I’m planning to buy a 2 family house in Queens.
House is two floors plus basement, 19×63 building size , semi attached and currently is classified as 2 family.
It is rental house and second floor is converted to 2 separate apartments, plus basement is split in two extra rental units, each with bathroom and shower and kind of kitchen. First floor is separate apartment, nothing wrong.
What are the chances of legalizing all this and converting to 4 family or 3 family plus office in the basement and what would it cost. I’d like to get an estimate of how much of a trouble it can be before I buy property.


Comments

  1. there is a guy down the block converted 2 family into 3 family. People from the block were not happy and called DOB. The guy had to install fire system for ~$60K. I am not sure about other issues – it happened before I moved in.

  2. “Basement” is considered a basement if is a certain level above ground. You should start from here if you want to proceed. Call 311 and they will give you phone number to City engineers that can give you more info about that and answer your Q. U can leave the msg, they will call you back. I checked this before and decided not to proceed.

  3. Whether there are other buildings with the configuration you want may not be a clue–the buildings could have been built prior to zoning and are therefore grandfathered in. Did you visit DoB website to learn what is currently allowed for R-4 zone?

  4. there is one Property on the same block
    C0 (Three families)
    Building Size: 20 x 49
    Lot Size: 20 x 132
    Floors: 2

    and couple of more 3 families but 3 floor buildings across the street in the same zoning

  5. Depending on what Zoning District it is in anything more than a 2 family house may not be permitted. Once there are 3 apartments in a building it is classified as a Multiple Dwelling and there are more stringent rules to comply with.