No person shall occupy as owner-occupant or
permit to be occupied by another any dwelling or dwelling unit which
does not comply with the requirements of this article.
Every dwelling unit shall contain at least 160
square feet of floor space for the first occupant, at least 100 square
feet of additional floor space for each of the next two occupants,
at least 75 square feet of additional floor space for each of the
next three occupants and at least 50 square feet of additional floor
space for each occupant thereafter, except that any dwelling unit
which is occupied by two or more occupants and which contains a room
not intended to be used primarily for cooking or sleeping but which
is properly designed and equipped or especially furnished with either
an efficiency closet or wall-type kitchen unit or kitchenette or bed
furniture properly designed for daytime storage or other daytime uses
so as to be usable for a combination of regular living and efficiency
cooking or regular living and efficiency sleeping space may contain
100 square feet less floor space than would otherwise be required.
In every case, the floor space shall be calculated on the basis of
total habitable room area.
In every dwelling unit of two or more rooms,
every room occupied for sleeping purposes by one occupant shall contain
at least 70 square feet of floor space. Every room occupied for sleeping
purposes by more than one person shall contain at least 50 square
feet of floor space for each occupant thereof.
At least 1/2 of the minimum required floor space
of every habitable room shall have a ceiling height of at least 6 1/2
feet.
A.
No cellar or basement shall be occupied as a habitable
room or dwelling unit, except as a workshop or recreation room, unless:
(1)
It shall comply with the applicable provisions of
the City Building Code as to exits.
(2)
The floors and walls are impervious to any leakage
of underground and surface runoff water and are properly protected
against dampness.
(3)
The minimum window area in each habitable room therein
is located above the finished grade of the adjoining ground of the
window wall or, if windows are located wholly or partly below grade,
that there be constructed a properly drained window well whose ground
open area shall be equal to or greater than the area of the window
opening, the bottom of the window well shall be below the top of the
impervious masonry construction under this window, and the minimum
horizontal projections of the bottom of the window well shall be equal
to or greater than the vertical dimensions (depth) of the window well
as measured from the bottom of the masonry opening for the window,
and no part of the window well opposite this window shall protrude
above the line projected at a forty-five-degree angle from the bottom
of the window opening at right angles to the outer wall.
[Amended 10-25-1973 by Ch. No. 1424]
B.
In no case, however, shall cellar space be used for
sleeping purposes.
[Added 10-25-1973 by Ch. No. 1424]
Every dwelling unit shall have at least four
square feet of floor-to-ceiling height closet space for the personal
effects of each permissible occupant. If it is lacking in whole or
in part, an amount of space, equal in square footage to the deficiency,
shall be subtracted from the area of habitable room space used in
determining permissible occupancy.
[Added 10-25-1973 by Ch. No. 1424]
A dwelling unit shall not be occupied by more
than one family plus two occupants unrelated to the family, except
for guests or domestic employees, or by not more than one household
if the occupants are unrelated, unless a permit for a rooming house
has been granted by the appropriate authority.
[Added 10-25-1973 by Ch. 1424]
Each dwelling shall have a suitable facility
for the safe storage of medicines, toxic materials and household poisons,
such as ammonia, paint, gasoline, etc., to ensure safety for children
in the residential environment.
