Department of Buildings website, and the search came back with "THERE ARE NO CERTIFICATES OF OCCUPANCY ON FILE FOR THIS ADDRESS". It is also zoned by the the Dept. of Finance as G1 (garage or gas station) even though this may not be the same as the legal use of the structure.
Can someone please confirm whether the information I found is correct or how/where to go to confirm this information?
If it true that I am not living in a legal residence, is this solid ground on which to get out of a lease?
Comments
Are there guys in greasy blue overalls walking around? If yes then you are definitely living in a garage or gas station.
If not, sorry I can't help you.
If in fact you are living in an illegal residence then you can not only break the lease but you can simply stop paying rent until they legalize it. I'm not a lawyer but that is what one told me once.
But that would be really a nasty thing to do regardless of what they have done. IMHO.
Gennaro Brooks-Church
www.EcoBrooklyn.com
Posted by: gennaro at December 6, 2008 1:05 PM
It not unsual for old buildings in NYC to not have a C of O - they were not required until 1938. Only the building department(DOB) can determine the legal occupancy status of a building - not the Dept of Finance. You can visit Brooklyn DOB office at 210 Jarolemon St, 8th floor Municipal building, there the Borough Manager will be able to assist in determining if the building is in fact a garages or did the building owner file an application to convert to residential use. You can also review DOB BIS site nyc.gov/building to review any DOB Filing and the description of their existing and proposed uses.
Posted by: 364house at December 6, 2008 1:40 PM
Depending on how many units (3 or more), the building is supposed to file a multiple dwelling registration every year. You can look it up on HPD as well.
Posted by: eFortGreene at December 6, 2008 2:58 PM
Are you living in a carriage house? Definitely agree with 364house that checking out your building at theDOB is your best bet.
Good luck!
Posted by: Brooklynista at December 6, 2008 9:10 PM
The HPD website lists the number of legal units.
It also shows violations.
Posted by: IronBalls at December 7, 2008 8:28 AM
G1 is a building classification. Zoning is R (residential), C (commercial), and M (manufacturing), regulating building size, population density and land use. Are you looking for legal justification to break your lease or is there something different or more that you're asking?
Posted by: vinca at December 7, 2008 10:01 AM
Gennaro is correct that it may be grounds for breaking your lease, though typically it is not. The use and occupancy are between the owner and the department of buildings. In the eyes of the housing court, as long as the owner is providing a warm safe place for you to live then you don't really ave much standing. However if it is not legal and the department of buildings inspects and orders you to vacate you are out of your lease. You must continue to pay your rent.
Posted by: Bklyn Fire Alarm Guy at December 7, 2008 11:16 AM
I disagree, Bklyn Fire Alarm Guy. Landlords cannot collect rent for units without CofOs. I agree that if a rent strike leads to housing court, there may be some charge for use and occupancy, but that has nothing to do with the DOB. If the apartment and/or building is not legal for residential use, you would absolutely have the right to break any residential lease that you signed.
OP: You haven't provided enough info. Are there other residential units in the building? If so, I'd ask other tenants for their input on this situation.
Posted by: Iris at December 8, 2008 9:35 AM
Aparently i live in bakery according to our C of O.
it's just not that big a deal.
Cheers,
Dean
Posted by: deanc at December 8, 2008 11:41 AM
If there are 3 or more units and the landlord has not registered the building with HPD as a multiple dwelling then the landlord does not have the right to collect rent and the tenant would have a successful defense in a non-payment case.
A landlord providing a "warm safe place to live" is not, in itself, enough to overcome an illegal multiple dwelling or a violation of the C of O.
Posted by: marcus at December 8, 2008 3:17 PM
My understanding is that the landlord cannot collect rent from you for the residential use of the unit. If you have a commercial lease, I am not sure what the implication of the tenancy are then.
If you want to move out, why not just ask the landlord to kill the lease because it appears that it is an illegal residential unit and you don't want to end up homeless like the people in that building in Williamsburg?
Posted by: Boerumresident at December 8, 2008 4:48 PM
While I can certainly see scenarios in which a tenant should go after a CofO violation in order to protect onself (ie, finding out that you are living in a "luxury loft" that used to be used for some nasty heavy industrial use and are having a hard time getting out of the lease and don't want to shove it onto someone else), it could also be a real Dick Move on the OP's part, and could backfire as a practical matter.
I used to live in a loft building that had CofO problems, and some tenants in the building used the CofO issue to start a legal battle with the landlord because they were cold and had high gas bills in winter. This was not straightforward, it was a long, protracted legal battle, I think the only people who got anything from it were the lawyers, and it was a shame because the landlord was actually a fairly decent human who didn't need to be sued in order to do the right thing.
Posted by: vanburenproud at December 8, 2008 4:52 PM
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