Six OATH/ECB hearings tied to Department of Buildings violations defaulted this week and have been rescheduled for October 13, 2026, per OATH/ECB Hearings (Case Status) records.
Five of the six tickets trace to one address: 22-54 35th Street in Astoria, Queens (Block 832, Lot 77), respondent listed in the record as Sabji Ahmed (also entered as 'Ahmed Sabji'). The violations, all dated September 9, 2022, describe an illegal conversion from a legally approved one-to-two-family dwelling into a building with more furnished rooms than the certificate of occupancy allows, plus related life-safety gaps: no fire alarm system for first-floor furnished rooms (citing Code section 907.2.8), insufficient means of egress per BC 1018.1 and 1021.1, and no automatic sprinkler system where BC 903.2 and prior Code section 27-954 require one. Two of the tickets, covering the illegal-conversion charge itself and a daily penalty add-on under section 28-210, each carry a $57,500 balance due with $0 paid. The remaining three Astoria tickets carry balances of $6,250, $3,125, and $6,250. Each violation record instructs the owner to 'discontinue illegal occupancy.'
Separately, a Dahill Road facade case covered above also defaulted and was rescheduled to the same October 13 date and the same OATH Brooklyn 3 part.
No injuries are reported in any of these six records, and none shows a stop-work order. All six are procedural defaults — the respondent did not appear or satisfy the case — now reset for hearing rather than resolved findings of continuing violation.
Separately, DOB's complaints-received feed logged 100 new complaints citywide over the past two days, spanning categories from elevator defects to illegal conversions to construction-without-permit calls; a complaint alone is an unverified allegation, not a finding, and is noted here only for volume context.
For contractors: anyone subcontracting on occupied multifamily conversions should treat egress, alarm, and sprinkler compliance as the recurring fail points DOB keeps citing on illegally converted one- and two-family buildings — the Astoria case is a reminder these additional-unit conversions draw layered violations (occupancy, egress, fire protection) that compound balances fast. Anyone with work pending at 22-54 35th Street, Astoria, or 207 Dahill Road, Brooklyn, should pull the OATH case history under the ticket numbers above before bidding or starting work there.
Next step: all six hearings are scheduled for October 13, 2026 at OATH; the Astoria tickets are 035661791L, 035661789M, 035661790J, 035661786R, and 035661788K, searchable on the OATH/ECB portal by ticket number.