All Forum Posts by: Steve Babiak

 That is not how building codes read, at least in the past decade. Finished basement space must have egress - period - if done within the past decade. Basements that were finished  over twenty years ago would be grandfathered.

For the subject property, we don’t have any record of when the basement had been finished; I am assuming it was done in the 2018 remodel. Perhaps it was done more than twenty years back, and just freshly painted in 2018. No way to be certain.

And below grade space is normally not included as part of the interior square footage - at least by competent appraisers. So adding it to a listing’s square footage is … well, shady IMO unless it is stated separately as something like “finished basement is an additional xxx sq ft”.

You need legal advice. Send me a colleague request requesting the name of an attorney I have used for such matters. Can’t post that online.

 A LOT of these apps and websites targeted at serving rental property owners and managers go defunct.

So it makes sense to examine the business’ plan for bringing in revenue, and whether you believe that will be a viable plan or not, before committing to using it. If it doesn’t look like they will be bringing in much income, eventually they will shut down.

Well, there is no egress visible anywhere in that basement. It appears a permit was obtained in 2018 for renovation, and it was an EZ permit that reads: 

“APPLICANT AGREES TO LIMIT THE CONSTRUCTION TO COMPLY WITH EZ PERMIT STANDARD FOR INTERIOR ALTERATIONS, DATED JANUARY 2011.”

Link to the permit: https://li.phila.gov/Property-History/search/Permit-Detail?address=1759%20N%2027TH%20ST&Id=855532

So they didn’t comply, and the inspector didn’t do anything. Some will operate that way.

I guarantee that you will have to sign a personal guarantee ;)

There was a different search page in the past that had an option to view landlord tenant cases; that seems to be gone, and you get a redirect to the new search page that does not have that option.

My main use of that search is to avoid problem renters, so it still seems to work for that.

The search link should be found at the link below: 
https://www.pacourts.us/public-records/court-case-information

Tell him rather simply to just go away, otherwise the PFA will have to be enforced, and that will lead you to filing an eviction against him. Tell him the domestic abuse will show up on background checks, for strike one against him; the eviction would then also show up in a background check, and that would make two strikes against him rather than just the one. Then tell him the more strikes against him, the harder it could be for him to find another rental. You're just trying to make it easier on all involved.

For Philadelphia, a call to the 311 line might be able to get this done. The commercial activity license (formerly known as the business privilege license) is the number attached to the rental license; you don’t want that CAL to be discontinued just in case you get a property there in the future. If you wish to call the Philadelphia 311 line from outside of the city, the number to use is 

(215) 686-8686

Note to moderators: the above phone number is a Philadelphia government phone number that should be allowed to remain in place.

@Daniel Fisher is not too far from there, so maybe he can offer you some information.

It’s been a while since I looked at anything there, but it seemed like a decent location then.