Landlord Didn't Install Sprinkler System in Laundry Room

The Fire Department issued several violation notices to landlord for failure to: (1) provide a sign for the standpipe system; (2) maintain the sprinkler system in the compaction room in good working order; and (3) extend the sprinkler system to the newly altered portion of the residential building in the area of the laundry room. Landlord claimed that no alterations had been made to the laundry room. The laundry room existed prior to the enactment of the 2008 Building Code and therefore was grandfathered. The ALJ ruled against landlord and fined it $2,375. Landlord appealed, again argued that the laundry room pre-existed.

ECB ruled against landlord. Landlord didn't prove that the laundry room was exempt from the automatic sprinkler requirement. The 1981 Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) that landlord relied on showed that the building was altered under the 1968 Building Code. Section 27-954 of the 1968 Code required that a laundry area with two or more dryers have an automatic sprinkler room. Landlord argued that the building was constructed in 1927. But there was no proof that the laundry room existed before 1968 or that the 1968 Code didn't apply retroactively.

Manhattan Mgmt. Corp.: ECB App. No 1300304 (5/30/13) [3-pg. doc.]