Independent renter with a few legal questions

[Tina Garcia]

Hi I have a situation that I really need help with and I am hoping someone who is well versed on real estate laws will read this and possibly help me get the answers I need. Thank you all in advance. 

This situation is such a long one but I will try to keep it short and to the point. I live in a 1 bdrm apartment style ADU(Granny unit) on my friends property which I've been renting for a little over 2 years. He bought the property in 2017 outright. Last year code enforcement showed up and was "just checking on things" since they had prior history with this house & the people on the property. I wasn't living here at the time so this was all news to me. Anyway, code enforcement asked to see the inside of the apartment & i agreed as i was doing some improvements inside like painting etc.....afterwards he nailed a red tag to my wall which i didnt pay much attention to because I was literally unaware of what it was or what it meant. The following night at 1am I was awakened by sheriffs pounding on my door & was arrested for trespassing. Code enforcement never once informed me that i couldn't be here so ofcourse I continued to be in my house with my dogs like I always had before. I was told the red tag was placed due to no permits but I myself have seen the permit for this place on the interior wooden framing prior to the Sheetrock going up for the walls inside. I got all the necessary paperwork and filled it out accordingly, drew up the blue prints as requested with dimensions and showed any and all improvements made. I went to city hall to submit them and they were refused by the code enforcement officer who put up the red tag 2 weeks prior. He stated some B's about me not being the owner blah blah blah even though hes the one who told me what to do infront of my landlord. Needless to say, I explored further by pulling up & printing all information and pics online pertaining to this property & even got in touch with the real estate agent who sold my friend this house to find out some info about the Granny unit I live in & if it was truly built without a permit. The agent told me the reason code enforcement had no info in their system was because it was over 50 yrs old & grandfathered in. Plus there was no code enforcement in 1966 nor computers. Well since then, I have been arrested 3 more times and Everytime I go to court, my dumb tresspassing charges get dropped but it's an ongoing thing & the harassment by cops needs to stop. I have info saying this property is an R2 allowing ADUs but all of a sudden now it says it's an R1 which does not allow for ADUs.....it's such bs. I was even denied the records for this house such as building permits, add on history etc at city hall even though it's public record knowledge!! It's like a bad movie filled with conspiracy and ofcourse the code enforcement keeps it to a minimum which is just enough to keep me screwed over but not enough for a red flag. It's also enough to make me sound like a babbling idiot! Lol

My question is: where do historical residential housing records/building permits get filed other than city hall?  Someone somewhere must have kept logs of any construction going on  & if homes or other buildings were being built somewhere before city hall & computers existed.?????

Also, I know that by law real estate agents have to disclose if things on a property are unpermitted to allow the potential buyers a chance to back out of the purchase if it's too costly & the real estate agent who sold my friend this property didn't say anything about any of the 3 out buildings that are on the property. Infact, it's advertised online with the Realtor.com site showing all the amenities of my apartment, the electrical, the plumbing, the windows, the door, the shower and toilet and even the kitchen sink so obviously it must be legal because I can't see an agent of his caliper risking his career and livelyhood for undisclosed info. I'm just at my wits end is all & don't know what to do or where to begin..