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Brooklyn : Below Grade Bedroom Question

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Brooklyn : Below Grade Bedroom Question

Postby Meledy » Sat Jun 01, 2002 10:04 pm

Hi all,

I've stumbled across what seems to me, as a rational law abiding human, to be a very weird phenomenon and I'm trying to ascertain it's source. The phenomenon is.... real estate agents showing new construction buildings (in brooklyn) with below grade space and saying "It's illegal to put a BR down here, because it's (more than 50%) below grade, but you could fit X (where x is between 1-3) bedrooms down here really well."
I have slowly gathered that there is some new code (~ 5 years old???) that says you can't have bedrooms below grade - even if what I understood to be the standard code issues (bathroom on floor, exit door/window to outside)are taken care of. I'm trying to find a)the text of this code - to satisfy my curiosity and b) the reason why it was put in place - to figure out if there is a good reason for it or not. Does anyone have any information/clue about this? It's happened with 3 different agents at this point, so I can't chalk it up to insanity.

Thanks!
Elizabeth
Meledy
 
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Re: Brooklyn : Below Grade Bedroom Question

Postby Brooklyn Babe » Sun Jun 02, 2002 3:01 pm

Not quite sure how the properties are being presented. Are they listing it as a 3 brdm, but when you actually get there it's a 1 (very popular RE agent practice regarding BK brownstones)? I'm not quite sure what you/they mean by "below grade". Anyway, check out the following links, it may hold some answers...
NYS Multiple Dwelling Law
http://www.tenant.net/Other_Laws/MDL/mdltoc.html
New York City Housing Maintenance Code
Subtitle II: Physical and Occupancy Standards for Dwelling Units
http://www.tenant.net/Other_Laws/HMC/hmc003.txt
The above information is from a non-attorney tenant activist and is not considered or to be used as legal advice.
Brooklyn Babe
 
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