How to Keep Your Certificate of Occupancy Up to Date

The Challenge

For several years, we have managed a pre-war building with about 100 units in an Upper East Side landmark district. An additional floor was added by the sponsor, increasing the size of the two penthouse apartments. This additional work triggered the requirement to amend the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for the building. The sponsor had been renewing temporary certificates for several years, but always late. There was a series of open violations that needed to be cleared before a permanent C of O could be obtained. Because of this, apartment transfers became exponentially more difficult for shareholders. When the board refinanced its mortgage, a special provision was added requiring the building to obtain a final certificate in three years or the bank had the right to rescind the loan.

The Solution

When the project to get a permanent C of O was taken on, there were over 30 open permits, 20 open job applications, and violations going back to pre-co-op 1982. Our expediter arranged and oversaw a series of inspections and had a number of violations dismissed. We contacted shareholders who had completed renovations and had not closed their work permits, and got them to do so. Because many apartments had changed hands, the board had those permits reopened by an architect retained by the corporation. Sometimes, this included recreating drawings from scratch, getting those plans approved, and then finally closing out the permits. Because of the nature of the work involved, the entire project took about two years at a cost of nearly $100,000.

The Lesson

Buildings should take the time to review their current alteration agreements with their manager, while the corporate counsel and reviewing architect should make sure all protections are in place. In addition, a document needs to be created that requires any shareholder/unit-owner who does work that could affect the current C of O to be fully responsible for the reinstatement of the C of O with all required changes.