Is this the skinniest house in Queens?

Wow, that's one narrow house, especially for an unattached one. Is it a one family? There are 2 doors...
The DOB website says it is a one-family, but it was converted illegally into 2 offices and one residential unit. There are some cramped quarters in the shadow of Queens Supreme Court in Jamaica.

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And this is why illegal conversions are a big deal...

From the Times Ledger:

The South Jamaica home where a famed chair designer died during a fire last week had been illegally subdivided into four apartments, a spokeswoman for the city Buildings Department said.

The house, which had been OK’d as a two-family residence, was also issued violations for work without permits to create illegal apartments, plumbing and electrical work performed without a permit, defective or exposed electrical wiring and an illegal gas stove in the cellar, the spokeswoman said.

Three families had been living in separate apartments alongside that of 83-year-old Charles Pollock, residents said, and the tenants can no longer stay at the house on 157th Street near 115th Avenue until a vacate order issued by the DOB is lifted, the agency said. In addition, the property was also cited for failure to maintain a detached garage, the spokeswoman said.

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Build what you want. City Planning has your back.

From the Daily News:

Dozens of homeless families are living in squalid conditions in two illegally operated South Bronx shelters.

And the owner of the buildings — on Southern Blvd. and Hall Place — is one step closer to gaining city approval to keep the shelters open, despite the protests of neighbors and officials.

The landlord, Julius Ausch, got the thumbs up from the Department of City Planning last week on a zoning exemption that could allow him to keep the buildings operating as shelters.

Residents complained of mold, mice and shoddy construction work in the building.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeless Services would not address the legal issues, saying only that the agency was “being kept abreast” of Aush’s efforts to bring the buildings into compliance.

Locals have battled the scofflaw landlord in the past.

They argued that Ausch — who lives in Brooklyn — willfully disregarded zoning laws when he built the Southern Blvd. residence two floors higher than he’s legally permitted.

He later leased it to New Hope, which opened it as a homeless shelter in 2009 and operated under temporary approvals that expired in May of 2012.

The City Council has two months to make the final call on the zoning exemptions for both shelters.

The Upper West Side is also fighting a shelter. Pretty soon, the City will just consist of high-rises for tower people and one giant homeless shelter.

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Astoria landlord in deep doo-doo

From DNA Info:

A Queens landlord was indicted Monday for stealing tens of thousands of dollars from prospective tenants for rent on apartments that were deemed uninhabitable after the space was illegally converted into a nine-family building, according to the Queens District Attorney's office.

Hinyoung Limtung, 55, is facing charges for allegedly pocketing $44,050 from would-be renters for apartments at 31-70 Crescent St., near Broadway, in Astoria — despite the fact that a vacate order had been issued at the property for unsafe and illegal conditions.

According to the Queens DA, the Department of Buildings had issued the vacate order in December of 2012 after an inspection found the two-family building had been illegally converted into a five-family building, and that the first and second floors had no sprinkler system and no secondary means of egress.

A second inspection of the building in February of 2013 found tenants still living at site, despite the vacate order, and that the property had been illegally converted again, this time into a nine-family dwelling, the Queens DA said.

Officials say Limtung collected rent from 10 prospective tenants between December 2012 and April 2013, despite the vacate order.

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Building containing human cages busted

From the NY Post:

Chinatown’s “human kennel” was hit with more than 60 violations from multiple agencies for unsafe conditions exposed by The Post, records show.

After the exposé, the Hester Street hellhole, where men live in cage-like rooms, received 47 housing-code violations from the city’s Housing and Preservation Department, records show.

The department issued summonses on each of the building’s six floors for obstructed exits and illegal alterations to fire escapes and windows.

The building’s owner was slapped with an additional 13 Environmental Control Board violations, and the Department of Health issued an order to abate “cockroach conditions.”

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Gentrification can only go so far

All it takes is one rotten property to bring down an area. Case in point: The house on the right. Among the restored buildings and not-too-out-of-character new one next door, 510 Lafayette Ave sticks out like a sore thumb.

Ah, rodents. Let's see what else is going on here.

