Fire Escapes for Multi-Family Townhouse?
Hi, I’m house hunting, looking at a 3-family townhouse in which I would rent out the 2nd and 3rd floors. Will I need to put on fire escape? Would doing construction trigger something like that, or is there anything else I should be aware of eg roof access for firemen? (just read another post on…
Hi,
I’m house hunting, looking at a 3-family townhouse in which I would rent out the 2nd and 3rd floors. Will I need to put on fire escape? Would doing construction trigger something like that, or is there anything else I should be aware of eg roof access for firemen? (just read another post on this) — for example if I wanted to someday live on the 2nd/3rd floor and rent out the first floor, would I not be ably to fully enclose the stairwell to the top floor in order to leave public access to the roof?
Thanks.
Thank you!
To add to Jock’s statement, if you’re considering changing it to a 2-family, you would most likely be able to enclose those stairs and make them part of the upper duplex. A building 3 stories or less doesn’t need roof access for egress.
You cannot add a fire escape, only maintain what you have. If you are buying a legal 3 than it must be laid out properly already. If you want to change things around then you will need an architect to advise you and create the permit drawings.