Thoughts on Unpermitted ADU

[Jared Aquino]

I have my eye on an older property (1920s), and after touring the place it became evident that a two-story ADU was built and connected to the original structure. I'm not sure when the ADU was built, but I looked on the City of San Diego website database and found that no permits have been pulled in recent years. My RE Agent said that the addition was built roughly 20 years ago, but that info is coming from the listing agent with nothing much to back it up.

For those who've purchased properties with un-permitted ADUs, can you share pros/cons and other things that you take into consideration when analyzing the deal? What should I be aware of, and what kind of costs should I expect to incur if I do move forward with this?

Thanks! 

[Ben Biggs]

@Jared Aquino

Funny, I was just talking with one of my clients last night about this exact thing. I see this all the time. Look, this is not legal advice. Just my personal opinion. Half of San Diego is un-permitted. It's a very old community built anywhere from 1875 - current day. The main thing I would personally focus on is what is the intended use. Are you going to rent it out? Is it livable? Get a contractor in there, is it up to code? If it's up to code and done in a workmanship type manner you should be able to obtain permits for it. How long has it been there unpermitted? What are the chances that it could probably remain the way it is? Probably pretty high. Permits are a touchy subject with some people. I have worked for high end flippers that don't permit anything that have never had an issue and I've worked for by the book people that permit everything. You just have to assess wether or not you care. Hope that helps!