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If he's going to worry so much on this, I suggest he pass on this house. No seller is going to make their home legal or up to code when there are many other buyers who will not care.
It’s just a room with a door. They have a bed in it. No closet, though. Seller claims bathroom is legal but that they weren’t the ones to put the basement in. My brother’s attorney said if the basement isn’t found in the title search, then it means they don’t have the CO. Bathroom has a walkout door which he just told me about so maybe that’s why it’s a recreation room?
Is the foil request not worth it? Town of Hempstead let’s you do the request right on the website. He just didn’t want to let the seller know he’s requesting the info.
I don't know if what I've done is different than a FOIL request, but you can go down to the town of hempstead building department and pull the file on the house to review the permits and plans, any house and get copies. YOu need section, lot and block number. Its not hard. You can even get hard copies printed up at a cost.
we did that when we were looking doing a dormer on our house. we saw some houses we liked and pulled the plans to see what they did with them and who teh contractor was.
Normally for a room to be a bedroom it must have a closet, you made no mention of them.
I'm not at all sure about that. In our previous house we turned one of the three bedrooms into a "closet room" and removed the closets in the other two bedrooms so as to give both bedrooms some extra usable square footage/wall space.The "closet room" didn't connect directly to the other two. We also removed the doors from the two bedrooms because it made handicap access much easier. Out of curiosity I went to the Assesor's office to ask whether the two closet-less, door-less rooms made the house into a "one bedroom", and was told that the whole closet/bedroom, no-closet/no bedroom thing is a myth. If the house was originally listed as a 3-bedroom it wouldn't matter of all three closets were removed, it would still be a 3-bedroom.
Of course the OP's situation is different because it doesn't sound as if the Town ever recognized or knew about the basement room, but it is kind of ridiculous that the category of a room would depend on a closet being framed out in it. I've seen a couple of houses where the closet was eliminated and replaced by a pair of large armoires, which are just "furniture". So it seems like "once a bedroom, always a bedroom" as far as the towns are concerned.
As I type this I'm sitting in a room where the closet was eliminated in favor of bookshelves, which also line two other walls and the upper part of the fourth which also has a full-wall desktop below. The only furniture is my desk chair, and the door was removed and turned into just a doorway/opening. It's a computer room/library now. Yet according to the Assessor (not Islip) it's still considered the third bedroom despite the elimination of the closet and the door.
I have occasion to work with a lot of appraisers--some will even talk to Realtors
When asked about the bedroom/closet issue, several told me that a bedroom does NOT have to have a closet to be considered a bedroom.
If there were no town or municipal permits issued for the additions then they are illegal. See city hall for records. Where I live the real estate agent has to investigate and provide this for you.
If there were no town or municipal permits issued for the additions then they are illegal. See city hall for records. Where I live the real estate agent has to investigate and provide this for you.
I dare say, you are in, eh, Canada...
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