Multifamily zoning help in Phoenix

[Yader Gomez]

Hi all,

I'm under contract for my first property ever and extremely excited about it. It's a 3 unit property in Phoenix with a 3/1 main house and a second building with a 2/1 unit and a studio. In my excitement of finding something nice that made sense financially, I overlooked zoning. When I looked up the zoning, it's zoned R1-6: single-family residential 5.3 dwellings per acre.

How does this impact my desire to eventually rent out all 3 units like a 3plex and claim this as income? It appears the previous owner remodeled it and was trying to fill all 3 units to have it fully rented for the sale but I managed to contact just in time (they have 2 rented out until 12/18) since I plan to house hack. Currently they also have the landlord paying utilities which makes me think they may not be separately metered.

Does this make it illegal to have this second building and/or rent out these units? Should I back out of this deal or keep going with it and get a variance or try to re-zone? For reference, the immediate area is all R1-6 but 2 blocks west, 1 North is a pocket of MFH zoning, 2 blocks south is another MFH zoning pocket, and then one block east of the property, the entire area is MFH zoning. A look on Google maps also makes it seem like at least a few other properties on this block have a second building that (like mine) violates the zoning distance from the back of the property lot and at least one of them looked to me like a rental unit.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated as I try to get my first deal done.