3 Family to 4

Are the sprinklers throughout the house or just in the hallways? In theory, the DOB and NYFD may require full house sprinklers.

housepoor

in Zoning 12 years and 7 months ago

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jp1234 | 13 years and 10 months ago

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Hi, My wife and I are looking at buying a brownstone in a historic zone that is officially a 3 family. However, previous owners (maybe 2 owners back) set it up as a 4 family without the proper approvals. Assuming that it is up to code for a 4 family layout (it currently has sprinklers, 4 separate electric meters, etc.), what would be the process to legally convert it to 4 family? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Would this be fairly easy (inexpensive) to do if most of the structural work is already done? Thanks, Jeremy

fastfreddy | 13 years and 10 months ago

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Not sure what the answer to this is but I would also make sure you check on the tax and insurance consequences of switching to 4 family. could make both those things more expensive. also maybe issues like wheelchair access and that kind of thing?

dazednconfused2 | 13 years and 10 months ago

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For the most part, it could be pretty simple. Most likely the biggest issue will be making sure each of the four apartments has a fire rated separation from the hallway. Typically the old brownstone multi-family layouts have 2 or 3 doors from each apartment to the stair hall, and technically they should be 1 hour fire rated, but almost never are. However, you may be inheriting a violation for work without a permit. In a building with more than 2 families, that could be $5,000 to the ECB and 14 times the filing fee to the DOB. This can be a lot. Because you would be buying the building and filing to voluntarily correct the violation, you may be able to get out of some of those fines, but I wouldn’t go into this unless I had the money to pay them if needed. Jim Hill, RA, LEED AP Urban Pioneering Architecture Of course you’ll be getting a new c of o, so you’ll have to make sure the rest of the building is up to code. Depending upon what other work was done without a permit, you might have to do some work to get it there.

dazednconfused2 | 13 years and 10 months ago

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Oh, and as for accessibility, that only applies to the lowest floor in a walk-up.

adam_dahill | 13 years and 10 months ago

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It would need to be changed back to a 4 fam prior to you closing on the mortgage. The bank is not going to let you close with an illegal apartment. The seller’s need to finalize that work.

jp1234 | 13 years and 10 months ago

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What’s the filing fee to the dob? Also, for financing, what is considered okay…if seller removes the kitchen?