Just bought a single family with basement ADU that turned out to be illegal.

[Jonathan Rieder]

Hi all,

Looking for some guidance. We just bough out 2nd property (single family with a 2br ADU in basement) with the intention of renting out the ADU. Unfortunately someone from the town had to come out due to an unexpected boiler replacement a week into owning. This resulted in them noticing that there appears to be an ADU so he look through the records and I guess had never been permitted. Any advice on this? Do I need to go through the whole process of getting this permitted now or can I just pull out the kitchen and say its another room ('ve been told that's a thing)? Also is there anyway to turn this back on the seller (who it turns out lied about quite a few other things), we were under the impression it was a legal ADU. I assume a lot of people will say this was due to lack of due-diligence and in that case I supposed I've learned a lesson here.

[John Clark]

Quote from @Jonathan Rieder:

Hi all,

Looking for some guidance. We just bough out 2nd property (single family with a 2br ADU in basement) with the intention of renting out the ADU. Unfortunately someone from the town had to come out due to an unexpected boiler replacement a week into owning. This resulted in them noticing that there appears to be an ADU so he look through the records and I guess had never been permitted. Any advice on this? Do I need to go through the whole process of getting this permitted now or can I just pull out the kitchen and say its another room ('ve been told that's a thing)? Also is there anyway to turn this back on the seller (who it turns out lied about quite a few other things), we were under the impression it was a legal ADU. I assume a lot of people will say this was due to lack of due-diligence and in that case I supposed I've learned a lesson here.

 1. You should have done due diligence, yes.

2. Your lawyer should have told you what the building was zoned/rated for. Did you tell his there was an ADU so that he would know to check?

3. See about getting the ADU legalized. Sit down with the zoning people and alderman and see if that's possible.

4. You may be barred by the doctrine of merger, but depending on what representations were made, you may have a case against the seller. Probably not, though, since ADU status could be checked independently by you. Ask your lawyer.