Required Egress Question
Is a roof ladder and hatch considered a method of egress in a building? I am looking at a 4 unit building where the top floor renovation incorporated the roof ladder & hatch into the apartment. There is a sprinkler system in place. I can’t find any permits for work done in the building on…
Is a roof ladder and hatch considered a method of egress in a building? I am looking at a 4 unit building where the top floor renovation incorporated the roof ladder & hatch into the apartment. There is a sprinkler system in place. I can’t find any permits for work done in the building on the DOB website and think it was probably done a while back without permits. To be up to code, would I have to restore the access to the ladder (from the public staircase)? I can’t imagine the (RS) tenant would be too happy about that! Anyone have an experience with this kind of situation Thanks as always….
Access will need to be provided and teh DOB may even foce you to remove the hatch and replace with a full bulkhead unless if the roof is sloped to a min. 15 degree angle.
Sprinklers and fire escapes are not to be confused as a lot of times you need BOTH even though that in some instances one will suffice but it has nothing to do with the requirement of having fire access to the roof from public spaces.
“As long as there is a roof hatch, the fire department will get through a door to an apartment, I don’t think there is an issue unless a partition of some kind would block access. ”
No, this is incorrect. See MarionG post.
Personally, from what you said I would avoid this headache…
good luck again.
OP, if you can believe it, it’s more complicated than all of the above if you’re trying to “find solution”. I didn’t notice you don’t own this mess, just considering it. Hope it’s a real big discount bc you could end up with much more to deal with than you ever expected. You really need some strong advice on the Code on the specifics of this house. You may be surprised to learn that every architect can provide that; chat with many. I would not look to expeditors and “code consultants” for this level of advice. Good luck.
You must restore access to the ladder and scuttle within the public hall, the renovation was done illegally. The Fire Dept. must have access to vent the building in the event of a fire and get to the roof.
Though not generally understood taking a ladder to the roof can provide egress by crossing to adjoining building roofs in an emergency. The ladder to a scuttle was coupled with sprinklers throughout the public hall and rooms in “Class B” dwellings. Class B indicates rooms with independent doors to the public hall. These rooms often had refrigerators and hot plates; bathrooms in the public hall were shared. Don’t confuse with “SRO” which means rooms within a self contained apartment having a kitchen and bath. This is typically the case where folks have huge 6 to 8 room apartments and rent out single bedrooms for income. Padlocks on these doors within the large apartment are indications of an “SRO”.
Class B rooming houses were created in the 30’s and 40’s especially when there was a housing shortage. Workers at the Brooklyn Navy Yard often occupied these rooms in buildings in Ft. Greene due to the close proximity.
If you are converting to a strictly class A 3 or more unit building you will have to provide secondary means of egress via a fire escape. A new C of O is required. If you have a legal class A multiple dwelling with an old C of O utilizing a fully sprinklered building this may be a grandfathered case. Check for old alterations and see if they provide information before proceeding. These are at the Dept. of Buildings. You might have a split occupancy with one or more class A units and a number of B units (rooms.) This is quite common in pre 1901 buildings (old law tenements.)
Good luck
As long as there is a roof hatch, the fire department will get through a door to an apartment, I don’t think there is an issue unless a partition of some kind would block access.
Sprinkers are an alternative to a fire escape, as someone mentioned here. The roof hatch in the public stair well in a multi family is not considered egress for the occupants – it is required for use by the fire department. It sounds as though part of the stairwell was incorporated into an apartment, which is not allowed in anything over 2 family dwelling.
The issue of the possibly rs tenant has nothing to do with correcting the fire code violation, and shouldn’t become your problem. Make it a condition of sale, and let the seller rectify. This is something that is not only a code violation, but a safety hazard; may come up in an inspection, may also come up in an appraisal and could even stand in the way of a lender making a loan on the property until it is corrected.
Also, you have to get it straight what the c of o is on the property. It can’t be both an sro and a 3 family, and if it is a 3 family, it can’t have 4 units. The hatch and public stair issue holds true for all those designations though.
Good luck, and if the seller won’t take care of the outstanding issues, move on. There are other houses on the market.
Fire code/DOB issues with the only possible remedy requiring work around a rent stabilized tenant.
Would hope you’re getting a super sweet deal. Not sure there is a discount big enough that would tempt me to take this one on. It’s a big city with a lot of buildings for sale.
I would think there would HAVE to be access to the roof from the common hallway. End of story. I wouldn’t want to buy, or live in a building without it, as an owner or a tenant. I don’t care how many sprinklers or other doorways you have.
As part of making sure the building’s actual use matches its legal use (to say nothing of the very scary safety issue), I’d want to be sure that roof access is to code — DOB and Fire Dept. I’m pretty sure the apartment’s actual use and legal use don’t match (some of the City’s docs say 6 unit SRO, others say 3 family house — my guess is the legal use is the former). Does the owner have the right to evict a RS tenant in order to return the building to its legal use? What other options are there?