Post by High Priestess on Feb 11, 2019 15:49:34 GMT
If when you bought your house it had a rental unit, which you are now using for either a long term or short term rental, it would pay to not "talk to the county" or city about it, in case it turns out to have been constructed without a permit. IN which case you may be told you can't rent it out. That's what happened to this California woman
www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/02/11/illegal-adus-in-bay-area-when-in-law-units-become-outlaws/
www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/02/11/illegal-adus-in-bay-area-when-in-law-units-become-outlaws/
Stacey Sonnenshein got some bad news when she spoke to County planners about making a minor addition to her 60-year-old hillside home.
The county had no record that a decades-old basement apartment, rented to a friend, was built legally. Sonnenshein was told to either evict the tenant or do a renovation that she and her partner couldn’t afford.
Sonnenshein wishes she had never said a word to the county.
“I would tell people to never apply for a permit. Never let them on your property,” said Sonnenshein, a veterinarian in Berkeley. “Don’t engage with them in any way.”
State lawmakers last year heard estimates that Los Angeles alone has about 300,000 gray-market units.
They often sprout up under a city’s radar and produce healthy incomes for owners in the tight and expensive Silicon Valley rental market. A typical legal one-bedroom goes for $1,770 in Oakland, and $2,090 in San Jose, according to Apartment List.
A new addition or other work requiring city permits can bring a drop-in by a city inspector — blowing the cover of an illegal lease.
The county had no record that a decades-old basement apartment, rented to a friend, was built legally. Sonnenshein was told to either evict the tenant or do a renovation that she and her partner couldn’t afford.
Sonnenshein wishes she had never said a word to the county.
“I would tell people to never apply for a permit. Never let them on your property,” said Sonnenshein, a veterinarian in Berkeley. “Don’t engage with them in any way.”
State lawmakers last year heard estimates that Los Angeles alone has about 300,000 gray-market units.
They often sprout up under a city’s radar and produce healthy incomes for owners in the tight and expensive Silicon Valley rental market. A typical legal one-bedroom goes for $1,770 in Oakland, and $2,090 in San Jose, according to Apartment List.
A new addition or other work requiring city permits can bring a drop-in by a city inspector — blowing the cover of an illegal lease.