Town of Brookhaven & Basements - permit needed?

Does anyone know off hand?
I can't find it easily online and am curious.
If a basement is finished but has no kitchen or bathroom?

Re: Town of Brookhaven & Basements - permit needed?

Message edited 11/27/2011 9:50:36 PM.

Re: Town of Brookhaven & Basements - permit needed?

Knowing what I know now, I would absolutely insist on seeing a CO that included a finished basement on any house I buy.

We bought a house that was listed with a finished half-basement. One side had drywall over the cinderblock, a tile floor and a dry bar. Fast forward 6 years when we added a dormer upstairs. The permits for the dormer included a requirement for an on-site inspection that included the basement. Turns out that any "living space" requires a CO.

In order to get the CO for the dormer we had to add a wall or railing to the side of the stairs, have a self-closing door with a metal-lined backing separating the side with the furnace from the living space, seal up all the space around the stairs with drywall (to block any smoke from a furnace fire) and put drywall over the furnace (to retard the spread of any potential fire). Total cost, about $1300 and an $800 fine for not having the CO in the first place - never mind that the work was done by someone else - we got stuck with the fine.

The house was listed with the finished basement - it never dawned on me that it was something that would have to be listed on the CO and I guess the lawyer and inspector didn't question it either.

Needless to say, we were not happy to have to pay $2100 more because the previous owners didn't get a permit, CO or do the work to code. I really wish they would change the law to require an on-site inspection with a new CO any time you sold a house. That would insure that the person who did the work got stuck with all the bills and didn't try to scam the system and stick the next owner with the problems they created.