Buying an illegal Duplex recorded as a SFH and occupy both units

[Mathou Ba]

Hi everyone!

We are looking to buy a house listed as a Duplex but registered as a Single Family Home at county level (Alameda,CA). The county records shows a SFH with 1 kitchen and 3 br while in reality it is a Duplex with 2 kitchen and 6 bedrooms. The way it's built looks solid and in workmanlike manner. The seller has bought the property as an illegal duplex as well 40+ years ago.

The change in property characteristics has been submitted to the County by the seller but is still pending (answer to be expected by 2021 because of Covid backlog).

We are buying jointly as a family and would occupy both units. We know that the appraisal might limit our loan capacity in this scenario.

What is the potential future risk especially if the county rejects the official change to a duplex once we’ve bought the house?

Will it impact potential future permits requests (for example building an ADU in the backyard).

Anything else that you’d warn us about? (I know the risks if we want to rent such a place but this will not be the case)

Thanks a lot for your help!