Call to relax housing rules in New York

New York

RAKHA and Mahbub Sarkar spent more than US$4,000 upgrading the cellar apartment of their Queens home. They put in new floors and kitchen cabinets, and in the borough's tight market for rentals under US$1,000 a month, they had no problem finding new tenants.

But not long after the remodelling, city building inspectors swooped in. They made the tenants move out, they ordered the Sarkars to dismantle the rental unit and they imposed an initial penalty of US$1,200.

The couple's offence: an illegal conversion.

The Sarkars are still removing debris after taking down the kitchen and the wall that used to divide the studio-size space. "…