Futile attempt to evade mansion tax

They might have had a chance if the units had been listed separately, but that was never the case. This one looks pretty open-and-shut.

good try but the fact that it was listed together and had a single kitchen probably did them in. was worth a shot since they didn't have to pay the interest/penalties.

No penalties but lawyers' fee, aggravation and bad blood with IRS.

>>>>>No penalties but lawyers' fee

HE is the lawyer.

i assume the c of o's were combined to one by whomever did the combo--banks require this if the add-on apt is not bought for cash--many coops also require that combos get one c of o--the flexibility of two c of o's is very nice when one can afford/do it--when selling, one can sell both, or one, and keep a pied a terre--or perhaps sell, save buyer mansion tax, and price accordingly

Apartments don't have Certificates of Occupancy; buildings do.

Combos haven't required a new CofO since 1997.

no kidding--my friend who combo'ed a coop said there he was able to keep separate c of o's have paid cash for his add-on apt--this happened pre-1997, but eprhaps i misunderstood--perhaps there is another document with makes the combo one unit in the eyes of the city/tax-man etc?

You need a permit from the Department of Buildings. It'll say "blah blah combination of apartments blah blah no change in use, occupancy or egress." DoB doesn't itself keep track of number of units in a co-op. Department of Finance supposedly does, for comparing buildings, figuring taxes, and I think other things, but they seem to keep using old records. E.g., they have my building at 100, but it's been 80-something for years.

I combined 3 co-op units - two horizontally and one vertically - and the DoB literally said what NWT said they would even though there were 3 kitchens for a while. Of which I kept 2 because I'm renting out 1 unit. The co-op just added shares/maint.

sounds like a nice apt--did you get mtges as you accumulated add'l units?--how did the bank(s) react to that?

my impression is the banks dont like multiple mtges on multiple units which have been combined--and coops also are often resistant to consider a combined apt more than one unit.

yikes - cash

He gave it a good fight, 3 appeals. As West81st said it seemed pretty cut and dry though I guess they felt they had a compelling argument should they get snagged. Interesting that it is based on usage and not the technicality of ownership/purchase circumstances.

Keith Burkhardt
TBG

cash is king

yikes, not always... Got major DoB involvement installing the stairs between the floors, abandoned the idea and never looked back.