City inspector and permits

[Jeremy G.]

Purchased property in august 2018 as an owner occupant with a HUD NHHFA loan. the property is a 3 unit. I inherited a scum bag tenant that lived in the property for 17 years who destroyed the apartment with all his amazing handywork and stopped paying rent when i told him he couldnt use his apartment as a laundry mat. Eviction ensued and the dude left.

Now im in the process of demo and rehab of this unit. Had to gut the bathroom and decided to install a nice stand up shower instead of a tub. I thought i was allowed to do the work myself because my daughter and i live in the property. But when i went to pull a permit they inform me that because it's a 3 unit i have to pay for licensed contractors to do any plumbing, electrical or hvac..  One of the many reasons i purchased this property was because i was under the impression i was allowed to do the work to the property if i lived in it. Apparently i was wrong? This is not good because ive already had a plumber give me a quote for nothing more than moving the drain 3 inches and installing the shower pan... $2200!?!?!?!?!?!  I can not afford to own this property if i cant even legally do very simple minor plumbing work... And to top it off, me attempting to pull a permit prompted them to tell me they now want to do a code inspection of the entire property... Its a 120 year old property they say they have never inspected it. Yet the previous owner in july of 2018 had brand new furnaces and water heaters installed and had to pull a permit... So why wouldnt that have prompted this code inspection back in july of 2018?  

The sellers and i had a falling out at closing where they screwed me out of 5 grand and i left calling them scum bags. Maybe they were friends with the city and this is retaliation? Probably just my paranoia but im so irritated.. Now im worried what they will find in the inspection... Lead perhaps and forcing abatement? What in the world is happening.... This is all nonsense what should i do? Im hemorrhaging money