Okay, here’s a situation you may not want to encounter.

Buyers closed on their new homes, and moved in, and now the City of New York is saying that their building wasn’t zoned for residential usage, meaning they might not be able to sell their units…ever.

Um, yeah, that’s not a good thing.

By William Neuman, New York Times

What if you bought a new condo apartment and then found you couldn’t sell it, because the city said the developer had run afoul of zoning rules?

That may be the uncomfortable predicament of the owners of 72 apartments in a new development on Spencer Street in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, now that the Department of Buildings has raised questions about the way the developer got approval to put up a group of five nine-story condos that are at least twice as high as the rest of the homes around them.

City officials decided this month that they would not give permanent certificates of occupancy to the buildings, although they hope to work out a solution that won’t penalize the buyers. But without a certificate of occupancy, the condo owners, many of whom are first-time home buyers, may find it difficult to resell or refinance their homes. Further increasing the pain for the Spencer Street owners, the city’s decision may prevent them from receiving a substantial property-tax abatement often given to new buildings.

Complete article: Caught in the Twilight Zone

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