Questions about basement apartment

[Chi Lo]

I was looking at nyc buildings website for basement dwelling.

I saw the conditions but were confused by 3rd and last bullet (see below). Also what is the Housing Maintenance Code. Interested in getting some extra income with converting the extra space in the basement into a rentable unit.

Basements in a one-family home can be lawfully rented only if the following conditions are met:

• Compliance with the Housing Maintenance Code for minimum room size.
• There is a minimum ceiling height of 7 ft.
• The walls, as high as ground level, must be damp- and water-proofed if HPD determines that subsoil conditions on the lot require it.
• The basement is occupied by one family and does not include boarders.
• Every room must have at least one window.
• The bottom of any yard or other required open space cannot be higher than six inches below the window sill of any required window in the room.

[Chi Lo]

Quote from @Mohammed Rahman:

Hey @Chi Lo - I actually have a video on my YouTube page about this (lookup ClosedByMo on YouTube).

Regarding walls being damp and waterproofed, it means there needs to be waterproofing on the basement retainer walls (this is something you can do post-construction and the contractors would need to dig around the house exposing the basement/foundation to apply the waterproofing). 

For the last point, it's referring to a window egress. Basically you can't have the yard be higher than 6 inches below the window sill (otherwise it would v difficult for people to exit out of this window in case of an emergency). 

Checkout my YT video, it'll provide more color. 

 Thanks for the response. I’ll check out your video.