Basement Apartment in Single Family

If you have a one family house; you cannot rent out your garden (basement) floor as a separate apartment. That said in order to make it a legal 2nd apartment in a frame house you would now need to install a sprinkler system and a whole lot of other fire and building code upgrades to the whole house, it may well be one of those situations that would be best rented out as an Air BnB (roommate) if you need the income. Because the cost of creating a legal two family will not be compensated by the rent and the additional Real Estate tax reassessment….. architects may tell you it can be done, contractors may tell it can be done… no matter the ceiling height and other issues… but look at the time & money investment and as I said the RE Tax kicker!

resident2

in General Discussion 9 years and 1 month ago

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brooklyninsulation | 9 years and 2 months ago

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Thanks, MDR. Very, very helpful.

daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 2 months ago

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And you may be required to install sprinklers if you convert it.

Lurker | 9 years and 2 months ago

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with respect, MDR and daveinbedstuy are I believe incorrect. You can easily go to homeowners night with the city to verify, but that same pamphlet specifically lists conditions for renting the basement, and it doesn’t mean to the party already renting the rest of the house. MDR’s interpretation is just that.

daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 2 months ago

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with respect Lurker, if the C of O states One Family that’s what it means and you can encounter all sorts of trouble if you rent out a floor as a separate unit. If there is no C of O, not so much.

slopefarm | 9 years and 2 months ago

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I don’t think the absence of a C/O makes a house legally whatever the owner wants it to be. But in any case there is a c/o here and it is for a 1 fam. IMHO, the debate in this thread centers on the distinction between the question of whether the basement is “habitable” — i.e. can be used as living space, and whether it can be rented as a separate unit. The pamphlet seems to answer the first question, not the second. A basement that is habitable can be added to the living space of an existing lawful unit. But just because it is habitable, it doesn’t mean you can add it as a separate living unit and rent it out if you are not otherwise permitted to have that number of units.

daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 2 months ago

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What slopefarm said. Yes, a basement can be added if it meets the legal issues about light and egress.

brooklyninsulation | 9 years and 2 months ago

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I’m heading to Homeowner’s Night tomorrow and will report back! Thanks all for the many suggestions.