Must I Read the Whole of Building Code?
This is a question that somewhat takes the form of a rant. Please forgive me. So a building inspector is coming to check out our window guards, since a tenant has a child. We now realize that they are not NYC approved and don’t come with the required window stops. Are we likely to get…
This is a question that somewhat takes the form of a rant. Please forgive me.
So a building inspector is coming to check out our window guards, since a tenant has a child. We now realize that they are not NYC approved and don’t come with the required window stops. Are we likely to get busted for that?
This is really the motivation behind this post however: a violations removal consultant guy came by and told us we also need peep holes in our doors and a sign about CO detectors in the hall. The CO sign manufacturer says that they have recently had a run on 4 other kinds of signs that people have been getting busted for not having.
So I suppose my question is: how am I supposed to know all of these things in advance without dedicating my life to studying the Big Book of Code? Is there some kind of centralized location for things like this, say a cliff notes version? Or can I only wait for violations to be delivered?
Thanks in advance for any solace provided.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if a “violations consultant guy” was a shady mofo who knows just how to tug your panic strings.
The short answer is that … yes: as a landlord you’re expected to be alert to the rules and regulations that apply to you.
Unfortunately ignorance is not an answer.
How much of this stuff pertain to 2-family houses? I can understand some of the signage being required for bigger buildings with no owner occupancy, but I wonder if 2-family houses have the same requirements.
I remember getting violations for missing floor # signs from HPD…And the apartment door has to be self closing violation…
Most violations like the ones you describe can be quickly remedied and then removed without fines, am I wrong?
Building ID signs
Key/Access to boiler room sign
CO sign
smoke detector sign
no smoking signs
inspection sheet, framed, mounted, easily accessible to the inspector.
don’t forget sanitation requires recycling info signs
Hire someone whose job it is to read the whole building (and fire, MDL, Health, etc.) code.
Find an architect or a code consultant who specializes in these issues and pay them to do a walkthrough of your building. In the long run, it may be money well spent.
I still remember my first long-term lease in Brooklyn and in particular, red galvanized pails full of sand, with “FIRE” painted on the outside, out in the hallway. When I told my live-in landlord I didn’t think I could put out much of a fire with a pail of sand, he shrugged his shoulders and told me it was a code requirement.
You may find the landlord tenant guide from NY atty general’s office useful.
It is pretty thorough:
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/real_estate_finance/pdfs/tenants_rights_guide.pdf
It is even worse than Wilso26941 hints. There is a Fire Code, a sanitation code, a NYC housing maintenace code, electric code and if you are a pre-1968 building, three seperate buildings codes. If this isn’t bad enough, these are all adminsistered by seperate agencies who either inadequately train or inadequately pay most of their staff.