NYC Rule on Basement Space
Apologies upfront for continuing this never-ending discussion. Why is it that in all of the discussions on the legality (or not) of utilizing basement space, there is never a mention of NYC’s specs on a specific property which clearly show if a basement is allowable living space. Following is an example of the record on…
Apologies upfront for continuing this never-ending discussion. Why is it that in all of the discussions on the legality (or not) of utilizing basement space, there is never a mention of NYC’s specs on a specific property which clearly show if a basement is allowable living space. Following is an example of the record on a legal 2 family with a first and second floor and a basement.
Lot Shape: Regular Residential Units: 2
Lot Square Footage: 2,000 Finished Sq.Footage: 3,072
Commercial Units: N/A Commercial Sq. Ftg.: N/A
Story Height: 2.00 Garage Sq. Footage: N/A
Building Frontage: 20.00ft Unfinished Sq. Ftg.: 0
Building Depth: 50.00ft Neighborhood Type: Residential
Construction Type: Brick
Note: Finished Square footage 3,072 and Unfinished square footage 0 hence the basement in this case is allowable living space. Conversely, there are many homes that show a portion as “unfinished square footage” and that portion (the basement) presumably would not be allowable living space.
The NYC site is:
http://nycprop.nyc.gov/nycproperty/nynav/jsp/selectbbl.jsp
If the basement meets the requirements for light and air, you will be able to use it as living space.
Ed Kopel Architects
Me too Susan, but then lots of things in NYC defy common sense.
The nonsense goes way back. I have a framed ad for my house when it was new, describing it as two story.
Bob
I think you described and explained it perfectly. That said I still have a hard time thinking of my first floor/garden level as a basement.
Susan
I think there is still some confusion, based on what is CALLED a basement in NYC; the definition of a basement as more than 50% above grade and a cellar as more than 50% below is correct, as far as it goes, but is inadequate for any meaningful description of typical brownstones.
My house, for example, would be described by most people as having THREE stories. Technically however, it is two stories plus basement. The basement, which most would call a ground or garden floor, is entered, from the outside, through a gate, under the HIGH stoop. It is one step down in the front and on grade in the rear. There is a full cellar below, which has all the utilities and is completely below grade. The basement (ground/garden floor) has the dining room, kitchen, two pantries, and a tiny room that was once a maid’s room. It has always been considered living space. No one (I hope)would describe the dank subterranean cellar as living space, even though it has a very high ceiling.
On the eastern end of my Lefferts Manor block there are a number of houses that most would describe as TWO story. They also have a basement which, I believe is more than 50% above grade, but a few steps down both in front and back. This space may also be accessed through a gate under the relatively LOW space. However, this basement has no cellar underneath and contains the utilities. AFAIK this basement was not originally intended for living space but can be used as such, with some limitations.
Both types of houses on my block can be described as two story, but the ones on the western portion are FUNCTIONALLY three story while those two the east are FUNCTIONALLY two story.
To make a long story short, a basement, in a typical 19th century row house, is often, but not always, a first floor, NOT what most people think of when they hear the word basement.
I’ve tried to simplify things but, I’m afraid, might have made them more confusing; can’t be helped–it IS confusing.
The reason is because generally this information comes from the finance dept. assessment division and therefore for tax purposes it goes by how much the property is improved and that is also one of the main reasons why property shark and similar sites have a lot of times non-accurate information because it is a mix n’ match from DOB filed records and from assessment records and a lot of them haven’t been updated for the real current info.