Necessary to change C of O?

Hello, Looking to renovate a legal 3 family residential building – will likely renovate to be used as 1 or 2 family. C of O exists and is on file with the city. Is it necessary to change the C of O when converting down?

wildstar

in Brownstoner Renovation 11 years and 2 months ago

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dazednconfused2 | 11 years and 2 months ago

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Yes you absolutely need to file and change the C of O. If you do this kind of renovation and do not file it, you can get hit with a work without a permit violation. If you do, you’ll get a stop work order and need to file drawings showing the work. When you file those drawings you’ll get a civil penalty fee, which in your case as a 3-family residence is a minimum of $5,000, or up to 14 times the DOB filing fee (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/ecb_civil_penalties.pdf). On top of that there’s the ECB penalty, which could be up to $2500, and then you need to file a certificate of correction with the DOB in Manhattan, which usually means paying an expediter a few hundred bucks to file. Some people on this forum will say you don’t need to file because you won’t get caught, and maybe ten years ago they were right. But anybody can call 311 and report you, and people do this all the time. I would strongly advise against doing this work without filing it the right way.

arch007 | 11 years and 2 months ago

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If you file plans, then yes you will need to update the CO to match the use shown on the plans http://nyc-dob.com

fawn | 11 years and 2 months ago

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You’ll have to weigh the inconvenience and expense of an c of o change against the layout limitations of keeping the building a three family. A three family needs to have three kitchens, or at least the hook ups for kitchens, and internal hallways, for example. Ive seen houses where this works well. In my own renovation we changed the C of o because keeping it to code would have resulted in a lot of wasted space and forced layout decisions.

resident2 | 11 years and 2 months ago

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No you do not need to legally change the C of O to use it as one or a two. Or down using it. In fact I think it is better that you do not for several reasons. Dealing with the buildings department in any fashion opens up a whole can of worms. But more importantly you keep your options open. The magic numbers are a 2 to 3\. A 1 & 2 family are similar codes, but once you have lost the legal use as a three it will be gone for good for all practical purposes, because the codes to comply to todays code to get it back to a three will not be worth it. Pulling permits to make any changes to use will also trigger a tax re-assessment, it will not lower your bill to lower its use. It will be completely the opposite based on the “improvements”.

Arkady | 11 years and 2 months ago

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I’ve been told you don’t have to. It might reduce your tax if you did but I’ve also been told the higher one is more attractive for resale – that was before the search for single families really took off though.