Code: Dwelling (technical term)
Description: A dwelling is a place where people live as their home. It’s any home space meant for living and sleeping, usually with a bathroom and often a kitchen. A dwelling unit just means one separate home inside a building – like one apartment in a multifamily house.
Practical Meaning: For NYC homeowners, dwelling means the home or residential unit itself. It is the legal word used when the city talks about a place used for living, such as a one-family house, two-family house, or apartment building.
Where You May See It: You may see this word in housing laws, DOB documents, occupancy rules, fire safety rules, and property records.
Why It Matters: It matters because many NYC rules depend on whether a property is a dwelling and what kind of dwelling it is. The rules for a single-family dwelling can be different from the rules for a multiple dwelling.
Source: Dwelling law