Permits and occupancy: Is there a law that exempts 1-2 family?

Everything you present at DOB is assumed to be illegal until proven otherwise with hard data. As far as exemptions, yes, the MDL does not apply to a 1 or 2 family but all other codes do. for simplicity, this should be filed under the 68 code. There is a clause in the zoning law about continuous use without a 2 year lapse. There is some uncertainty about the past use of this property so the plan examiner is assuming the worst case which is a change of use from 1-2. An Alt 1 is not a big a deal except you may need to
withdrawl your present application and start over(that would be bad). see if you can revise it and stay with the same plan examiner. not sure that’s possible. good luck and welcome to DOB hell.

bk123

in Building Code 9 years and 3 months ago

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williaminbklyn | 9 years and 3 months ago

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Hi,
As a former expediter, what I would suggest is that you should file a ‘No-work Alt1’. Basically you renovate under the alt2 application, sign it off, and then file for the ‘No-work Alt1’, where you change the amount of dwelling units. You can have your Architect self certify it, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. Being that it has no work, they wouldn’t require you to put in a sprinkler.

tvnvda | 9 years and 3 months ago

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Does your house still have separate gas or electric meters? If it still has those meters, they typically constitute proof of multiple occupancy. BTW: 1 and 2 family dwellings are in the same building class (as opposed to multiple dwellings = 3 or more families). Sprinklers are required when converting from one building class to a different one. Sprinkler requirements will not be triggered by converting from one to two family OR the other way around. Since all records point to this being a two family, you are simply being “punished” for being honest about how the house is configured and/or used today.