need alt-1 if removing kitchen from 2-family house?

Deva – 2 fam houses used as a 1 fam are sold regularly, no one seems to ever get a problem with financing. And of course the city does not get involved with home sales. I was looking at changing 2-fam to a 1-fam (get rid of extra meters, just be a good citizen) and an expediter told me it would be $$$ and a lot of time and headache. He thought I was crazy just for considering it since I wasn’t doing a big reno.

dorkofwindsor

in General Discussion 4 years and 8 months ago

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lkrshacmzcy | 4 years and 9 months ago

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The way I put it to my Plumbers so they can simplify it for clients:
DOB has records of the Building Type and Occupancy. The Life Necessities (Cooking, Hot Water and Heating) must match that same number. So if it is a two family, it MUST have two stoves regardless of how it is being use otherwise it is technically a No Fly. You will never really get in trouble for it, but if the client ever wants to sell and the buyer is intelligent it can hurt the value since work is obviously needed.
When you really get kicked is if the utilities are ever locked out. We had a beautiful home on Cambridge that was a three being used as a one by a nice family who moved from the suburbs. Original owners did the conversion illegally. They had a Gas scare and the utilities turned off. They either had to file the correct paperwork and permits for the C of O change or literally put back in two kitchens in existing living rooms….
The DOB laws are extremely grey, for my industry at least, but damn are they dumb matter of fact type enforcers.

sixyearsandcounting | 4 years and 9 months ago

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You may be able to get away with a “kitchenette” in the rental unit. Just a sink and mini-fridge and maybe an outlet for a cooktop. Make it a wet bar or something like that.

krobertson

in General Discussion 4 years and 9 months ago

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Ithaca – I’m considering using two units as one as well. I would like to confirm your architect is saying DoB is ok with there being a passageway directly between the two units as long as it has a lockable door in between??? For example I can place a single door on a adjorning wall between the two units and have DoB sign-off on it as still being two separate units — as long as I have the separate bathroom kitchens, etc for each unit? I imagine it would have to be a fire rated door?

Guest User | 4 years and 9 months ago

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I can’t answer for the DOB or for the architect I talked to, but how would residents of Apt 1 enter their apartment and how would residents of Apt 2 enter theirs? If they each have a lockable entrance that they can reach directly from the outside, then I would think a locked passageway between the two units would be irrelevant. But don’t take my word for it.

hkapstein | 4 years and 8 months ago

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I do not believe DOB will accept a 2 family without a seperation in any type of filing. However if you have a 2-family cofo or LNO approvable historical use, and you want to eliminate the second kitchen, your best bet is to avoid permits altogether, file an alt 2 that doesn’t involve the kitchen in one of the units so it does not appear on the the drawings, or install a kitchenette in such a way that you can remove it after closing the permit, or use it somehow. A 240v outlet and a range won’t cost much. You can get a fridge on craigslist. Perhaps a laundry hookup could be used for the sink.

deva | 4 years and 8 months ago

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This is an interesting discussion as I am considering buying a house thats listed as 2 family but as used as one family. It does have 2 kitchen — one main and another pantry but there is not separation between the two units. Is that a problem? I really would like to use the house as one family. Please advise!

hkapstein | 4 years and 8 months ago

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Not that long ago you could change the CofO, but now it’s basically impossible unless you want to put in sprinklers at a cost of say 50-100k. If the house has a 2-fam CofO, you could use as a 1-fam, but getting any permits could be a problem, and you might face issues if you ever recieved a violation where they noticed this fact, although that doens’t commonly happen.

If there is no cofo, you have to determine the historical use, and potentially see what kind of LNO you could get, and there are lots of threads here on that you can search up.