Certificate of Occupancy NYC

[Nicole Woods]

I am selling a house to an investor in NYC. Brooklyn to be exact. The deal was about to go through until he stated that the certificate of occupancy was incorrect. The block number is correct the lot number is not correct. I am working with the NYC buildings dept to get it fixed because on all of the other information the lot number is correct. My question is do you need the certificate of occupancy to close a deal in NYC. I ask because he keeps stating if I have another buyer I can go with them. Then I asked well wouldn't they have the same problem he said don't tell them. But it really just made me think he wasn't interested anymore. Is the certificate of occupancy something in NYC that has to be present to close a deal? 

Nicole

[Eric Schleif]

If the buyer is using a bank to finance the acquisition, then their bank would require the c of o to be correct.

I actually closed a deal last year in midtown Manhattan where the seller didn't realize the c of o allowed for retail use of the 2nd floor, as he was renting it out as an apartment. The retail use increased the building value exponentially and since my client was hard on the contract the seller couldn't back out of the deal.