Building Illegally Converted into SRO

DOB issued a violation notice to landlord for changing the building from a legal three-family dwelling, with one unit per floor, to a single room occupancy (SRO) dwelling. This violated the building's certificate of occupancy. Landlord denied that the building was being used as an SRO. DOB pointed out that there were locks on each door on each floor, some of the rooms had hot plates in addition to the kitchen on each floor, and different rooms in the same apartment were being occupied by different persons or families. The ALJ ruled against landlord and fined him $800. Landlord appealed, claiming, as he had before the ALJ, that family members of tenants lived with them, that each apartment had two doors with separate locks, and that the hot plate was an extra appliance maintained by tenant. ECB again ruled against landlord. The use of the building isn't compatible with a single apartment layout for each floor; the use is consistent with an illegal SRO layout.

Tancredi: ECB App. No. 22574 (2/28/96) [2-page document]