Certificate of Occupancy

Certificate of occupancy is a document certifying that the building has complied with all the applicable building codes and laws, such as building codes for decks. This certificate is issued by either a building department or a local government agency. The purpose of issuing such a certificate implies that the building is in a livable condition or is ready enough to be occupied. In order to obtain the certificate one needs to follow certain procedures and fulfill certain requirements.

Generally it is required in case of three conditions, first when the new building is being constructed, second based on the change of use of the building. It'll be easy to understand with an example, if the building was used for industrial purposes and is now to be used as a residence then it requires a certificate of occupancy to prove the change of use to be legal and allowed by the respective jurisdiction. The third condition is the change of ownership of any kind of a building, be it a residential, commercial or an industrial building.

Procedure for Obtaining Certificate of Occupancy, NYC

Applying for a Certificate
The first thing to do when you are buying or building a house is to visit the Buildings Department Customer Service Office of your borough office and check if the house has a certificate of occupancy or the status if it's pending. If the certificate is not issued then you need to work according to the requirements given to you in the office. An easy way of doing it is to visit the website: www.nyc.gov/bis, tick on your respective borough and enter the address which needs to be verified. If the building or the house does not have a certificate then you could check all the building requirements that are necessary in order to obtain the certificate.

Finish the Pending Work
The second step would be to hire the contractors and finish up all the pending work of the house to comply by the building requirements. The construction plan for renovation or building a new house needs to be submitted by the contractors to get an approval from the Department of Buildings. This will be followed by an inspection from the department for which an appointment needs to be taken in advance.

Temporary/ Conditional Certificate
If the work is unfinished and if you need to move into the new house and cannot wait until you receive the final certificate then you can request for a temporary certificate of occupancy that is valid for 90 days in New York City. This is also issued after an inspection that concludes that the basic safety requirements are in place for the house to be occupied.

Final Certificate
After the inspection if the authorized person from the department is convinced that the home construction or the home improvement project has complied by all the building codes, the fees is paid and the all the paperwork is submitted, the certificate of occupancy will be approved and issued.

Some of the most important points checked by the inspection authorities include exterior and interior paintings of the house, architecture, smoke alarms on all the levels of the building, plumbing leaks such as leaky faucets, whether sewage systems are for sewage or ground water, handrails on the stairways, condition of the window panes, if it's broken or cracked, condition of the stove burners and heating systems in the house, cover plates on switches and electrical junction boxes, condition of the walkways or sidewalks etc. These are only some of the points, in order to obtain a certificate of occupancy there may be several other factors to ensure safety in the house.