Anybody who has a track record with the zoning board will be able to give you the straight scoop. Worth paying the money upfront to get it right.

From what you describe,this sounds like it would qualify as an SRO (illegal). You might want to talk to the zoning officer before you spend any money.

I believe sprinkler systems and fire escapes are only required for 3-families or more--not 2-families. Is your house a 2-family?
For a room to be a legal bedroom it must have a window large enough for a person to fit through in case of a fire or emergency.

I got a rough estimate for sprinkler installation around $6000. Seems like fire escapes maybe more expensive than sprinklers these days.

I'm now looking into a lawyer. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look for one that deals before zoning boards.

I would consider contacting an architect for a consultation since they know what would make the apartment meet the requirements of the building code. I'm pretty sure the bedroom will need an "escape" window, amongst other things.

You have a lot of money at stake here making you real estate investment pay, get a good lawyer who is connected to the buildings dept. Try calling the firms that practice before the zoning board. It's such bullshit that an inspector can't tell you clearly and in writing (so they can't keep adding things on each visit) what you need to do to be in compliance, but that's par for the course in JC.

I can't blame him for finding deadbolts on interior doors fishy. Smells like illegal SRO, so get rid of them.

Sounds like your slumlordin' days are soon to be behind you.

Well the apartment is a duplex and I believe it's allowed up to 5 unrelated people to live in it. It's just that no one can sleep in the attic.

I haven't gotten any official notice yet to evict anyone sleeping in the attic, but may just be a matter of time.

That HD link is for a non-rated ladder so year it's not up to code. Now that the inspector has been to your place you will have to evict your tenant from the illegal apartment. Perhaps you can get the apartment up to code and then have the city zone the apartment for habitation.

I rent the second floor and attic as a duplex single shared apartment in my 2 family house.

A housing code inspector says we can't rent out the attic as bedrooms. He said it may work if we install a fire escape but didn't give any assurance of that being the only requirement.

He also mentioned we can't have locks on the individual rooms. The rooms do have deadbolts installed which were there before I bought the house, I don't know if that's what he was referring to.

What are the requirements for having bedrooms in the attic? Is there anything other than the fireescape that is needed?

Would installing fire sprinklers in the hallways suffice? What costs more?

I also saw there are portable fire escape ladders. I'm guessing they won't be up to code. Like this one http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v ... toreId=10051#.US1TATvihBk