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

We are in contract for a 2-family house that has been lived in as a 1-family (no division between units), although there are 2 partial kitchens. We want to treat it as a 1-family. An architect has told us that if we want to avoid an alt-1 we have to have 2 kitchens and a locked door between units. Otherwise we need to do an alt-1 with all its complications. Is this true?

Guest User | 4 years and 9 months ago

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Guest User | 4 years and 9 months ago

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Unless maybe we could put a lock on the door separating the master bedroom and bath from the rest of the house, and stick a kitchenette in there. Might that work?

Guest User | 4 years and 9 months ago

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The architect told us we can’t do that: that to leave it as a 2 family we would need 2 kitchens plus a lockable door between the units. We could conceivably put in a small kitchen and take it out later, but there is no place where we could put such a door. I don’t see a solution other than reluctantly accepting an alt-1.

yudashasom | 4 years and 9 months ago

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AFAIK any change, and your cap on taxes is removed. Taxes only go one direction.

Why go through all the nonsense Ithaca? Make the interior changes to a 1 fam, leave it as a legal 2 family. Better for resale, more options for the future, taxes stay where they are with low increases.

Guest User | 4 years and 9 months ago

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Thanks, Maggie. The house is currently set up as a 1-family (no door separating units) and since we want to redo the stairs to bring them up to code there would be no way to add such a door. So we seem to be stuck with an Alt-1. I have heard that with an Alt-1 one needs to have a “site safety super” come by each day at great expense to check on work safety, but I hope that maybe that won’t be necessary for a 1-family. I have asked the architect but haven’t heard back. I am not sure there are tax advantages; I think I have heard both that there are and that there used to be but are no longer.

allyslope | 4 years and 9 months ago

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Does the architect or anyone know if there are any restate tax benefits to convert from 2 to 1 family? Restate tax benefits long term vs cost (contractor, architect, filing etc.) to convert

Guest User | 4 years and 9 months ago

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in short, yes. if the house is a 2-family according to its DOB records and you take out the key components that would allow it to be used as a 2-family (second kitchen, private entry, etc.) it would be considered a change-of-use which would require the alt-1 filing. there’s been back-and-forth on this board before about the merits of maintaining 2-family versus changing to 1-family so i won’t comment on that. your architect is right, but they also need to provide you with an explanation of what they would anticipate the different construction and filing costs to be for doing it either way so you can make an informed decision.

Guest User | 4 years and 9 months ago

string(1) "3"
string(6) "195579"

in short, yes. if the house is a 2-family according to its DOB records and you take out the key components that would allow it to be used as a 2-family (second kitchen, private entry, etc.) it would be considered a change-of-use which would require the alt-1 filing. there’s been back-and-forth on this board before about the merits of maintaining 2-family versus changing to 1-family so i won’t comment on that. your architect is right, but they also need to provide you with an explanation of what they would anticipate the different construction and filing costs to be for doing it either way so you can make an informed decision.