Class B Multiple Dwelling
I’m considering buying a building in Crown Heights with a C of O for a Class B multiple dwelling. I’m not familiar with this type of C of O. Apparently it’s not an SRO C of O. So that’s good. Any special issues to be concerned about? thx.
I’m considering buying a building in Crown Heights with a C of O for a Class B multiple dwelling. I’m not familiar with this type of C of O. Apparently it’s not an SRO C of O. So that’s good. Any special issues to be concerned about? thx.
Class B is found most typically in a rooming house where individuals rent a room and share a bathroom in the public hall. The individual room has its own locked door off a public hall. Typically such rooms may have a hot plate and refrigerator within the room and possibly a sink. The premises are sprinklered since secondary means of egress is not reached via a fire escape. This type of occupancy became legal during WWII when housing was at a shortage and workers needed accomodations. That is why many Class B rooming houses developed from “cut up” brownstones in Brooklyn. These were located in proximity to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and other heavy industry by the bay.
The distinction between Class B and an SRO is that a “Single Room Occupancy” is a room within a Class A apartment and independent access from the public hall is not possible. Folks who have huge apartments in old buildings along the west side, or Riverside Drive in Harlem, for example, cut their apartments up and rented out rooms, often at significant profit over the legal rent.
If you want to convert a Class B building back to a class A one or two family or multiple dwelling, plans must be filed and a new C of O obtained. It is rare but possible, if a very old tenant is present, that the individual is protected by rent control. Check HPD’s list of violations where occupancy by class A apartments or B rooms is listed.
If you want more info feel free to email me at: mgold218@aol.com
Marion
It’s confusing. I’ve had trouble determining the status of certain buildings I’ve seen that are supposedly NOT SROs but are classified as “Converted Dwellings or Rooming House.” I think it’s best to consult a lawyer once you’re serious.
A “Class ‘B'” multiple dwelling is a multiple dwelling which is generally occupied transiently, as the temporary abode of individuals or families who are lodged with or without meals. Class “B” multiple dwellings include hotels, rooming houses, club houses, college and school dormitories, and dwellings designed as private dwellings but occupied by one or two families with five or more transient boarders, roomers, or lodgers in one household. Multiple Dwelling Law § 4 (9).
5:15 thanks. I looked it up and it appeared to me that SRO was a separate category than Class B. Do you understand if I’m wrong? thx.
“Class A” multiple dwelling refers to multiple dwellings which are occupied, as a rule, for permanent residence purposes. This class includes apartment hotels, and all other multiple dwellings except “Class B” multiple dwellings.
“Class B” multiple dwelling refers to multiple dwellings which are occupied, as a rule, transiently, as the more or less temporary abode of individuals or families who are lodged with or without meals. This class includes hotels, SRO’s and rooming houses.
Aren’t “B” units SRO units?