Concord sneaky duiplex

[Braeden Warg]

I've come across a property with a basement which i can turn into a separate unit. There's  plenty of parking however when my relator reached out to concord zoning they said it isn't able to be turned into a duplex " which to me means one address instead of two and I cant have separate water and electricity to the units". My relator said we shouldn't go forward because if the city find out we turned it into a duplex the county can take some type of action on us "not sure what that means" "Also i feel like my relator has a legal obligation to tell me not to go through with this because if he said do it anyway i could possible seek legal action on him (ps I wouldn't)".. However through my research i keep coming across this term sneaky duplex where people turn there basements into a unit or block off part of there house to turn into a separate unit. my plan is to use the basement for traveling nurses because you would already have the water and power turned on for them "house is 5 minutes away from the hospital", live in the upstairs for a year and possible house hack one of the rooms. If I can't do this the house loses money big time like 800-1200 a month. Let me know your thoughts and opinions if you have a better route for a first time home buyer let me know.

[James Mc Ree]

Without knowing anything else than what is here, my guess is your obstacles are either zoning or prohibited basement habitation. The "sneaky duplex" phrase sounds to me just like "sneaky tax evasion" - it's great to get something illegally until you are caught.

The screaming obvious action for you here is to call your town and ask about the property. We can give you lots of thoughts on what might be happening, but you don't want to invest based on that. Call the town's zoning officer. Here is some context on the two possible obstacles I see:

Zoning - The area is legally limited to single family homes, as in 1 and only 1. You can try to get a use variance, but I don't see how that would ever be successful since you would have to show the property cannot be used for the currently allowed uses (single family home). You can usually get the zoning destination with the property listing, then look that designation up in the town's zoning code to see which uses are allowed there.

Basement habitation - There is a concern that limited egress, fire and CO are major risks to bedrooms and habitation in general of basements. In PA, basement habitation is not allowed if any basement wall is below grade or if the basement exit door to the outside is below grade (PA 6400.81). Local governments may have tighter restrictions. That doesn't stop them from existing. It just means landlords and tenants play the game of making the bedroom look not like a bedroom during an inspection. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes not.

I think building a whole suite in the basement will be much more noticeable than just a bedroom and they will probably call you on it if it is not permitted. Permits will also be required for your plumbing and electrical work.

So, what if they catch you? You can get fined and ordered to undo your changes. That's no big deal if it's just a room being used as a bedroom, but imagine ripping out that nice kitchen and bathroom you put in! If the local government doesn't catch you during rental inspections, they have a great opportunity to catch you on sale of the property if they do an interior U&O inspection and find the house is a duplex. In that case, they can block the sale and your buyer may have legal recourse against you for misrepresenting the property if you did.

[Braeden Warg]

Quote from @James Mc Ree:

Without knowing anything else than what is here, my guess is your obstacles are either zoning or prohibited basement habitation. The "sneaky duplex" phrase sounds to me just like "sneaky tax evasion" - it's great to get something illegally until you are caught.

The screaming obvious action for you here is to call your town and ask about the property. We can give you lots of thoughts on what might be happening, but you don't want to invest based on that. Call the town's zoning officer. Here is some context on the two possible obstacles I see:

Zoning - The area is legally limited to single family homes, as in 1 and only 1. You can try to get a use variance, but I don't see how that would ever be successful since you would have to show the property cannot be used for the currently allowed uses (single family home). You can usually get the zoning destination with the property listing, then look that designation up in the town's zoning code to see which uses are allowed there.

Basement habitation - There is a concern that limited egress, fire and CO are major risks to bedrooms and habitation in general of basements. In PA, basement habitation is not allowed if any basement wall is below grade or if the basement exit door to the outside is below grade (PA 6400.81). Local governments may have tighter restrictions. That doesn't stop them from existing. It just means landlords and tenants play the game of making the bedroom look not like a bedroom during an inspection. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes not.

I think building a whole suite in the basement will be much more noticeable than just a bedroom and they will probably call you on it if it is not permitted. Permits will also be required for your plumbing and electrical work.

So, what if they catch you? You can get fined and ordered to undo your changes. That's no big deal if it's just a room being used as a bedroom, but imagine ripping out that nice kitchen and bathroom you put in! If the local government doesn't catch you during rental inspections, they have a great opportunity to catch you on sale of the property if they do an interior U&O inspection and find the house is a duplex. In that case, they can block the sale and your buyer may have legal recourse against you for misrepresenting the property if you did.

 Sounds good. Thank you for the insight and I’ll look else where as I’m not looking to do any illegal 

[Jonathan Greene]

You are definitely looking to do something illegal and won't leave it alone. Your realtor and the city told you that you can't do it, but you want to do it anyway in a sneaky way. Are you seeing the problem here?

Lots of new investors hack duplexes without permits, but it always comes back to smack them in the face when the city finds out.

You are reading what you want to hear and not trying to make smart investments. Start over with a better mindset on what you are after because the way you are talking is going to lose you money.