How to Find the Legal Use of your Brownstone

Do you know someone whose been a homeowner most of their life?

I’ve had the honor of meeting and working for families who have owned their homes for more than 25 years in Brooklyn.  You should see how proud they are of that accomplishment.

At a time when so many people are losing their property to foreclosure, these residents are standard bearers in their communities for keeping their castle free from fraud and misfortune.

After years of guarding their American Dream, I’m called to advise on how much their house could sell for.  You can imagine their anticipation.  I know they’ve spent time thinking about what they could do with the money they’ll get at closing.

What I’ve also seen in these moments is how unprepared homeowners are to learn what New York City said is the legal use of their brownstone and how it would affect their property value.

How could they not know what they own?

Families that purchased homes in neighborhoods like Bedford Stuyvesant in the 60′s and early 70′s, did so as first time home buyers.

During the white flight to Long Island and Westchester, details were overlooked to close property sales.  Many of these families who bought had the impression they were represented by the same attorney who also represented the seller.

Due diligence wasn’t as high a priority back then when it came to property appraisals and title reports.  If the value was confirmed in the sales contract, an amendment could easily be drafted to adjust for issues identified in the title report.

Since redlining by banks had systematically denied credit to African-American and Hispanic families, mortgage creation was often left to sellers and private money lenders.

Without service providers offering an objective opinion on the property sale (i.e. Attorney, Lender, Property Appraiser and Title Agent), there wouldn’t be any other way to know what kind of property was being purchased or its legal use.

What you own and how you use it

Now here’s where New York City compounds the problem.

Homeowners have been receiving property tax statements from the Finance department since the mid 90′s.  This agency is responsible for determining and collecting the property tax owed by building and lot owners.

They assign a tax class to property based on the determined use for the block and lot a vacant lot or building is built on.

The tax class assigned and reported in a statement sends the wrong message to homeowners.  They believe the City is informing them what kind of property they own when they’re told in writing that …

• a B1 designation means they own a 2 family property
• a C0 designation means they own a 3 family property
• a C3 designation means they own a 4 family property

Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth.  While on occasion the tax class of a property matches the legal use of the building, the Finance department isn’t in charge of determining how a building can be used.

The Buildings department is the only agency responsible for determining the legal use of all buildings erected, both past and present.

The legal use of a building is designated in a Certificate of Occupancy and considered the official record of how a building is used and inhabited in by people, animals, equipment or materials.

Just because an owner has used a building as a 3 family over many years doesn’t mean the buildings department agrees with its present use.

And if they don’t agree, there’s very little recourse an owner has that doesn’t involve spending money on an architect and contractor to bring the building up to code for current use.

This can easily change plans that families have worked on for years.  Many of them have prepared for retirement and want to move.

They had no idea how significant the legal use of their building would be in

• selling their home
• refinancing their mortgage
• opening a home equity line of credit, or
• taking out a reverse mortgage

A step by step guide to finding the legal use of your building

A little knowledge can go a long way in helping a homeowner address their property’s legal use issues long before they make their moving plans.  Just follow these steps and you’ll have a better idea about what you actually own and what you might have to do next.

Step 1. Visit the buildings department’s web site when you click here and find the BIS Web Query form on the home page.

Once you’ve found the form, select the borough your property is found in and enter the address and street name.

After entering the information, hit the submit button.  As you can see in the image to the left, we’ve chosen a property address to show how to find its legal use.

Step 2. The web site should return a result the moment it confirms the address exists.  You should be viewing a page similar to the one below that we’ve queried for 564 Jefferson Avenue in Brooklyn.

As you can see, we’ve added some arrows and highlights to the image to draw your attention to places on the result page to show you where you should be looking.

• top arrow shows you the property address, which you should confirm to make sure it matches the one you entered
• bottom highlights with red arrow show you the finance department’s tax class designation.  According to the code used, 564 Jefferson Avenue is taxed as a 3 family residential property.  I sold this property some years ago and I can honestly tell you I didn’t sell a 3 family house.
• the red arrow top right points to a unique link to view certificates of occupancy.  It’s here you’ll see the legal use on file with the buildings department.

Step 3. Click on the unique link that’s titled View Certificates of Occupancy.  Once you’ve click on the link the following page should appear;

As you can see this property didn’t have a Certificate of Occupancy on file with the buildings department.  That didn’t stop the finance department from charging the owner a property tax for a C0 – 3 Family Walk Up property.

For those not familiar, this property is in Bedford Stuyvesant, a neighborhood that has more property without a C of O than any other in the City.   Other neighborhoods in Brooklyn where an unusually high number of homeowners experience this same challenge are;

• Clinton Hill
• Prospect Heights
• Prospect Lefferts Gardens
• Bushwick
• Fort Greene
• East New York, and
• Brownsville

I’ll admit, I’ve had my share of challenges with properties like this far too often in my career.

It has forced me to understand how to navigate the buildings department maze of files, along with property records maintained by the finance department, to help homeowners avoid delays in their plans to sell and move.

Take the steps to learn what New York City says you own so you can successfully plan how to sell or refinance your property when the time comes.

And if you have any questions or comments about the article or how to overcome some of the challenges I experienced with 564 Jefferson Avenue, you’re invited to ask in the comments section below.

The good news is we answer all questions asked and never close our comments so we can meet the readers in our community.