Can I rent out my basement in Los Angeles?

[Zhenya Levchenko]

Hi all,

I own a multi-family property in Los Angeles (Boyle Heights) and am looking for ways to boost my income. It's two houses on a lot, which make the property fall in the rent controlled realm. I live in the back house. I will be looking for tenants for the front house sometime early next year. The front house has an unfinished basement with its own entrance. I am considering finishing it and renting it out as an artist studio/office space.

My hope is that I will find a tenant who would want to rent both. If I don't, can I rent them separately? I was going to maybe offer paid utilities. 

I would love to rent out the bottom as its own apartment, but that would be considered illegal. Our laws are super strict and the tenants of illegal units can sue the landlord for all of the rent they've ever paid. I would really like to avoid that. I was reading that the presence of a "kitchen" is what makes it a residential space. So I was thinking of maybe just adding a bathroom, installing drywall, flooring and some windows and calling it a day.

Is anyone familiar with instances where folks have leased similar spaces as storage/artist studios/workshops etc? any advice would be greatly appreciated.