Hello,
We are being harassed by a tenant above us and would like to get out of our lease. I am looking for ways to motivate the landlord to release us. We are on the first floor of a multi-family house in Queens, and we have full basement access. Part of our lease includes a cellar apartment which I believe is illegal.
I am also trying to determine if one of the units upstairs is illegal. According to the Certificate of Occupancy online at the NY DoB BIS site, my building is supposed to be 2-family. It is set up as a 3-family. The forms are so old (1947) that the address isn't even correct. I checked the building next to us and they have the same old numbering system on their CoO so I assume at some point the streets/houses were renumbered. Could there be an updated doc somewhere that isn't uploaded?
An old HPD registration indicates that the building has 3 units, although it is currently not validly registered. An illegal cellar conversion complaint on the BIS site from several years ago is titled on the website as "Illegal Cellar Created in 2-Family House," it doesn't say 3-family. This discrepancy between BIS and HPD makes me wonder how I can confirm how many units are legal. No one answers the phone at Dept. of Buildings, C o O office.
Thank you!