Building a duplex on an exiting rental property

[Rhita Daniel]

We own a single-family rental property with a spacious yard and an external garage that needs to be demolished. The property is financed through a loan. We are aware that the yard is large enough to accommodate additional dwellings according to local building codes.

We are seeking advice on whether there might be any issues with building additional dwellings given our current loan. Additionally, how should we go about finding this information?

Thank you in advance for your help. We are new to landlording and are trying to maximize the potential of the large, mostly unused yard.

[Russell Brazil]

Where is the property located? If it is in Fairfax County, you probably can not build a duplex. Neighboring Arlington, you could in many cases.

[Rhita Daniel]

The property is actually located in Albemarle County, near Charlottesville. It wasn't an option on the post, sorry about the confusion!

[Theresa Harris]

Talk to your lender and the city, but why not demolish the garage and build another garage with a suite above it?  You'd be leaving the original home intact and that shouldn't affect the terms of your loan.  Be aware of the costs as you'd need plumbing (water and sewer), electric and possibly a separate meter to the new unit.

[Jacob St. Martin]

Albemarle county tends to have pretty strict regulations when it comes to zoning and building. If you are an owner occupant my recommendation would be to build an adu and rent it on Airbnb but you can only Airbnb in Albemarle if you are an owner occupant so otherwise I would do something else