Bushwick Renter's Guide: Housing and Transit

In a renovated Bushwick apartment, check three things before you sign: that the building’s permits and certificate of occupancy match the number of apartments you see, that the unit you are renting is legal (not a cellar or an added unit with no approval), and whether the apartment is rent stabilized despite the new finishes. Bushwick is mostly pre-1940 walk-ups and small houses, and city permit data shows hundreds of filings a year for work that changes a building’s certificate of occupancy.

This guide uses city tax-lot data (PLUTO) and Department of Buildings (DOB) permit filings for Brooklyn Community District 4, which is the official planning district for Bushwick.

What Bushwick’s housing looks like

By share of residential units in the district:

• Walk-up apartment buildings: 41.5%.
• One- to three-family houses: 28.3%.
• Elevator buildings: 15.7%.
• Small mixed-use buildings: 6.9%. Apartments above ground-floor commercial space.
• Condominiums: about 6%.

By age, 65.8% of units are in buildings built before 1940, 1.8% from 1940 to 1973, 6.0% from 1974 to 1999, 9.2% from 2000 to 2009 and 16.7% from 2010 on.

The renovation wave, in permit data

When a building is changed in a way that affects its use, exits or occupancy, DOB requires a new or amended certificate of occupancy (CO). Those jobs show up as their own filing types. Counting them for Bushwick’s community board gives a rough measure of how many buildings are being reconfigured, not just repainted.

DOB moved filings from its older BIS system to DOB NOW around 2021, so compare the columns as a trend, not a single series. Counts are filings, not buildings: one job can have more than one filing, and a filing is not proof the work was finished or approved. Smaller renovations that do not change the CO are far more common: BIS recorded 13,933 Alteration Type 2 filings for the district since 2000.

Tax-lot data tells a similar story from a different angle: of 4,020 pre-1940 lots in PLUTO’s walk-up building classes (including three-family houses), at least 544 have an alteration year of 2010 or later recorded. That field is incomplete, so treat it as a floor.

What to check in a renovated Bushwick apartment

1. 1

   Count the doorbells, then check the legal unit count

   Look up the address on Roofy and in DOB’s Building Information Search. Compare the number of apartments on the CO (or, for an older building with no CO, the HPD registration and DOB records) with the doorbells and mailboxes you see.
2. 2

   Look for a recent permit that matches the work

   A full gut renovation, new kitchens and baths, a moved wall or an added unit should show up as DOB filings. Major work with no filings at all is a red flag for work without a permit.
3. 3

   Ask where the unit sits

   HPD says cellars (more than half below curb level) in one- and two-family homes can never be lawfully rented, and basements can be rented only under strict conditions. A "garden duplex" that extends into a cellar deserves extra questions.
4. 4

   Check for open DOB complaints and violations

   Complaints about illegal conversions or work without a permit appear on the building’s DOB record. Open ones mean the city may inspect, and an illegal unit can lead to a vacate order.
5. 5

   Ask whether the apartment is rent stabilized

   Rent stabilization generally covers buildings of six or more units built before 1974. A renovation does not by itself end it. Check the Rent Guidelines Board list of buildings with stabilized units and request the rent history from HCR.

Small buildings and Good Cause Eviction

With more than a quarter of homes in one- to three-family houses, many Bushwick renters live in small buildings. Those units are usually not rent stabilized. Good Cause Eviction may or may not apply: HPD lists exemptions for small landlords (10 or fewer units statewide), owner-occupied buildings of 10 or fewer units, and buildings built on or after January 1, 2009 for 30 years after their CO. Use the Good Cause checker to work through it.

Getting around

Bushwick is served by three subway lines. Daytime routes from the MTA’s station data:

Myrtle–Wyckoff Avs is the transfer point between the L and M. Two Halsey St stations exist (one on the L, one on the J), so check which one a listing means. The main city parks are Maria Hernandez Park (about 6.9 acres) and Irving Square Park (about 2.8 acres).

Budget and paperwork

• Work out your ceiling with the rent affordability calculator; many Bushwick landlords use the 40x rent rule.
• Splitting a large renovated unit? Use the roommate rent split calculator and read New York roommate law.
• Application fees are capped at $20 and deposits at one month’s rent. Check fees with the application fee checker.

Start with a building lookup for any address, then browse rentals on Roofy.