CO question

Good afternoon, all I have a question in regards to the CO issue – I have a 100 year old house with no CO on file. It is listed as a 1-family house in the department of finance. I found some docs from 1930-s in DOB archives that mention this house as a 2-family, however these documents were not “signed off”. So as I was told at DoB these docs have no bearing on the overall status. All similar houses in the neighborhood are configured as 2-family houses. Now to the question – I’d like to rent out my 2nd floor for 2-3 years to help pay the mortgage. Then I would like to use it as a 1-family house. It seems that I could a) get the CO for a 2-family house b) get the letter of no objection c) rent without doing either of the first 2 points. I’m wondering what would happen if I was to get a non-paying tenant – what would be my rights? Would I be able to take them to court? I would really like to avoid any problems with DoB, but on the other hand I don’t want to get the CO for 2-family if I will eventually use it as 1-family. Any inputs/insights would be extremely helpful!

freespirit

in About Brooklyn 10 years and 5 months ago

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resident2 | 10 years and 5 months ago

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So it is a one family, take in roommates or Air BnB rooms if you want some short term rental income, but do not rent out a floor as a separate apartment.

freespirit | 10 years and 5 months ago

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Thanks, resident. Only 1 electric meter. It’s been owned by the same family as a 1-family for 90 years, therefore I don’t think they ever needed/wanted to convert it into 2-family one.

resident2 | 10 years and 5 months ago

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Do the research to try to get the letter of no objection, but do not waste your time and money opening the can of worms to get a two family c of o if that is not the long term objective. Otherwise rent it as a room mate situation, but you technically cannot have two kitchens. If it is not a legal two family, not only can you not legally evict a tenant, but if there was ever a fire or accident situation with an Insurance claim, it may well not be covered. How many electric and gas meters do you have? If you have at least two electric meters you can probably get away with using it as a two family, because why would anyone suspect otherwise? It is not as if a two family has to comply to a whole lot of different building codes: fire escape, boiler room etc. If you do have two electric meters, just make sure that the tenants meter does not include any public hallway lights, outlets etc.