” So I heard Bill lost his job to Covid, that’s awful, he was there for what 12 years?”
“Looks like we’ll be taking on a boarder in the basement to help make ends meet, at least for the time being.”
In addition to the light-starved, often unpleasant conditions of a basement, the financial pressures of this economy will make this scenario increasingly common. The resurgence of the basement living space is becoming one of the most common projects in our office. What often happens, is that a home-owner updates their basement to include a bedroom and often a bathroom, perhaps a separate entrance to ease the independent schedules of a returning family member, work-at-home-situation or perhaps a new renter to help supplement the household income.
Many homeowners may not understand the many regulations that relate to the occupancy of a typical basement or get proper permits. This can lead to civil penalties and the need to legalize the undocumented work. https://seconarchitect.com/permits-approvals-and-forgiveness-just-kidding/
There are building code regulations pertaining to minimum ceiling heights, amounts of light and ventilation, and means of egress etc. Additionally, regulations in certain municipalities forbid basement bedrooms or apartments.
The reason for many of the regulations is that often when a family member moves out, maybe a pantry or kitchen is added and the vacant bedroom/playroom then has the potential to become an illegal apartment and rented-suddenly there are more cars in the driveway, more kids in the school system, higher demands on the local infrastructure and when unemployment surges – the effect is dramatic.
So before you go down this road, please call us at 914 674 2950 and we’ll help you explore your options.
