Renting Non legal MIL near Centerville

[Joshua Fletcher]

Hey,  I've seen posts in this Utah section from experienced members recommending cutting in a basement backdoor and renting the basement as a MIL. We just got our offer accepted on a house in Centerville with a MIL and I just got off the phone with zoning who told me they are "prohibited, unapproved, but enforced only by complaint" I need to know from people who have this setup in non legal fashion  what complications have arisen, how to prevent complaints and how to find renters if it is not technically legal. Please respond quickly It certainly affects my decision to buy, thanks. 

[William Hochstedler]

You are using an abbreviation MIL for Mother-in-law.  This is the name for houses containing separate living quarters intended for a family member to live in.  To my knowledge, there is no jurisdiction in Utah that prohibits your live-in mother-in-law from having her own refrigerator, bathroom, and separate entrance.

That being said, the configuration you are exploring is called an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). An ADU is a separate living space in an owner occupied home that may be rented to unrelated tenants. It sounds like Clearfield does not allow this.

You will want to look at the occupancy laws and how the municipality defines a unit.  Some cities define a separate unit as one that has no communication with the other unit.  This can be solved with a door!  Others prohibit occupancy by more than a certain number (usually 3) unrelated adults.  So if you're just one or two persons and are intending to rent to a single person, you may not be in violation of any occupancy laws.

Finally, with the intense housing crunch that we're experiencing, it's only a matter of time before most cities adopt some sort of ADU provisions. City council members are so gun shy when it comes to adding more housing for renters that they find even this too politically risky and have been dragging their feet. Look at your demographics and voting maps. If you're looking in a neighborhood with an older community and high voter turn-out, your neighbors are probably the reason that ADU's haven't been adopted in Clearfield yet.

If the deal makes sense and you can afford it without tenant income, I'd say go for it. They've admitted that they are complaint driven. Utah is pushing for this at the state level. Places like Seattle are advocating and incentivizing the establishment of them. It's going to make less and less sense for cities to have hard lines against ADU's for much longer particularly in certain districts of many cities.