Serving Port Richmond, West Brighton, Randall Manor and Livingston Prewar two-families: owner downstairs, tenant up
Port Richmond’s ZIP has the oldest median house on Staten Island and the highest share of two-family buildings; West Brighton’s has the largest share built before 1940.
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Local homes
Homes in Port Richmond and West Brighton
In both ZIP 10302 and ZIP 10310, 61.6 percent of homes were built before 1960. Detached houses are the largest group and two-family buildings come next, so many owners here are also landlords of the floor above.
- 31.0% of housing units in ZIP 10302 are in two-unit buildings, the highest share of any Staten Island ZIP
- 43.1% of housing units in ZIP 10310 were built in 1939 or earlier, the highest share on the Island
- 1950 is the median year built in ZIP 10302, the oldest of any Staten Island ZIP
Figures are U.S. Census ZIP-level estimates (ZIP 10302, 10310); ZIP lines do not follow neighborhood lines exactly.
What goes wrong here
Heat for the floor upstairs
Once a floor is rented, the Housing Maintenance Code makes heat in a one- or two-family house the owner’s duty, and HPD enforces it from October through May. With 31.0 percent of homes in ZIP 10302 in two-unit buildings, one cellar boiler often warms two households.
Oil tanks in prewar cellars
Fuel oil heats 8.7 percent of occupied homes in ZIP 10302 and 8.1 percent in 10310, several times the South Shore share. In houses this old, the burner, tank and chimney may all be original.
The house sewer is the owner’s
Detached houses make up 45.3 percent of homes in ZIP 10302, second only to Tottenville’s ZIP. DEP leaves the sewer line out to the street main to the owner, so roots or a cracked pipe in that run are the owner’s repair.
Lead paint rules for a rented floor
HPD applies Local Law 1 of 2004 to rented apartments in one- and two-family houses built before 1960: the owner presumes the paint contains lead and repairs peeling paint under lead-safe work rules.
Services Port Richmond and West Brighton homes call for
- Heating in Staten IslandBoilers that heat two floors, oil burners and conversions to gas.
- Plumbing in Staten IslandOld service lines, a second water heater and two kitchens on one supply.
- ElectricalOld panels and wiring in a house split into two apartments.
- PaintingRepainting a rented floor with lead-safe practices.
- Kitchen & Bath Remodeling in Staten IslandUpdating the tenant’s kitchen and bath between leases.
Getting to you
Two households, one visit
With a tenant upstairs, access and any shutoff of heat, water or power are arranged with both floors ahead of time.
Estimates are free, and emergencies are answered 24/7.
Around the neighborhood
Clove Lakes Park, off Victory Boulevard and Clove Road, holds a chain of lakes and ponds, outcrops of serpentine rock and a tulip tree about three hundred years old, Staten Island’s largest living thing.
Questions from Port Richmond and West Brighton homeowners
Will DEP replace the lead service line on my Staten Island house for free?
Not yet, as of DEP’s September 2026 update: the free program works in the Bronx and Queens and reaches Borough Park in Brooklyn in 2027. Until DEP extends it to Staten Island, the line, which DEP says the owner owns in full, is the owner’s to replace.
Can each floor of a two-family house have its own heat?
Often. A second zone on one boiler, or a separate boiler or heat pump for the upper unit, lets each household set its own temperature; the piping and the electrical service decide which is practical.
My tenant has no heat. What do the city rules expect of me?
During heat season HPD expects the owner to keep a tenant’s apartment heated, and a tenant can complain through 311. Get the boiler checked and keep your tenant posted; no-heat calls are answered 24/7.
Free estimate
Get a free estimate in Port Richmond and West Brighton
Tell us what is going on at the house. A person reads every request, and emergencies are answered 24/7.