Regulatory Reform for Basement Apartments: Policy Brief

Many of New York City’s basement apartments exist within the gray market, due to the financial and regulatory barriers faced by homeowners wishing to undertake a conversion. Keeping these housing arrangements informal jeopardizes the safety and security of both tenants and homeowners, empowering neither with leasehold rights, and allows for unsafe living conditions. Streamlining a pathway for the conversion of basements into safe, legal apartments would make these arrangements safer and more stable for homeowners and tenants, and add urgently needed housing supply during  a health, economic, and housing crisis.

Regulatory innovation, all the more important when financial resources are limited, could enable the creation of basement and cellar apartments by reducing the cost and complexity of the conversion process. Citizens Housing & Planning Council is excited to release our brief listing regulatory actions that can make basement apartment conversions safer, easier, and more affordable.

The following policies could address some of the most challenging regulatory barriers that homeowners confront when undertaking a conversion:

1. Allow cellar occupancy
2. Create a DOB point of contact
3. Permit 7′-0″ ceiling height
4. Issue a partial certificate of occupancy
5. Regulate glazed area in aggregate rather than by window
6. Waive parking requirements for subgrade units
7. Exclude cellars from FAR when converted into a dwelling unit
8. Consider a two-family home with a subgrade unit as a private dwelling instead of a multiple dwelling
9. Exempt new multiple dwellings from adequate adjacent space requirement
10. Abate property taxes to offset tax increase due to conversion
11. Expand non-metallic piping options for sprinkler systems
12. Embrace water mist sprinkler systems for residential applications
13. Create an amnesty program for work that had been previously done on a subgrade unit without a permit