In 2007, an illegal SRO was found inside. A later complaint called it a "rehab center". One of those halfway houses that the city authorized, then shut down, perhaps.

Then there was a complaint of termites.

Then work without a permit in 2008 followed by a shaky building.

In 2009, an illegal SRO was found inside yet again. Also, exposed electrical wiring.

Then in 2010, squatters moved in though it was boarded up and this went on for at least a year.

Total violations: $66,450

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Astoria scammer in the slammer

From the Queens Courier:

An Astoria landlord has been charged with taking thousands of dollars from potential tenants after posting a Craigslist listing for an apartment and room at his home that were never vacant.

According to a criminal complaint, Mario Lalicata, also known as Mario Lamagra, posted a rental listing on Craigslist for a basement apartment or room at his 48th Street home in Astoria. Between March 23 and August 13, Lalicata allegedly took security deposits ranging from $500 to $2,000 from prospective tenants and collected first month’s rent in two cases. Afterwards, as the move-in dates got closer, Lalicata allegedly suspended the moves after making up numerous excuses. When the tenants tried asking for their money back, the landlord allegedly promised to return the money or said the money was being used for repairs. Lalicata allegedly then stopped answering and returning the tenants’ calls.

On August 13, Lalicata was arraigned on a 22-count criminal complaint with ten counts of fourth-degree grand larceny, two counts of first-degree scheme to defraud and ten counts of petit larceny.

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Guy lives in converted dumpster

From Huffington Post:

Normally, you wouldn't think of a trash receptacle as a viable living space, but if you ask Gregory Kloehn he'd disagree. Featured On HGTV's "You Live In What?," when this West coast resident visits New York, he stays in his Brooklyn home: A retrofitted commercial dumpster that he bought for $2,000.

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Who builds a house like this?

Now here's a real architectural abortion: 32-15 60th Street, Woodside. Permits were filed in 2006 to build a 2-family house, but things went awry and those permits were revoked in 2007. The house has sat basically abandoned with a stop work order since 2010 and had a complaint filed in 2011 that it was open and unguarded with people (squatters?) entering and exiting. Lord knows if they ever resolved the little electrical problem they had. And what's with that open foundation? The house looks like it's on stilts.

This was previously a driveway/side yard.

The same owner apparently owns the house next door which currently has a yet-to-be-answered complaint of illegal conversion. The previous owner was tagged in 2006 for the same violation.

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It's not just happening in NYC

From CBS New York:

A Long Island town is cracking down on illegal room rentals near the Stony Brook University campus.

The Town of Brookhaven has taken 68 landlords to court this year for allegedly illegally renting rooms to students in their single-family homes, WCBS 880′s Mike Xirinachs reported.

One homeowner reportedly rented rooms in his single-family home to 14 students, Xirinachs reported.

At least 30 other homes are under investigation.

Nearby residents have complained about loud parties and parking problems and said the issue is lowering property values.

“It hurts the resale value,” one resident said. “You see these poor people they had to sell the house, they’re losing money.”

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Bug bomb building illegally converted

From the NY Post:

The Chinatown building blasted apart by pesticide bombs had been illegally subdivided and was using illegal gas and plumbing lines, city building officials said.

The slipshod structure at 17 Pike Street — which went up in a fiery explosion just before 1 p.m. yesterday, injuring at least nine people — has been ordered emptied of all tenants.

“A full vacate order was issued for the property due to the presence of illegal conversions in the building,” said Dept. of Buildings spokeswoman Kelly Magee.

DOB inspectors found illegal partitions that compromised exits on the second through fifth floors of the five-story prewar building, according to a newly-filed complaint, which also cited the exploding bug bombs as causing the partial collapse of the structure.

The investigation also revealed “illegal plumbing work and gas lines” in the “shaking/vibrating” building, which houses a beauty parlor and bus company on the ground floor, and is listed as an “18 family dwelling” in city records.

It is unclear how many people were living in the building, or how many subdivided apartments there were. But the Red Cross yesterday had 61 people from 17 Pike – 46 adults and 15 children – register for emergency assistance.

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