C of O

Confused About Building/Apartment Status

We purchased a duplex condominium in a brownstone that on the nyc.gov site has it listed as “SRO Restricted: YES”. At the same time, it also has a “Certificate of Occupancy” which lists the floors as “1/2 CLASS A DWELLING”. What does this mean for us? Must admit, it was our first buy and I…

by kissiffer4
06/15/2010

We purchased a duplex condominium in a brownstone that on the nyc.gov site has it listed as “SRO Restricted: YES”. At the same time, it also has a “Certificate of Occupancy” which lists the floors as “1/2 CLASS A DWELLING”. What does this mean for us? Must admit, it was our first buy and I missed this completely. Two questions:

a) Will it be a problem if we ever want to rent out the apartment?

b) Will we have a problem getting future permits for alterations, i.e putting on a roof deck or roof extension?

Any advice greatly appreciated 🙂

Thanks.

C of O

Comments

  1. Well, things do get past both attorney’s and title insurance companies. If it is something out of the ordinary, like a complicated use issue, it can happen.
    Don’t panic; but don’t sleep on it either.
    Use attorney’s, architects, and maybe even an expediter can be of help.
    Don’t be surprised if you need a certif of non harrassment-
    I hope you have the documents/time/and money you will need!
    Good luck to you, and I hope you got a REALLY good price!

  2. I’m not sure this is a title issue, so wouldn’t come up with title search. My sense is taht this is a limitation of use, not ownership. Your lawyer should have spotted this and raised it with you, as others have said. Not saying this is your situation, but this is exactly why it is good to avoid using lawyers referred by the realtor.

    Water under the bridge, so you now have some good ideas in this thread about what to do going forward.

  3. This place is also listed as SRO Restricted: YES.

    30 West 120th Street

    http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?boro=1&houseno=30&street=West+120&requestid=0&s=A03C41B885B461E4F46BD08866A7430E

    This is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s house and is currently on the market for 3 million. Anyway, I don’t want to flood the place with Harlem properties!, just a little confused about the SRO status side of things.

    Babs, you are probably right. There are some expensive, legitimate properties out there in the same somewhat odd situation.

    So…if I want to build a roof deck, am I going to face any difficulties with getting it approved? I don’t want to pay for roof rights to find out it will cost thousands in legal fees just to have the right to do it 🙂

    Thanks again all of you awesome Brooklyn people.

  4. And in all this Googling around I actually came across a very interesting blog about Harlem townhouse buying, SRO restrictions, etc. (as well as life in general) called Beating Upwind (www.beatingupwind.com). Maybe everyone else has already heard of it, but it was new to me.

  5. Gorgeous house that – but according to ACRIS it has a one-family CofO: http://a810-cofo.nyc.gov/cofo/M/000/095000/M000095671.PDF and I find nothing about any SRO classification on PropertyShark (its tax class is 2 family). It’s listed by Sotheby’s and apparently is currently used as a one family: http://www.sothebysrealty.com/en/PropertyDetails.aspx?R=100016673&N=12+149+4294945238+4294937596&curr=USD&Ns=P_USDPrice%7c0&No=17&PSeq=16

    HPD says it’s 2 A units.

    So who’s right here? Due to the fluctuations in Harlem real estate, like in much of Brooklyn, it looks like a lot of not-quite-by-the-book stuff went on. If your case is similar to this, you should be OK with just a lot of paperwork.

  6. If the title insurance cleared then you’re probably all right. Just call your lawyer and ask.

    Oftentimes changes take a while to be reflected in the BIS data.

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