Landlord Illegally Converted Doctor's Office to Apartment

DOB issued violation notices to landlord for altering a two-family dwelling. Landlord offered no defense. The ALJ found that landlord had illegally converted a first floor doctor's office to an apartment, and changed the second floor apartment into four SRO units and the third floor apartment into five SRO units. The ALJ imposed fines, including daily penalties and penalties for noncompliance totalling $29,000. Landlord appealed and lost. For the first time on appeal, landlord claimed that the second violation duplicated the first one. One violation was for erecting illegal partitions, and one was for unlawful conversion.

Sevilla: ECB App. No. 1000089 (7/22/10) [4-pg. doc.]