Owned Duplex not legal. Opinions

[Charlotte Adams]

Hello everyone. This is my first post and I'm looking forward to hearing any suggestions.  My husband and I have owned a duplex in Peterborough Ontario for 5 years and recently it has come to light that it may be zoned single family. We were told when purchasing that it was a legal non-conforming duplex. We would like to make it a legal duplex but are unsure of how to find out how to do so without opening a can of worms and potentially being shut down.  Where would I find this information? Is there a way to find out of it is for sure a legal non-conforming?

 Also, we are wanting to get started on house flipping as we did this with our previous home and made a good profit. So we have been thinking that if all else fails with keeping the duplex as a duplex we could turn it into a fully renovated single family and sell as it's in a spectacular neighbourhood.    

We are very open to any ideas and suggestions that people may have as we are going crazy wondering what the best route is to take.  

  Thank you for your time!

[Yuriy Skripnichenko]

@Charlotte Adams

In no way I know anything about Canadian real estate and applicable law but I have experience in getting SFH zoned as a duplex in Philadelphia, PA.

It was a long process but I did everything myself. I was simply following the rooles that are posted on the city website. To shorten the story and summarize: I had to apply for the city zoning board hearing. Poste notes at the property so neighbors can see it and attend the hearing. Mail out letters to about 160 home owners in the couple blocks radius about the hearing. Set up meeting with local community organization to get it approved by them before going to the ZBA hearing. I had to take pictures and make professional looking plans of the building. I was approved in local community hearing. They provided me with an approval letter. With all that I went to the ZBA hearing, none of the neighbors showed up to protest, so I had approved the use of the property as a duplex, even though the zoning is not permitting duplexes. The whole process took about 4-5 months. Hope this helps and gives you some ideas. 

I'm sure you can find local attorneys who can either guide you or do the whole thing for you.