Multi-Family Fire Protection

[Pete Courtney]

I recently purchased a 3-unit house - it was originally a single family home, but the owners before us converted it to a 3-unit home.  The property also came with a small commercial building where the previous owner had a barber shop.  The previous owner lived in one of the units, his brother lived in another, and the third unit was vacant.

We thought we did our due diligence before purchasing the property by speaking with the city and Fire Department to see if we had to do anything since we weren't going to be living there.  We asked about smoke detectors, egress windows in the basement (one of the units is 3/4 of the basement), etc. and were told that we didn't need to do anything by the city and the Fire Department (not the Fire Chief), but we didn't get anything in writing unfortunately. With all three units in the house rented and the commercial property rented out as a hair salon, our numbers were really good.

Fast forward two months and we have closed on the property. We also have the first two units renovated and rented and we're about to begin fixing up the basement unit.  There was only one mailbox for the three units so we talked to the City about setting up three mailboxes now that we had some tenants in.  We got shuffled around within the city until we were finally told to talk to the Fire Chief.  He said that he didn't know it was a 3-unit home even though he'd been in the house a number of times to help with the previous owner.  He thought it was only a 2-unit home and since we were trying to make it a 3-unit home, the move from a 2-unit to a 3-unit was a change of occupancy and required a sprinkler system.  We told him that it was an existing condition and that we talked to his partner about our intent (who conveniently forgot the conversation), but the Fire Chief stood firm that we were converting it and needed a sprinkler system.

I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't budge.  Since we only have a 3/4" cold water domestic service line, we need a separate larger incoming service for the fire protection.  We've gotten a few quotes now all in the ballpark of $20k.

My question is two-fold: 1. Do I have a case that it was an existing condition and we shouldn't need to put sprinklers in? and 2. Has anyone else run into issues with AHJ's requiring sprinklers for multi-family apartments.  IBC requires sprinklers for all new apartments with more than 2 units so I see this as a requirement for all new construction, but what about renovated properties? I haven't heard anyone talking about sprinkling multi-family properties before.

Thanks!