Is your bedroom in the cellar?
Do you live in the attic?
Do you get electricity with an extension cord?
Do you lock your room with a padlock?
If you answered yes you may be living in an illegal apartment / room. Which is the exact opposite of safe and is what is killing people in fires.
The Department of Buildings has launched a citywide campaign to educate New Yorkers about the dangers of illegally converted living spaces.
As part of the new initiative, inspectors, plan examiners and administrative staff have teamed up with firefighters and members of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs to distribute more than 60,000 flyers at major transportation hubs and houses of worship throughout the five boroughs.
Regardless of where you live, you should:
- Have two easy ways to exit in the event of an emergency
- Have a carbon monoxide/smoke detector with working batteries
- Never use an extension cord as a main source of electricity
llegally altered buildings and apartments violate the City’s construction codes and can pose serious risks to tenants, neighbors and first responders in the event of a fire or other emergency. In 2008, the Department of Buildings issued more than 1,000 vacate orders for unsafe conditions related to illegal occupancies.
By law, property owners are required to maintain their buildings in compliance with the City’s building and construction codes. If they fail to do so, violations, monetary penalties and/or criminal charges could result.
To report an illegal conversion or any other unsafe conditions, please call 311.
I'm a little surpised to see this, is someone saying something is wrong or someone or some group of people doing something wrong or illegal
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No! People are dying because of illegal apartments. This is a DOB initiative.
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Yes they are and all over greed, the sadness is that many have been children, remember everyone of those deaths was because someone was trying to get over…. So have you called DOB yet
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Are the 3 family apartments on Seba and Canton which all have basement apartments legal???
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The apartments on Canton Ct. you may be referring to, have been reported in the past, but there is no proof the basements are occupied. There are 3 electric meters, but only 2 gas meters, and that is within the legal requisite. If there were 3 gas meters, it would be proof of illegal occupancy.
If you can prove someone is actually living in any or all of the basements then you might want to report it.
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And maybe this isn't the place to discuss it.
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I'm sorry but its not hard to prove if or how many people are living in a one or two story building, its just a matter of DOB visiting at diiferent hours, including at night and asking questions, maybe do some reords checks. I think they call it something like conducting an investigation, which is what they are suppose to do when they receive a complaint, not just take one ride and look at something and leave. People lives depend on them doing their jobs properly but then again many people would rather they not, its a double edge
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Seems like you all are really digging for something to talk about.
How about those Saints?
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I have to inquire, based on my readings of the diiferent posts on this I wonder and asked, if I or someone from GB knew of a private home that had rent paying tenants or should i say visitors and they reported it to the Dept of Buildings, would they be rats or concerned citizens doing the right thing that may some day save a child's life or the home owner lost of their home being severely damaged somehow
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Canton ct & barlett, there's a family that's actually never done anything by the book, for generations,& they get away with it,it's not expected that they would do the right thing now, they do it,the kids do it, bad cycle, from the parents, mother,daughters, bunch of people,no respect,morals, decency,scam after scam, if they can get away with, I guess they figure why not.
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what do they get away with ? Do you know for a fact or are you assuming they've done things wrong and were reported ? Have you ever reported anything ?
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Sounds to me like more big government intrusion on our lives.
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