Is a basement houseguest illegal?

Help!  I own a house in the Kensington/Victorian Flatbush area and have an old family friend as longish-term house guest in my basement. He pays no rent. Its a spare room in the basement, just off the rec room; it’s not an apartment. There is no kitchen down there. There is a basement bathroom but its not private to him.  Except for his bedroom’s old skeleton key, he can’t lock any part of it to be private.  He can enter through my house or through a separate door that goes through my boiler room. I recently received a Notice of Inspection for “Illegal Basement Apartment. People living in basement” and am supposed to call back to schedule an appointment for reinspection.  God only knows who complained, the guest is quiet and respectable. What are the rules?  Am I allowed to have a house guest in my basement?  Now I’m also worried about the bathroom down there–is it illegal too?  What do I do?  Thanks.

KensingtonLite

in Inspection 13 years and 3 months ago

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dazednconfused2 | 13 years and 3 months ago

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If it’s half below ground, meaning the midpoint between the floor and ceiling is below the curb, then it’s a cellar.     A kinko house would be a one-floor apartment with a cellar.  The cellar could be used as a recreation room, and there are a very specific set of regulations related to that, some of them being no bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, etc, and no full bathroom.  A powder room with a toilet and sink would be permissible.

chinch | 13 years and 3 months ago

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How does code related to English basements, which are often 1/2 or more underground? Or a Kinko house, in which the lower two-level apartment is composed of one completely above-ground floor and one completely below ground-level floor?

dazednconfused2 | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Depends on what you call “up to code”.  You have the choice of using it as a rec room, in which case you can have separate rooms and a powder room (no tub or shower), or you can have it as an open cellar with a full bathroom but no rooms larger than 60 square feet.  Each option has a few more relatively minor requirements, but these are the big ones that will help you make a choice.   In either case, bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens, or any other “habitable room” are simply not allowed in a cellar, no matter how tall the ceilings or how much natural light there is.

KensingtonLite | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Thanks, you guys have been very helpful in steering this somewhat over-his-head new homeowner to the right information. Next question: is it possible to bring it up to code?  It is indeed a cellar, but its dry, I have high ceilings, there are two exits (one to outside of house via boiler room stairs, one up a wide staircase to rest of house with no door at top or bottom) and there are full sized windows on all sides (the windows are about 3/4 under ground but open to little trenches with drains on the side of the house).  Maybe this doesn’t matter, but when you walk down there it feels like a place people would use for sleeping, not some dark, musty cellar.

dazednconfused2 | 13 years and 3 months ago

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However if it is a cellar, and now it sounds like it is, there are separate rooms, as it sounds there are, and the bathroom has a tub or shower, then it’s a violation.  The DOB has recently issued a new memo (http://bit.ly/x0Ijb8) clarifying what is allowed in a cellar.  It is very specific, and they are enforcing it.  If you have a three-piece bath (toilet, sink AND shower or tub) then you cannot have rooms larger that 60 sq ft, with the possible exception of the boiler room.

jockdeboeraia | 13 years and 3 months ago

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If the area is more than 1/2 in the ground when compaired to the curb than it is a cellar. You cannot as of right use it for a bedroom. That does not mean it cannot be amended to be habitable, but it would require going to DOB.

cupolacoffee | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Google “nyc illegal apartments” and you will find plenty of links describing illegal conversions.

KensingtonLite | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Thanks. I guess I’m not sure of the difference.  It is in fact more than 1/2 in the ground. (I’d say its 3/4 under).  It doesn’t seem like a cellar though, it has 10 foot ceilings and is totally dry.

jockdeboeraia | 13 years and 3 months ago

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Are you talking about a basement or cellar? Is it more than 1/2 in the ground? Since you do not have a kitchen I do not see what then can complain about unless it is a cellar.