2nd Floor Apartment Egress

[Dan L.]

Hi all. I have a question. I am buying a commercial building, that has a few businesses on the first floor, and the second floor there is an apartment. There is only one doorway into the apartment, in the back of the building up some stairs. I have the building under contract, but I am a little uncomfortable about the apartment - does there need to be a second form of egress? The only window it has is a bay window that has too narrow of window panes, My inspector does not believe it would be to code.

They showed me their permit application from 30 years ago when the apartment was converted into an apartment from storage space. Part of me is thinking it was good enough 30 years ago it's probably okay today. The real problem is, in order to put some kind of fire stair off the bay window, it would have to go straight down the front of the building, which would look awful. And right below the bay window is another roof, so I'm not even sure how someone would escape from that.

The apartment is currently vacant and looks like it's been vacant for quite some time. So do I ask the town if it's legal? Will they come check it out and give me a certificate saying it’s legal? Without the apartment bringing in rent, the deal really isn't worth it. I really like this building, I want to get this deal done, but it really does depend on this apartment.

Thanks for any assistance!